tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post6773543095189692884..comments2024-03-23T12:38:46.260+00:00Comments on The History Girls: DOES BEING A HISTORICAL NOVELIST WARP YOU? by Leslie WilsonMary Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-76129914010271444232015-01-23T22:02:24.700+00:002015-01-23T22:02:24.700+00:00Chuckle! I used to be a member of the Society for ...Chuckle! I used to be a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, which I joined to get some idea about fighting for my writing of mediaeval fantasy. Wearing armour I quickly came to understand what it felt like and what you couldn't do with a sword. <br /><br />I had a friend who couldn't pass a pile of hard rubbish left out for the rubbish collector without speculating as to what he could turn this or that into for SCA purposes. But in the end, we had to do everything with modern equipment. Cakes were baked in modern ovens, costumes were sewn using modern sewing machines(except by me - I can't use one, so I made them by hand, but with modern needles), armour made with modern equipment. Sue Bursztynskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09362273418897882971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-32004940088803482812015-01-23T14:26:39.418+00:002015-01-23T14:26:39.418+00:00I think you'd quickly develop a feel for bread...I think you'd quickly develop a feel for bread baking or cake baking temperatures - or for the heat of an iron. I still use the touch test on the kettle when heating water for hot water bottles.<br /><br />Lovely post, and the 'veils' over modern Hong Kong are fascinating. The junk is like a butterfly!Ann Turnbullhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06484265041343702129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-12874360602382537612015-01-23T13:20:18.731+00:002015-01-23T13:20:18.731+00:00The harbour used to be full of motorised junks. St...The harbour used to be full of motorised junks. Still teak-built, picturesque and I suspect much less hard labour. But the sailing junk was exquisite. Did you like Missee Lee, though? It was my least fave. I liked The Picts and the Martyrs best of all...Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-40049170185368717232015-01-23T12:23:03.120+00:002015-01-23T12:23:03.120+00:00Lovely post, Leslie - and that's a beautiful p...Lovely post, Leslie - and that's a beautiful photo of the junk. I first came across junks in Arthur Ransome's 'Missee Lee' and thought them terribly romantic and exotic, but you're right of course, to a junk owner, it's just another method of transportation, to be traded in for something more efficient as soon as he has the money. Humans are tremendously pragmatic about the present - and then all nostalgic about the past. We're odd creatures.Katherine Langrishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12529700103932422873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-40959787557497091022015-01-23T11:53:36.833+00:002015-01-23T11:53:36.833+00:00I loved this post, Leslie - and I know just what y...I loved this post, Leslie - and I know just what you mean about wanting to 'edit out' the bits of history which don't fall within one's chosen period... Writing about eighteenth century Germany and England in my novel, Variable Stars, presented the most challenges, for me; although even trying to recreate mid-1920s London, for my current book, is not without its problems! As for the language... it was some time, after finishing VS, that I stopped wanting to write 'I am, Sir, your very humble and obedient servant' at the end of letters, instead of our own 'best wishes'...Christina Koninghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10275312730534980490noreply@blogger.com