tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post5420711300000895179..comments2024-03-23T12:38:46.260+00:00Comments on The History Girls: A sense of place: Sue PurkissMary Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-12690771161714046322011-08-16T21:27:43.871+01:002011-08-16T21:27:43.871+01:00Oh, this is just cruel! I want the rest of it NOW....Oh, this is just cruel! I want the rest of it NOW.<br />But brilliant post, Sue, and I do agree about going there if you possibly can. It's not just about giving detail to what you're going to write, it can change what you're writing altogether.<br />It's also a darn good excuse...<br />Louise (wishing she'd done a Caroline and thought of setting books in North Africa and Turkey)alberridgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15986443240923520466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-10497572977462015822011-08-16T20:43:12.050+01:002011-08-16T20:43:12.050+01:00Adèle! Don't deny me my excuse to swan around ...Adèle! Don't deny me my excuse to swan around the Mediterranean, North Africa, Turkey and now America. It's the best part of a great job! ;-)Caroline Lawrencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07249424644829463560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-29610879851835165532011-08-16T16:32:34.998+01:002011-08-16T16:32:34.998+01:00I think you will have to wait - I don't see an...I think you will have to wait - I don't see any way round it now, even though I'm beginning to feel guilty! It's just, when I got there, there was such a lot to say - I didn't mean for it to be split, honest!<br /><br />In the meantime, you could take a look at the Rennell-Nichol book - it's really very good. How interesting that you're writing a WW2 novel! Back to mine now...Sue Purkisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09084528571944803477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-66706474690167650772011-08-16T15:54:42.313+01:002011-08-16T15:54:42.313+01:00Really looking forward to reading the next install...Really looking forward to reading the next installment! (Do we have to wait until next month??? :-) )<br /><br />I am a WW2 historian and that's what I write in my fiction - stories set during the war. Right now, I'm working on a novel set in Nebraska (where I've lived all my life) during the war and place plays a major role in the story.Melissa Amateishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16086267508858187716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-60630502648304765742011-08-16T12:25:27.781+01:002011-08-16T12:25:27.781+01:00Lovely, touching post, Sue, and I'm looking fo...Lovely, touching post, Sue, and I'm looking forward to the next instalment. I prefer to go and visit places if I can but sometimes it's just not possible. Adele's comment puts me in mind of hearing Graham Swift talk about his writing. He said that people who had read WATERLAND presumed that he was a native of the Fens but he said didn't know the area and did the research AFTER he'd written the book (I think I believe him!) And then there was the lovely writer-in-residence at Radio 4 Drama who said that he set his plays in foreign parts because he could not afford to go there in the flesh...Linda B-Ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01599899073420595717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-42810465895202310372011-08-16T11:40:24.092+01:002011-08-16T11:40:24.092+01:00Yes, it can be done - Mal Peet hadn't been to ...Yes, it can be done - Mal Peet hadn't been to South America when he wrote Keeper, which I think is a fantastic book. But it certainly helps me if I can go to see a place. It just somehow gets the juices flowing!Sue Purkisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09084528571944803477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-2772131566232507842011-08-16T10:42:26.217+01:002011-08-16T10:42:26.217+01:00Lovely post and can't wait for part two: BUT, ...Lovely post and can't wait for part two: BUT, I am going to take slight issue with Caroline about having to visit the place you're writing about. Of course it's excellent if you can but plenty of books have been written which have an EXCELLENT sense of place and which the author has never been to. The example I am thinking of is Stef Penney and THE TENDERNESS OF WOLVES. She never left the library and it conveys the North West of Canada in the 19th century brilliantly!adelehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15826710558292792068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-53991720037917198532011-08-16T10:11:59.732+01:002011-08-16T10:11:59.732+01:00Mwahaha, Joan (I've been wanting to do that fo...Mwahaha, Joan (I've been wanting to do that for ages!) - oh yes I can! It's written, but there really is quite a bit more of it - it would have gone on for ages. Next blog on the 16th - sorry!Sue Purkisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09084528571944803477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-20622592648190095112011-08-16T09:41:26.452+01:002011-08-16T09:41:26.452+01:00Lovely blog, Sue. I agree that setting is so impo...Lovely blog, Sue. I agree that setting is so important but also what you said about talking to your father. People have such wonderful stories. It reminds me of my uncle whose hatred of war inspired me to write about Run Rabbit Run. But his story had a tragic end. He was captured and spent what was left of his young life working in terrible conditions on the Burma Railway. <br />Looking forward to your next blog.Barbara Mitchelhillnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-63254765597875565082011-08-16T09:17:05.557+01:002011-08-16T09:17:05.557+01:00You can't stop there! When's the next ins...You can't stop there! When's the next instalment?Joan Lennonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15763862159032836768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-80193891126224027962011-08-16T06:51:18.063+01:002011-08-16T06:51:18.063+01:00Yes! Like you, I have to know what a place looks l...Yes! Like you, I <i>have</i> to know what a place looks like. For me, this is the most compelling aspect of hisorical fiction. It transports you back in time, to <i>show</i> you what things were like. Especially what they looked like. But you also want to know what a certain landscape feels like, how thin or thick the air, what bird sounds, what plant smells, even how the water tastes. <br /><br />That's why we historical novelists have to travel to the places our books are set, or somewhere as close as we can get to what our book's setting would have been. <br /><br />Good luck with your quest. I can't wait to read part 2.Caroline Lawrencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07249424644829463560noreply@blogger.com