Doing Your Homework
In order for stories to be convincing, writers often undertake research and, in the case of historical fiction, that research is essential to set the time and the place for the reader. To date, for my short stories, I have researched stalkers, hoarders, homes for unmarried mothers, real life kidnap stories......the list could go on. I was able to do all that at the click of a button via Google and hope that the odd references here and there throughout the stories are accurate enough to make the characters and plots credible.  

But what about a much longer piece of fiction, where accuracy and authenticity have to be sustained over a whole novel? My WIP is set in two decades, the late 1940s and the end of the 1960s, and the subjects I will need to find out more about will include:

• rural village life in 1948, life in service
• rationing and the black market after the war
• Italian Prisoners of War, their POW camp in mid-Wales, Italian family life in 1960s
• unmarried mother and baby homes
• travelling to the continent in the '60s

I have been thinking about how I should go about this. How much is too much? Where is the best place to go? When is the best time - before writing, as you go along or after a rough draft? I think there are two kinds of research:

• Background research - setting the time and place, details about social issues, customs
• Spot research - finding out small pieces of information as they arise in your writing

As well as on-line sites, there are community resources to help:

• the local library
• historical museums where you will find books, documents, newspapers from the era, maps, together with photographs of people and places from the time. These will help take the reader back in time and add credible details to the novel.
• art galleries displaying paintings of the era will give information about clothing and styles, colours and typical homes
• elderly people who can give you anecdotal and personal details 

Advice from writers about research seems to be that you will end up with more facts and information than you can use so deciding what to leave out is as important as what to include. Authentic dialogue seems to be a particularly difficult feature to get right in historical fiction, too, because language is continually changing. Perhaps here newsreels or film footage could help.

I have just finished Pattern of Shadows by Judith Barrow and am now reading the second book in the trilogy, Changing Patterns.  This is what Judith wrote about her debut novel:

'Pattern of Shadows' was inspired by my research into Glen Mill, a disused cotton mill in Oldham, Lancashire, and its history of being the first German POW camp in the country..... When I thought about Glen Mill I wondered what life would have been like for all those men imprisoned there. I realised how different their days must have been from my memories of a mill and I knew I wanted to write about that.'

The story is set during World War 2 in the North of England. It explores many themes - working class life, German POWs, Conscientious Objectors, bigotry, hospital life  - but, above all, it is a love story of its time and place thanks to accurate but unobtrusive research.  I can highly recommend the novels and can't wait for Honno to publish the third book.

What have you researched for your writing? How do you record it? Do you have a list of questions you want to answer?

Thank you for reading my blog. I'd love to hear about your research. 

You may follow me on Twitter @JanBayLit and I have a Jan Baynham Writer page on Facebook.

Writing Styles
This week I have been writing. After the recent disappointment of a few returned stories, I decided to pick myself, dust myself down and start all over again! 

I submitted a 500 word entry to a Flash Fiction Competition and a short story to the on-going competition in 'Writers' Forum'. 

Tonight, I submitted a story on the theme of 'Summer' for Issue 2 of Firewords Quarterly . It is described as 'an independent literary magazine packed full of powerful fiction and poetry - all enhanced by bold design.'  I particularly like the colour illustrations and art work that accompanies the wide range of stories and poems. It is a relatively recent project that is giving a voice to new writers.

I have also returned to my novel this week and plan to look at my womag rejects with the view to editing and rewriting them over the next few days. 

How can we as writers adapt our writing for the various differing remits and yet still stay true to our own style?

A short story intended for a woman's magazine is very different to one written for a literary journal or a competition entry. Even the women's magazines themselves are very different. On Susan Jane Jones's Blog this week, she interviews Wendy Clarke who explains how the style of Woman's Weekly, Take a Break Fiction Feast and The People's Friend all differ and can determine where she sends a particular story.

If you write for commercial magazines and have also been successful in winning competitions, I'd love to hear about how you approach them differently?

Thank you for reading my blog. Good luck to everyone in this coming week whether you are submitting stories to women's magazines, literary journals, competitions or continuing to write more chapters of your novel! 

You may follow me on Twitter @JanBay Lit and on my Jan Baynham Writer page on Facebook.

Another Award

When I was on holiday, I was nominated for the 'Versatile Bloggers Award' by Teagan Kearney.  Apologies for taking so long to reply. It's another first for me because when I started blogging at the beginning of the year I knew nothing about these awards.

In Teagan's words, they are 'a generous way to highlight and share blogs with others.' I am always amazed not only at the huge range of writing blogs on offer to read and follow but also how varied in content and format they are!

What are the rules of the Versatile Bloggers Award? 

- Thank the person who nominated you. So a big thank you from me to Teagan! It's very kind of you.

- Include a link to her blog: http://writingmynovelnoworkingtitleyet.blogspot.co.uk/ 

- Nominate 15 bloggers.

- Tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

7 Random Things About Me

- I love watercolour paintings especially of landscapes like this one entitled 'Rock Farm' by Gillian McDonald. A limited edition print of it hangs on our sitting room wall. 

- I daydream a lot, having lots of plans but many never get finished. 'Procrastination is my middle name!'

- I used to teach ceramics. A visit to a craft fair recently made me want to start again and create something beautiful from a lump of clay. 

- Chocolate and Bailey's with Ice are my two downfalls so this post, 'Afternoon Delight', on Face Book really appealed.

- The smell of summer Jasmine late in the evening reminds me of when we visited my aunt for the first time in Spetses, Greece.

- I drink Earl Grey tea. 

- A big Archers' fan, I have listened to the programme since I was a small girl. 

My 15 nominees:

To you all,

I am nominating you because I enjoy reading your blogs. Please feel free to accept or decline. Unlike me, many of you are experienced bloggers and may already hold the award.

Teresa Ashby http://teresaashby.blogspot.co.uk/

Samantha Bacchus http://samanthabacchus.blogspot.co.uk/

Fran Clark http://franclark.blogspot.co.uk/

Karen Clarke http://writewritingwritten.blogspot.co.uk/

Wendy Clarke http://wendyswritingnow.blogspot.co.uk/

Patsy Collins http://patsy-collins.blogspot.co.uk/

Sheila Crosby http://sheilacrosby.blogspot.co.uk/

Tracy Fells http://tracyfells.blogspot.co.uk/

Della Galton http://www.dellagalton.co.uk/?page_id=28

Susan Jones http://susanjanejones.wordpress.com/

Cat Lumb http://catlumb.com/blog/

Kath McGurl http://womagwriter.blogspot.co.uk/

Roz Morris http://nailyournovel.wordpress.com/

Samantha Tonge http://samanthatonge.co.uk/page3.php

Helen Yendall http://blogaboutwriting.wordpress.com/

I look forward to finding out some random facts about my nominees.

Thank you for reading. Whose blogs do you follow? Can you recommend more excellent blogs about writing? I'd love you to leave a comment. Thank you.

You may also follow me on Twitter @JanBayLit and visit my  Jan Baynham Writer page.

                             

Backstory

What is it? The dictionary defines 'backstory' as:

'The experiences of a character or the circumstances of an event 

that occur before the action or narrative.'

Once told that if my story was good enough it shouldn't need back story, I seem to fail every time! I believe that backstory can add depth to a character or a plot but the secret is how to write it without slowing down the story. And that's my problem. When reading, I have noted how experienced writers have introduced backstory - using alternate chapters written in different times, dual narratives, bringing backstory in through dialogue, reading letters or diary entries. When I received a rejected story back from an editor this week, I knew it was the backstory that let it down. It needed to be included because what had happened in the past to the main character, Amy, had a direct influence on the type of 'super woman' she was trying so hard to be but I'd ended up doing too much 'telling' and not 'showing'.  You've probably heard it said that what we leave out is as important as what we leave in was a comment in the feedback.

On my recent holiday, I did start a story set in Greece about a girl who travels there after following her mother's instructions to read her diary. I thought that I could tell the backstory of her mother's life in the early seventies through the diary entries. But, guess what? I'm bogged down with too much detail and the story has slowed almost to a stop. So what is the answer? 

When searching for some images to illustrate this post I came across this wonderful picture, entitled 'Backstory', which in turn led me to a blog post by Roz Morris . Her blog is called 'Nail Your Novel' which she describes as 'a diary of writing tips as I tackle challenges in my own novels and help others to shape theirs, plus all the latest news about my books.' I found her post 'How to wield backstory with panache' really useful and recommend it to you. She goes through a number of points and explains them with examples. Her main advice is to make backstory part of the action, leave it as late as possible and to use it to bond characters together (where the backstory is important to both characters). 

Where do I go from here? I shall look as my rejected story again and see whether I can prune a lot of the backstory. Maybe I'll be able to keep the part which affects the two friends, Lauren and Amy, but introduce it in smaller bits rather than in a 'pouring her heart out' scene as it was in the original story. 

How do you use backstory when writing? Please share any tips that have worked for you. Thank you for reading.

You may follow me on Twitter @JanBayLit and on Facebook Jan Baynham Writer

P.S. Do you remember last week's blog post was all about setting? I've just read an excellent blogpost by Janet Gover on Women Writers, Women's Books. It's called 'Location, Location, Location' - worth a read!

Setting the Scene
Does anyone else think that knowing the setting for a story or novel can help with your enjoyment and understanding when reading? I came to this conclusion when I was on holiday recently. 

I had not visited the beautiful island of Crete before and wanted to get to know something about its history. As a teacher, I have lost count of the times I have told or read the story of 'Theseus and the Minotaur' to classes of children so you can imagine how excited I was to be visiting the site of the Palace of Knossos, the home of King Minos, which has always been associated with the myth.  Minos, after getting advice from the oracle at Delphi, had Daedalus, the famed architect and inventor, build a huge labyrinth near his palace at Knossos. The purpose of the labyrinth was to hold the Minotaur, a monster which was half-bull and half-man. 

