I’ve got some time on my hands at the moment. Last week was
all excitement, because I got my NWS report back on The Welsh King’s Spy and
was told it’s ‘almost ready’. As a result I devoted all my spare time to making
the suggested adjustments, which I finished on Sunday. Now it’s with my beta
reader (the gorgeous Janice Preston—if you haven’t read her wonderful debut
novel, Mary and the Marquis, yet, drop everything and order it now!) So there’s
nothing more I can do on TWKS until I get it back.
It feels wrong to be doing nothing writing-wise, though. I
do have two novellas that are at different stages of editing, but I’m finding
it hard to immerse myself in the lives of those characters when I might have to
get back into the heads of Matilda and Huw in a few days. Therefore I’ve
decided to start planning my next full-length novel.
I had an idea for a hero and heroine back in the summer. Of
course I was committed to my rewrite of TWKS by that time, so I jotted down the
idea in my notebook, wrote the opening scene that had come to me, then forgot
about it. I dug my notes out yesterday and I think the story has potential. So
I’ve decided to develop the characters and come up with a plot outline. There’s
just one problem – I’m not very familiar with the location.
 |
| Hawkstone Follies - I always find inspiration here |
So far all my novels/novellas have been set in Shropshire
and just over the border in Wales. It’s where I live, which makes research dead
easy. I just have to go for a walk or bike ride and I’m exploring the landscape
that my characters inhabit, seeing the same skyline, the building materials,
the trees, plants and animals… I have visited the place where my new story is
set, but I haven’t built up anything like the same feel for the place. Still, I’ve
decided to go for it – any excuse for a research trip to a beautiful location!
Do you prefer to set your stories in familiar locations, or
would you rather research new places?
