New Year, New Book

 

Well, it's nearly 2016, which means of course it's time to put behind me the festivities of Christmas, not to mention all the mince pies I've eaten (gasp!) and knuckle down to some serious research for book five. Perhaps a stroll to the park with a book and my notepad will be in order.

As many authors, who delve into history, will say; all reputable novels are backed up with research and so I thought I'd take this opportunity to show you how my mind works and where I get my facts and inspiration from when starting a book.

 



 

I must admit, I can get totally immersed in, not only the chapter plotting and building the skeleton of the book, but when it comes to fleshing it out the research can take you down completely new paths that you thought you would never go.

 

                 

 

The first books I usually turn to when I'm researching are mythology and legends on the area I have chosen to write about. And because each of my books focus on one continent at a time, I have real fun fine tuning all the wonderful folklore of the countries involved.

My first book, Crystal Waters It Began in Europe, goes back to Minoan times of ancient Crete, and as many people know who have studied Greek mythology, it was written in a quite brutal fashion with Gods having affairs left, right and centre with mortals and often eating their offspring. I decided, because I don't want to scare away my young audience, to tone it down a tad. I still wanted to capture the excitement and the moral story behind them, but tweak it enough that it not only fits into my story well, but it won't mentally scar any child who reads them.  

 

 

            

 

With my time era in my book chosen, in book one's case it was The Bronze Age in ancient Crete, I turn to the books to study their way of life: what they ate, how they lived, what they wore, what religion they followed, and so on. I even research some of the ancient languages. This mind set helps me focus on the roles of my characters and how they would react and what they do.

 

 

 

I also look in to what weaponry they used at that time and what beasts they were to slay. Some of the creatures I have chosen for book one will seem familiar, such as the Pigasos, Minotavros and Medousa, although I have changed their name slightly for this is how the Greeks pronounce them. Some creatures are new, however, and are my own creation like the Firefish and the Gloop monster of the swamp. Perhaps not that original, but I didn't want to overshadow the true myths.

 

 

Of course I then look at routes and how my characters get to their destination. So after they step through the magical doorway in Gran's Cellar (Fowesby Hall, Middlesbrough) they then travel along the great waterways of the world in carefully selected boats of the time (further research). I then add a little more to this fun mix, and as they sail along they travel back in time, which means checking on what they see outside the boat. For instance, as they travel down the River Ouse (book one) they pass through the City of York, which turns into the Victorian era. I am really quite fanatical, as is my editor, in keeping my facts right and even go to the lengths of drawing myself up a chart to keep me on the right track. Here's a peak behind the scenes.

 

Route - Middlesbrough – Crete (Book One) 

	Area	Era
1, 9am	Ormesby Beck	1.Windsor Present day-1910
2,	River Tees (Middlesbrough)
3,	River Tees (Yarm)
4, 10am	River Tees Sock burn Hall or Moulton Hall	2.Edwardian 1910-1901
5,	(Floats to) Langton Upon Swale
6,	River Swale (Joins River Ure)
7, 11pm	River Swale becomes River Ouse	3. Victorian 1901-1836
8,	River Ouse (York)
9,	Trent Falls (near Faxfleet)
10, 12pm	River Trent (Trent Lock meets River Soar)	4. Georgians 1836-1714
11, 1pm	River Soar	5. Stuarts 1714-1603
12,	River Soar (Ratcliffe On Soar)
13	River Soar (Leicester)
14	Grand Union Canal
15	G.U.C Hertfordshire (Kings Langley, Watford & Cassiobury Park)
16	G.U.C Middlesex (Uxbridge, West Drayton, Hayes & Brentford)
17, 2pm	River Thames (Kew Gardens, Westminster, Tower of London, Greenwich)	6. Tudors 1603-1558
18, 3pm	Into North Sea at Graves End (Margate)	7. Middle Ages 1400-1200
19, 4pm	North Sea Heading South	8. Normans 1200-1066
20	Across the Channel
21, 5pm	The River Rhine (Strasbourg, Borders of France)	9.Vikings 1066-800
22, 6pm	The Danube River (Ulm-Germany)	10. Anglo Saxons 800-410AD
23	The Danube River (into Austria)
24, 7pm	The Danube River (Linz, Vienna, Bratislava, Borders of Slovakia & Hungry)	11.Romans 410-43AD
25	The Danube River (Budapest Hungry)
26	The Danube River (into Croatia)
27, 8pm	The Danube River (into Serbia & Montenegro)	12. Iron Age 43AD-500BC
28	The Danube River (Belgrade, Borders of Romania & Bulgaria)
29	The Drina River (between Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina)
30	The Drina River (Dinaric Alps)
31	Into the Adriatic Sea
32, 9pm	Into the Mediterranean Sea to Crete	13. Bronze Age 500-2100BC



 

 This is further enhanced by visual aids I get from the internet.

 

 

 

My research for further books, which I won't go into now as this blog will be far too long, was exactly the same process: Book Two - Crystal Waters and on to North America, took me to ancient Canada where we meet Native American Indians. Book Three - Crystal Waters Next Stop Antarctica, was quite a pinnacle point of the series, where we find out the history behind the gateway and where all things began in the universe. And book four, Crystal Waters Onward Bound to Africa, takes us back to the times of Tutankhamun and the history along the River Nile. 

 

So as you can see, there are weeks of fabulous research ahead of me, which I must add I am going to revel in. This time I'm going to New Zealand, to the continent of Australia and I'll be researching ancient Maori tribes. 

Well then, all there is left to say is, see you in a month or so when my brain will be swimming with wonderful new ideas and all ready to start my next book. Ta ta for now :)