On our journey there, our guide retold a version of the story of Theseus in such detail and with so much conviction that we were captivated. 

Sir Arthur John Evans (1851-1941) was the archaeologist responsible for unearthing the Palace of Knossos. He believed that the legendary kingdom of King Minos was real and used clues he found in the myths and legends to prove it even though he came up against strong opposition to his views. 

As we walked around the site, I liked to think that the reconstructed frescos often depicting bulls and the twisting passages of a possible labyrinth were part of a story that had always been so popular with my pupils.  

In complete contrast to that story which has been around for thousands of years and on the recommendation of a guest at the hotel where we were staying, I read a novel written in 2005, also set in Crete. 'The Island' by Victoria Hislop is about a leper colony on Spinalonga, a small island off the north coast. It is set both in the present day when a first-generation English girl travels to Crete to find out more about her Greek heritage and in the 1930s. What unravels is the tragic tale of four generations of women in the Petrakis family whose lives are affected by leprosy. I think the fact that I was there on the actual island of Crete and could recognise the descriptions of the countryside and places mentioned, the food and drink referred to and some of the characteristics of people I'd observed in the local shops and tavernas made it more credible and enjoyable to read. I didn't even know about the leper colony  which closed in 1957 until I read about the boat trips to the now uninhabited island which are on offer. I spoke to the owner of a book shop where the book was displayed, taking pride of place in the shop window.  He told me that it was based on true stories and that the author had researched the novel well. I loved the way the layers of family secrets were revealed and recommend the book, especially if you can travel Crete to read it! 

Have you read a book where knowing the setting has enhanced your enjoyment? Please comment and recommend some good reads. Thank you for reading my blog.

You may also follow me on Twitter @JanBayLit and on Facebook Jan Baynham Writer.

PS When I was away another of my moving on stories Meet Me By The Jacaranda Tree was published on Alfie Dog Fiction. If you'd like to read it, please click on the title and you can download it for £0.39.  

Holiday Reading
Next Tuesday, I'm flying to Crete for a two week holiday and today I am deciding what I shall take to read. It's the one time when I don't feel guilty about spending hours with my head in a book or reading my Kindle! Many a time, pre- Kindle, did I have to take books out of my case as I'd gone over the weight allowance only to 'run' out of novels towards the end of the holiday. 

Hotels often have a swap-a-book scheme though, where you can leave a finished book in return for a fresh one to read. This is how I came across Ferney by James Long.  This is a beautifully written book and has all the elements that I enjoy -  a love story, historical content, mystery and suspense so that I couldn't put it down, as well as warm and credible characters. 

I do like the feel of a traditionally printed book and being able to flick back through the pages to check or re-read parts.  But now, I can download as many novels as I want so there will be no worries about overloading my case, no greasy suncream finger marks on my precious books and even the thickest saga will appear light in my hand. So what do I choose?

I haven't written much more of my novel lately so I'm hoping that reading a lot on holiday will get me back writing on my return. My dual narrative story is about a family which holds secrets - whose family doesn't, you may ask? - and is set in 1947 and 1965. I'm trying to read as many family saga type novels set just after the war or in the 1960s. I seem to be drawn to novels where there are two POVs or two time settings. One such book that I enjoyed was The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell. The story tells the stories of two women, separated by fifty years but connected in ways that neither could ever have expected. Thank you Lynne for the recommendation.

Of course, not all the books I'm buying are in the style of the novel I'm trying to write. Here are a few that I'm looking forward to reading:

- We That Are Left by Juliet Greenwood
- When No One Was Watching by Debz Hobbs Wyatt
- Father Unknown by Lesley Pearse

Have you read any books about family secrets? Are any of those set just after WW2 or in the 60s? What do you think about dual narrative stories? What novel have you recently enjoyed and would recommend? (I haven't finished my list yet so am open to suggestions!) 

Thank you for reading. I'd love it if you left a comment. 

You may also follow me on Twitter @JanBayLit 

PS I have just finished reading The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. The different layers of mystery meant that I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend it!

Creative Frontiers

Creative Frontiers is an on-line site which is a '... meeting place for everyone who writes fact or fiction.' 

'Creative Frontiers aims to interest, entertain and to stimulate writers of all sorts: those who have still to finish their first composition; those who have created and sold many pieces.  The site is for those who write to live and those who live to write.

We want visitors to find ideas and methods that will enable them to push their writing right up to and maybe even across a creative frontier.'

This week it features my on-line critique group, 'Write-critical'. 'It's all Sheila's fault!'

As well as reading about the group, why not have a look at the Accumulator competition and other writers' stories which are published on the site?