This is the first in a series of guest posts by fellow historical fiction authors. Dianne Ascroft, who writes World War II fiction, kicks it off with some thought-provoking reflections on unusual settings for wartime fiction and what readers are looking for. Thanks for joining us today, Dianne.
Continue reading “History People #1: Wartime Fiction: Wandering Off the Beaten Track”Sunday Sojourn – with Vanessa Couchman
Fellow Crooked Cat author, Jennifer C. Wilson, invited me to her blog today, where I talk about creating a sense of place in fiction and describe some of the research I had to do for The House at Zaronza.
For today’s Sunday Sojourn, I’m joined by Vanessa Couchman, to talk about creating a sense of place…
Creating a Sense of Place
I’ve lived in Southwest France for nearly 20 years. The region is steeped in history and chock-full of scenic and fascinating places. Why, then, didn’t I set my first historical novel, The House at Zaronza, here? I could have done, but it wouldn’t have been the same. The novel is set in early 20th-century Corsica and on the Western Front during World War I, and it’s based on a true story.
We have made six visits to Corsica, a captivating Mediterranean island. Once, we stayed in a B&B where framed love letters hung on the walls. The owners discovered them walled up in the attic when they restored the house. They were written in the 1890s by the village schoolmaster to the daughter of the…
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Write Despite – Procrastination
Fellow Crooked Cat author Margaret K. Johnson has invited me onto her blog today to take part in her ‘Write Despite‘ series, in which women writers talk about their writing challenges and how they address them. So I’ve focused on a topic close to my heart – procrastination – about which I wrote on this blog not so long ago.
Read more here:
Margaret is a novelist who explores the theme of women triumphing over adversity in her writing. She also runs courses that focus on triumphing over adversity in order to write, or using writing to overcome adversity.
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In Praise of Procrastination
10 Thoughts About Blogging Part 1
10 Thoughts About Blogging Part 2
History: a thing of the past?
Today, I’m delighted to welcome guest blogger Olga Swan, who also lives in SW France. Lamplight, the first in her David Klein, war-reporter, series is released tomorrow by Crooked Cat. Olga’s post gives us a flavour of her series, which spans the build-up to World War II and the war itself, and outlines some of the universal questions it raises. I’m looking forward to reading it. Continue reading “History: a thing of the past?”
Nursing in World War I: the French Experience
Writing a credible historical novel is like doing an obstacle course with your hands tied. A significant challenge for me in writing The House at Zaronza was to find out about nursing from a French viewpoint on the Western Front during World War I, where about a third of the novel is set. Countless books exist about “the war to end wars” but few of them give much space to French experiences of nursing.
In Praise of Procrastination
I am a procrastinator par excellence. My motto is, “Why do something today if you can put it off until tomorrow?” I wrote my university essays at midnight, fuelled by industrial-strength coffee; I submit my competition entries at the last minute; and I’m often to be found tapping away frantically with a client’s deadline looming only hours away.Continue reading “In Praise of Procrastination”
Vendetta in Corsica: Myth and Reality
We’ve visited Corsica six times. L’Île de Beauté is a captivating place, with a savage beauty and a culture all its own and I strongly advise a visit. In 2014, we went to Olmeto, once the home of a woman who was the inspiration for Prosper Mérimée’s Colomba. His novel is about vendetta, an integral feature of Corsican history and culture.Continue reading “Vendetta in Corsica: Myth and Reality”
10 Thoughts about Blogging Part 2
Here’s part two of my post about blogging. You can find part 1 with thoughts 1-5 here. I don’t pretend to be an expert, but I have several years of blogging and a lot of trial and even more error behind me.Continue reading “10 Thoughts about Blogging Part 2”
LOCATION, LOCUTION: Uprooted from life in the UK, Vanessa Couchman writes novels about people with roots
Writer and author Lorraine Mace interviews me in her Location, Locution column, which focuses on ex-pat writers and the role of location and setting in their writing.
Columnist Lorraine Mace, aka Frances di Plino, is back with her latest interview guest.
This month’s guest, Vanessa Couchman, was uprooted from her native UK in 1997, when she moved, with her husband (who is Swedish) to an 18th-century farmhouse in the Midi-Pyrénées region, in southwest France. Between the pair of them (he has lived in France twice and in the UK) they have clocked up nearly 60 years of living abroad!
Like many Scandinavians, her better half is fluent in several languages, but Vanessa has done her best to catch up. “My French was hopeless when we first moved here,” she told me, “but, by force of perseverance, I am now almost fluent.”
She still enjoys occasional visits to London for art galleries, bookshops and museums, but in general, she says, England makes her feel like a fish out of water. As she puts it on Life…
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10 Thoughts about Blogging Part 1
I’ve been blogging for around six years and I maintain not one blog, but two. I’ll explain why below. When I first started, I barely knew what a blog was. The learning curve was vertiginous – and you learn new things all the time.
Continue reading “10 Thoughts about Blogging Part 1”
Vanessa Couchman 