By Joan Whicher Orford in Suffolk is where we would spend a long weekend in August for many years. We’d normally arrive by way of Lavenham and Woodbridge. This was something of a ritual and was looked forward to hugely, as it was, during those years the sum total of our annual holiday, short butContinue reading “ORFORD”
Author Archives: pwalkerauthor
ELIZABETHAN ADVENTURERS AND SHIP NAVIGATION
My first novel, State of Treason was half written when my writing veered away from its planned structure and took off in an unexpected direction. More than a minor diversion, I had to halt writing and research the background to this new sub-plot. I shouldn’t have been surprised. The book was an Elizabethan thriller set inContinue reading “ELIZABETHAN ADVENTURERS AND SHIP NAVIGATION”
WRITING HISTORICAL FICTION – INSPIRATION OR PLANNING
Inspiration seems so much more creative and worthy than the structured and methodical act of planning, and it’s tempting to emphasise the former in any success as a writer I might enjoy. But looking back, there is no doubt that writing the William Constable historical thrillers was more the result of planning over years thanContinue reading “WRITING HISTORICAL FICTION – INSPIRATION OR PLANNING”
A HOLIDAY MEMORY
We’ve been practising our French, so it’s a minor disappointment when the owner of the gîte, Mr Brouillard, speaks perfect English. Our directions have taken us to the ‘manoir’, which turns out to be a castle. This is no ordinary pile of medieval rubble, but an entire fairy castle with slender turrets, topped with pantileContinue reading “A HOLIDAY MEMORY”
ERASMUS
I am ushered into the orangery to find Sir George and a man, who I take to be the artist, in deep conversation. I hold back in the doorway, flex my shoulders, bow my legs and circle my ankles to relieve the unfamiliar closeness of the clothes I am made to wear. They chafe andContinue reading “ERASMUS”
POINT ZERO
By D M Lowe Professor Adamson coughed. Everyone looked. In the current environment, she might have received less of a reaction had she performed a jig in the nude. She cleared her throat and took a sip of water. “This covid-19 pandemic couldn’t have come at a worse time for us. Labs abandoned, furloughed technicians,Continue reading “POINT ZERO”
RESEARCH FOR HISTORICAL FICTION
I’m not a historian and had read very little history non-fiction in the years leading up to 2018. So, I was under no illusion that writing my first work of historical fiction was going to take a lot of research. It was going to be my second attempt at writing a novel. The first, aContinue reading “RESEARCH FOR HISTORICAL FICTION”
WEAVING HISTORICAL CHARACTERS AND PRACTICES INTO A COMPELLING FICTION
My mother was a member of the Richard III Society and never tired of telling our family he was really a ‘good king’ and the antithesis of Shakespeare’s monster. The contemporary portrait of Richard in the National Portrait Gallery presents a thoughtful, intelligent face and it is not difficult to imagine him as a moreContinue reading “WEAVING HISTORICAL CHARACTERS AND PRACTICES INTO A COMPELLING FICTION”
THE STARS, MEDICINE AND MATHEMATICS IN ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND
After many false starts, astrology became a focus for my first work of historical fiction – State of Treason. William Constable is a scholar and competent in all three areas listed in the title of this post. I should declare now that, unlike our hero, I hold no faith in astrology. Astrology had a significant influenceContinue reading “THE STARS, MEDICINE AND MATHEMATICS IN ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND”