HOW ECO ARE MY READING HABITS?

Hello!

The rise in social media means now there's a 'day' for everything, and when World Earth Day (focusing on how to preserve the earth's resources) and World Book Night (celebrating reading for pleasure) fell during the same week, it got me thinking about my reading habits, how environmentally friendly (or not) they are, and how they've changed over the years.

World Earth Day and World Book Night

STORIES TO MAKE YOU SMILE

As an aside, World Book Night is offering a collection of Stories To Make You Smile for FREE, which includes pieces by Katie Fforde, Dorothy Koomson, Veronica Henry, Richard Madeley and more, which is available to download in e-book here... STORIES TO MAKE YOU SMILE

A free collection of uplifting stories for World Book Night...

Back to my bookaholic tendencies, and just how environmentally friendly are my reading habits?

E-READER

When thinking about e-books, I felt quite virtuous. I wasn't amongst the first to adopt an e-reader but, once I had one, quickly converted to buying more e-books than paperbacks. A quick audit shows I currently have 523 on Kindle. Number read - 119. Given I read around 50 books per year, it will take me 8 years to complete my Kindle collection. I was shocked! I comforted myself that these numbers were less wasteful than if I'd bought paperbacks.

PAPERBACKS

Time to confront my paperback addiction... I always buy my monthly book club read in paperback form, as well as having a favourite list of authors I love to see on my bookshelf. Then there are the novels I know I'll wish to share with family, with friends. Also, I prefer to read shorter fiction in paperback  - short stories, flash fiction, poetry. And non-fiction too.

Last week, I invested in yet another bookcase. The Rose Metal Press Field Guild to Writing Flash Fiction arrived whilst writing this post! I didn't dare count the paperbacks dotted in stacks around the house, but a rough estimate of ones still to be read sits around 150. Again, using my 50 books per year reading rate, this will take me 3 years to complete.

So far, I have enough reading material to keep me occupied for the next 11 years!

AUDIOBOOKS

Over the past year, the most dramatic change in my reading habits has been the increased number of audiobooks completed. I use a variety of platforms, which made it difficult to work out how many I own. However, I can say with confidence that I have 36 still waiting to be read. Given it takes me a fortnight to finish an audiobook, this means I have enough listening to last well over a year.

TSUNDOKU

It would be fair to say I suffer from tsundoku, the Japanese word for purchasing more literature than I have time to read.

MY READING ECO FOOTPRINT

I suspected my book buying habit was hefty, but even I was surprised by the stats and know I can do better - particularly as far as my teetering paperback piles are concerned. That said, I wish to continue to support authors, but my book audit has highlighted that I need to be more thoughtful about the format I chose, and speed up my reading!

So, have your reading habits changed over the years? Do you suffer from tsundoku? How do you decide which format is best when purchasing a book?

Also, remember to bag your FREE e-copy of Stories To Make You Smile... 

Happy reading!

Rae xx

When Twisting the Truth is OK

This week I am talking about when it's okay to twist the truth. Is it ever okay to twist the truth... or lie? Well, in the creative industry it can be and we call the act as using our artistic licence. I sometimes struggle with using artistic licence in historical fiction, which is why I am talking about the subject this week.

Artistic licence is the way in which artists or writers change facts in order to make their work more interesting or beautiful.

An artist might use it in the following ways:-

Using language in a way that might break the rules of grammar, create new words or use them to represent something the words would not normally represent. Poetry and songs spring to mind and are perfect examples of when certain rules are set aside to create exciting new work.

Artistic License can be used when creating a new work of art. A painter or sculpture may creates what he perceives and feels rather than what is the reality in front of him. 

Today I am going to concentrate on the creative world of writing, both fiction and non-fiction , when artistic licence can also be used by ignoring, purposely omitting or tweaking the truth. A biographer, for example, may leave out certain life events to form a more cohesive, interesting or biased narrative of the subject. Call me a sceptic, but I suspect there are many autobiographies filled with tweaked truths... or in other words... 'my truth'.

The last example of using artistic licence that springs to mind is changing facts, especially historical facts, so that they fit into the timeline or plot of a story. This use of artistic licence is where I struggle. As an historical fiction writer, I know it would make my life easier if I changed the dates of certain true historical facts. I could then slot them into my main character’s life where and when I want to enhance their abilities, their lives and what they are ultimately able to achieve. It would have been so much easier for my heroine to switch on a light... but I have to remember that electric lights were not invented then and she has to resort to candles. Then comes the research on how does she light them. Were matches invented by then? This is why I struggle with artistic licence. The temptation to add that electric switch and say her father invented it long before the public knew about electricity can be overwhelming at times!

