Friends – Activity – JaneShuff

RichardB started the topic A Want of Discipline: Abergele, 1868 in the forum Blogs 5 years, 8 months ago

Up until the grouping of 1923 the London and North Western Railway, whose principal route was what is now called the West Coast Main Line from Euston as far as Carlisle, was the giant of British railways: indeed, at one time it was the largest commercial undertaking of any sort in the world. It was also, in its origins, one of the oldest,…[Read more]

Raine replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 8 months ago

Totally agree re Boyne, @jillybean. He’s lazy and complacent, and doesn’t care who he hurts as a result.

Having recently discovered the horrors of researching hist fic, I must admit to struggling with knowing where the line is between really getting stuck on details that don’t matter, and making sure the whole worldbuilding feels authentic.…[Read more]

Libby replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 8 months ago

I agree with you Jules. It’s worrying that schools will teach misleading literature.

One thought from my perspective as a writer of realist historical writer: the truth is more interesting than the invented even if it’s harder to work with. There’s a smaller point too that we can all make mistakes so might as well aim to get as much as possible…[Read more]

Libby replied 5 years, 8 months ago

That’s mean to be ‘historical fiction’.
It’s the heat. I can’t remember what I’m supposed to be.
- Libby replied 5 years, 8 months ago
  
  Or how to spell.
  - Jules replied 5 years, 8 months ago
    
    Haha right there with you! And I completely agree – the truth in historical terms is often far more interesting than the Everyone Knows version. Also agree that writers have to be free to make unintentional mistakes without being pilloried for them. It’s inevitable that some small detail will be wrong but as you say, why not try to be as correct…[Read more]
Squidge replied 5 years, 8 months ago

Even in fantasy – I do some research! Not in depth, granted, cos I’m not seeking to reflect accuracy, but I do have to do enough to make the processes I describe (like melting precious metals; making a catapult out of just string; rules about coats of arms for example) so if anyone reads it who also has that knowledge, I’ve given enough to make it…[Read more]

Jules replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 8 months ago

Pretty sure Stephen King now has a team of fact checkers. But yes I imagine the tone of those letters is gleeful. What I’ll say for King is that even though he’s writing speculative fiction, he portrays characters who’ve had life experiences he has not respectfully. The same cannot be said for Boyne! One of the big problems with The Boy in the…[Read more]

Sandra replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 8 months ago

Ah, yes. I take your point Athers. My ignorance obscured it earlier.

Athelstone replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 8 months ago

There are degrees to this and a dependency on the type of book being written. I am not searching for an artificial precision in moral culpability. I am not saying that there are some absolute rules at play. I am saying that if you bend the truth to suit your story, while at the same time maintaining that what you write is authentic, then there are…[Read more]

Sandra replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 8 months ago

Athers, I’ve not read Boyne, so took the passage you quote as from a fantasy novel which, in my understanding, means anything goes in the way of made-up words and facts.
On the subject of ‘proper’ research; at Newcastle Noir a couple of years ago, one crime writer told of being asked how many specialists he had on call to help him with research,…[Read more]

Sandra replied 5 years, 8 months ago

There’s an article in today’s Telegraph referring to this, and mentioning it seems to apply less to film-makers, e.g. Braveheart where kilts were worn 500 years before in use “because they looked better”. Artistic licence, innit?

Athelstone started the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 8 months ago

This is a lightweight blog.

I was just settling down after reading about the astonishing performance by George R R Martin at the Hugo awards, when my son approached brandishing his phone.

‘Look at that,’ he said.

I looked. My son has been a fan of the Zelda video games since he was little. I played a few along with him in the last few years,…[Read more]

Libby replied 5 years, 8 months ago

I didn’t gasp – too world weary – but I can see why you’re annoyed, Ath. On a lighter note I was disappointed, having hoped to learn something more about nightshade! Woody nightshade grows in our garden, is pretty and you could imagine the berries being used for dye. It’s also poisonous. But when I got a bit further I’d have switched off if you h…[Read more]
- Libby replied 5 years, 8 months ago
  
  Here’s a review of the book https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/06/a-traveller-at-the-gates-of-wisdom-by-john-boyne-review-an-ambitious-era-hopping-epic
  - Athelstone replied 5 years, 8 months ago
    
    Thanks, Libby. A really interesting review. I hadn’t realised that the Zelda mistake was one amongst many. Aside from characters deep in history musing about their peers in the language of C20th psychology, we have ‘…kimonos and obis to the Chinese, igloos to the Norse Icelanders, and steel and horses to pre-Columbian South Americans. Potatoes…[Read more]
  - Kate replied 5 years, 8 months ago
    
    That makes me flippin mad! All the hard work we put into our MSs, and he just… 😫
    - JaneShuff replied 5 years, 8 months ago
      
      Absolutely agree. I accept that the ‘worlds’ we base our stories in have a lot of the unlikely and improbable in them but there is a big difference between that and not bothering to do proper research.

Mad Iguana replied to the topic The $2,000,000 Guitar in the forum Blogs 5 years, 9 months ago

I saw that and thought of your post, and your memories.

RichardB replied to the topic The $2,000,000 Guitar in the forum Blogs 5 years, 9 months ago

Sadly, I have heard today that Peter Green, without whom this blog wouldn’t have been written, has died at the age of 73.

Janette replied to the topic Monthly comp: July 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 9 months ago

Looking For Paradise

The mossy church bench had no kids fighting around it. No grumpy, obstinate husbands, or house-din. Just bliss. I breathed deeply as I listened to the trees above, its branches whispering and swaying in a gentle breeze, stirring birds into song. A squirrel wriggled up rough bark and disappeared into the foliage, minding its…[Read more]

RichardB replied to the topic Richard's Literary Byways: The Beginning Place, by Ursula K Le Guin in the forum Blogs 5 years, 9 months ago

Not too challenging, Kaz, if you do what I did and go to abebooks.com. When I looked there were quite a few copies available from various sources.

As for fantasy speaking to human reality, a lot of the tide of stuff that’s come pouring out since LOTR opened the flood-gates simply doesn’t. As a matter of interest here is Le Guin herself’s rather…[Read more]

KazG replied to the topic Richard's Literary Byways: The Beginning Place, by Ursula K Le Guin in the forum Blogs 5 years, 9 months ago

Thank you Richard – sorry, my original reply has also slipped through a portal. I hadn’t heard of this book and as a HUGE admirer of Ursula le Guin I will do my best to remedy that (might be a challenge, from what you say). Thank you for a fascinating blog and for highlighting so clearly how fantasy can be just as powerful, if not more so, at…[Read more]

@janeshuff