Historical fiction readers unite!
Building a community for those who love historical fiction
Building community, and having fun doing it
You have probably noticed that I am something of a fan of historical fiction. Yes, I know; that’s an understatement.
And what do you do when you meet and become friends with another historical fiction loving author?
That’s right: you decide to build a reader community together.
Rachel and I have created TimeHoppers together: a community dedicated to all things historical fiction.
We’ve started posting about the different definitions of historical fiction (what it and what isn’t “historical”), our current and coming reads, and our go to time periods.
And we’re kicking off June as the month of the Tudors – as voted for by our followers.
We’d love to see you there 🕰️ 🐇
What I’ve been up to recently
Much of what I’ve been up to recently has been working with Rachel to get TimeHoppers off the ground.
I’ve also managed to carve out some writing time, too. Or better put, some revising time, as I’ve been working on the first 10,000 words of The Third Letter, building a new Inciting Incident to push Clara, my POV character, out of her comfort zone and into the adventure that awaits.
I’m moving up the Inciting Incident (which is now an auction to raise money for the war effort) so that it holds more jeopardy for Clara and also comes earlier in the overall story (this also because I’m aiming to cut a few thousand words throughout).
I had wanted to do this much earlier this year, but the ideas were stuck in my head and wouldn’t come out onto the page. It has taken considerable thinking time to work out how to voice all the thoughts for these scenes that have been dancing in my head for the past few months.
Before, I would have chastised myself for not writing, not getting X number of words written in a day. But I’ve realised that thinking time is just as important as writing time – especially for someone like me who tends towards perfectionism. (Of course, thinking time doesn’t equal perfect words on the page, but it makes me feel better about what eventually comes forward.)
And the past few months have proven this to be truer than I could have imagined, and now the words are coming, the scenes are slotting into place, and the characters are getting to meet one another in new and exciting ways.
On the bedside table
The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry: Yes, I’m waaaaaay behind the crowd on this one, I know.
North Woods - Daniel Mason: LWS Historical Fiction bookclub read.
Landet Utanför: Sverige och kriget 1939-1940 - Henrik Berggren: Research read for the second novel about Sweden in the first two years of the war, but a history book with a writing style I’m enjoying immensely.
The Bee Sting - Paul Murray: Waiting to be able to take this out of the library again after someone else reserved it when I was only halfway through.
(I have a whole host of other books on the go at the moment, too, but these are ones I’m focusing on.)
And some of the books that I’ve finished recently:
The List of Suspicious Things - Jennie Godfrey
Down and Out in Paris and London - George Orwell
Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris - Paul Gallico
The Good Liars - Anita Frank
Acts of Desperation – Megan Nolan
Great Circle – Maggie Shipstead
Mexican Gothic - Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Julia – Sandra Newman
You can pick up copies of my recent reads if any of these have piqued your interest or check out what is on my TBR at Bookshop UK (affiliate link).
Until the next time,
If you like this newsletter, you can buy me a virtual coffee - coffee always keeps me going ☕
Hi, remember you from the LWS group! Is your Timehoppers group on here? Don't have instagram so hoping it is. Xxx