My current work in progress has my heroine escaping from the gestapo during WW2. My chosen method of escape is an actual (historically accurate) route across the channel used by special agents between 1942 and 1943. However, I discovered (from my extensive research), that after 27th October 1943 that particular route was no longer used. How do I know this? I know this because on 27th October 1943 the ship’s last mission encountered winds estimated to be 70-80 knots and was abandoned. Shortly after, whilst clearing a minefield, the ship struck submerged wreckage and damaged its propeller. The sea route was never re-established after that. So I have a date which I have to work around. I have a choice, I can either fit the novel to fit the historical date, move the date of her escape to a more convenient time for me or get her home by another method.  I understand that in reality there will be very few people in the world who even know about this particular sea route and even fewer who know the details of why and when it stopped being used. However, there is always the fear that a reader will pick me up on it. You see... I told you that I struggle using artistic licence!  

After much angst I have decided to stick with the truth as the accuracy of historical details mean a lot to me, although this incident did make me wonder if I was going down a research rabbit hole that many authors would feel was quite unnecessary. After all, I would not be the first to use artistic license to bend the facts to make an interesting story. Here are just three examples:-

Disney’s Pocahontas. In Disney's adaptation she was a fully grown woman who fell in love with Captain John Smith. In reality, Pocahontas was a child when Captain Smith arrived and she later married someone else.

One Million Years BC. This film resulted in a generation believing the impossible was true. However, today we know that humans did not live at the same time as dinosaurs.

and finally…

Bridgerton. In the TV series artistic license was used for casting, costume and hairstyles.  It was refreshing and popular but there were also some viewers who questioned why there was a need to change so many historical details and facts. 

By the time you read this I hope to have almost completed the first draft of my heroine’s escape. I have a feeling that by keeping to historically accurate dates, her escape will be even more adventurous and dramatic than it might have been. Fact is stranger than fiction and sometimes it is best not to dabble too much with what is already an amazing period in time. My heroine is determined and mentally strong and will cope with whatever lies ahead... at least I hope so!

What do you think about twisting the truth? Are there any books or films that you felt went too far? Let me know your thoughts, I would love to know.

Victoria Cornwall

STEP FORWARD THE ROMANTIC HERO By Linda Mitchelmore

As the world takes in the news that HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, has died the writer in me can't help thinking that he was a hero none of us could ever have conjoured up. A real life hero in more ways than one. A role reversal of the Cinderella story, if you will. Rags to riches, because as Prince Philip of Greece the poor chap had been shunted from pillar to post, rather uncared for - and possibly unloved - by his parents and his older sisters. And with barely a bean to his name. And then, along comes the very beautiful Princess Elizabeth and we can swap the ball and the glass slipper for Dartmouth Royal Naval College and a game of croquet. And there's something about a man in uniform that's very attractive, very authoritative. And crikey, didn't Prince Philip look good in his! But while it was the right time for them to meet it was also the wrong time - she was too young, he was a serving sailor, the world was at war. Step in a bit of a hurdle to jump over and Princess Elizabeth's mother who had no end of objections to any sort of relationship between her daughter and the handsome sailor. But she didn't account for her daughter's tenacity though ... just like the prince in the Cinderella story who hunted down the owner of the glass slipper Princess Elizabeth was dogged and determined to get her man. Throw in a few glamorous settings and fabulous frocks and the beautiful people and eventually a wedding was announced. Our rather unappreciated sailor hero got hearts racing around the world. Our glamorous couple move to Malta - and doesn't everyone like an exotic setting with sunshine and drinks by the pool, parties and lunches? Then came a sea change. Our heroine got a promotion and our hero 'lost' his job and with it his status. All was not well in paradise for a while. Our hero did what many heroes before him have done (in fiction and in real life) and he reverted to his bachelor days for a while. Think nightclubs and lots of booze and women who were allowed to go to such places when his heroine was not and who, probably, didn't have children in the equation as well. But then our hero rallied. He must have looked at the steak he had at home and then found it easy to disregard the burgers he was getting outside of it - as Paul Newman put it so very well back in the day. He took on new causes - saving pandas and rhinos, and opening up the minds and lives of young people to opportunities they might not otherwise have had. And not least was the fathering of two more children in a rekindling of the royal romance. Our hero aged as we all do, but the twinkle in his eye, the sheer - dare I say - sexiness of him never flagged. He could still show today's sailors a thing or two about how to wear a uniform and carry himself. I was tempted to call Prince Philip a sort of Mills & Boon hero, but he went much deeper than that. There was politics and duty and service and more family dramas from his children and grandchildren than any man should have to cope with, but cope he did. He wasn't perfect, of course, with his gaffes but I think they served to make him more real somehow, less in a royal gilded cage, and many of us loved him for it. Sir, I salute you.

The Joy of Research (or not)

Research.

Usually, my research starts after I’ve had an idea for a book. My work in progress happened the other way around. I was doing research for The Girls from the Beach (out this July), when I came across an unrelated article that has since culminated into an entire separate book!

This was unexpected and exciting for sure!

But let’s talk about what research is really like. Research is both inspiring and exhausting! It really is. If you don’t watch yourself, you can fall down that archive rabbit hole and never come out! Well, eventually you do, but whether or not you are now armed with the research you need to write your book, or bogged down with so much information and more ideas than you can handle, is another thing.

Though, it’s not all papercuts and mad-scientist hair. Research can also reveal some pretty awesome things and leave you laughing like Ray Liotta in Goodfellas, and that, my friends, is when I love it the most.

Because I don’t want to give spoilers about my July release, I’m going to talk about the research I did for my debut novel, The Girl I Left Behind. When doing research for this book, I found something so awesome, I obsessed about it for days until I figured out a way to put it in the novel.

The Girl I Left Behind is a story about a young woman swept into the youth German Resistance in Nuremberg, 1941. When I started this book in 2009, there was an average amount of information on the internet and at my library about the youth resistance, but I knew I needed to go to the source and ask questions—I needed to ask Germans in Germany. I knew that Germans were reluctant to talk about this dark period of their history, so I looked up businesses in an around the areas my characters found themselves.

I figured that if they had a section on their website about their shop’s history (which several did—mostly about the building’s history throughout the ages) they might reply to an email. Some got back to me; some did not. The Korn und Berg bookstore was one who wrote back. The email was written in English, and they apologized for their English and the time it took to get back to me, but they wanted to make sure they translated properly.

(Literally my face while reading the email)

They told me that during a Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, Hitler noticed the windows of the Korn und Berg bookstore and he didn’t like the shape! He broke away from his entourage, walked right into the store and demanded the owner change them out. The owner wasn’t a supporter of the Party, and I could only imagine how that scene played out, with Hitler throwing open the front door amidst a clang of bells, stomping past all the books and slamming his fist on the counter, shocking a very nervous bookstore owner. Glass was very expensive during that time, and the owner was ordered to fund these changes himself, or risk punishment. Oh, you better believe I included this little gem in my story.

My writer friend, Marie O’Halloran, is always telling me about the crazy things she finds out during her research, so I asked if she’d share some of that with me today.

Hi Marie! Thank you for talking with me today. First, what do you write?

I write crime thrillers, psychological thrillers and police procedurals. I have also tackled a police comedy, think Fr Ted meets Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Once you have an idea, what is your first step towards research?

I usually let the idea roll around in my brain for a little while and let the scene unfold. Then start writing and research as I go. For my psychological thriller set on the Wild Atlantic Way in Dingle, Co, Kerry Ireland, I was able to visit and spend time there. This really adds to the authenticity of the writing once you can immerse all your sense in a place. If you’re not able to visit the location try to get an idea what other peoples’ sense of the place was. A librarian friend of mine suggested using a resource like TripAdvisor. For my gangland thrillers, I don’t have to look far. They are set in Ireland with everything within a few hours’ journey away. There are also ready resources available in news reports, documentaries and newspaper articles. Even though I’ve spent over two decades in the police force and while that aspect of writing procedurals means I have less to research, I still have to double-check some procedures to ensure I too am accurate in how I reflect the scenario. A lot is available through an internet search but I have the extra skill to interpret them and allow them to play out on the page.

Which book have you most enjoyed researching?

My psychological thriller, because I adore the West of Ireland, especially Dingle, and it gave me a really good excuse to spend more time there.

During your research, was there anything that blew your socks off, and couldn't believe?

While researching for a police procedural about human trafficking between Dublin, Ireland and Haiti, I ended up seeking the advice from the Deputy State Pathologist. She was so generous with her information and time. It really did blow my socks off that I was on the phone chatting with her about neurotoxins and Haitian Vodou. It also struck me how generous professions are, in general, when talking about their jobs. It never hurts to ask. For my psychological thriller I got a behind-the-scenes tour of Dingle Distillery as their location, Whiskey and Gin are included in my book. I also had the pleasure of taking the main tour which included tasting. It was very difficult to read my notes taken after the consumption of their tasty product.

What is the craziest thing you've ever done in the name of research?

I could tell you but I’d have to kill you.

😱 Marie writes as Casey King, and you can follow her on Twitter @letstalkcrime.

Research is the joy and splinter of my writing. I love it, but sometimes it feels so tedious. I once spent an hour verifying that Dorothea is a popular name for Italian women in New Jersey over 90 years old. That took a few K-cups of coffee to get through. But it’s the gems, those little nuggets of information you stumble upon that shine up and make it all worth it.

What interesting things have you found during your research? I’d love to know…

Andie