#ScribesAndMakers 21 Does music help or hinder your creativity? Or are you unaffected by music?
I'm not unaffected, I'm just inconsistent. Sometimes I enjoy having music playing while I write. Sometimes I prefer silence. I've never bothered to investigate why.
#WritersCoffeeClub 21. What emotions do you avoid writing? Why?
I can't think of an emotion that I would avoid writing about if the story required it. Extreme emotions that are not justified by their context just sound like bad writing, and that is something I *do* try to avoid.
#PennedPossibilities 732 — Is your WIP a singular novel, a series of books, serial fiction, comics, or fanfiction?
My WIP "The Blood Cross" is the prequel to my debut #histfic novel "The Plague Angel". If all goes well, there will also be a sequel, so I'll have a trilogy. They'll all work as standalone books, and I've plans for more in the same series...
#ScribesAndMakers 7/20. If you were given a modest but useful amount of money that could only be used for your creative pursuits, how would you spend it?
I'd buy a new laptop and maybe a high-spec tablet with a keyboard and more books!
#WritersCoffeeClub July 20. In terms of writing, what are you most thankful for?
Internet search engines. Writing real-world #histfic (i.e. without magic and fantasy) as an amateur historian would otherwise require months spent on research in libraries.
Stop and take a moment to read about the lives of the women interned in Auschwitz. A tale of horror, secrets, promises, courage, hope, and love - would you have shown this much courage? Could you forgive what this man did? mybook.to/TouchingtheWire #histfic #Auschwitz #Kindle
#WritersCoffeeClub 16. How often do you raise questions in your writing without intention to answer them?
I don't knowingly do this.
#Histfic often raises interesting questions for modern readers by contrasting "then" and "now". But anyone with a moral sense knows the answers.
#WordWeavers 15/7: How emotionally intelligent is your MC?
As a young man, not very. Age improves him somewhat. Marriage and parenthood also help.
#WritersCoffeeClub 15/7: What 'standards' do you take for granted?
Literacy and an interest in the history of the wider world. I'm very much hoping that isn't too much to ask, but I may be wrong.
It's happy release day to Warriors of Iron, the second book in the Dark Age Chronicles Trilogy. I'm sharing some photos from my visit to Sutton Hoo #newrelease #MenOfIron #WarriorsOfIron #histfic
It's happy release day to Warriors of Iron, the second book in the Dark Age Chronicles Trilogy #newrelease #MenOfIron #WarriorsOfIron #histfic
It’s happy release day to Warriors of Iron, the second book in the Dark Age Chronicles Trilogy #newrelease #MenOfIron #WarriorsOfIron #histfic
It's happy release day to Men of Iron, the first book in the Dark Age Chronicles Trilogy #newrelease #MenOfIron #histfic Listen to me waffle about it.
#WritersCoffeeClub 13. How many ‘layers’ of interpretation do you seek to achieve in a piece of writing?
#histfic as a genre continually creates contrasts with today's world. Whether you call it a layer of interpretation or something else, the comparisons often give additional meanings to the work. It is best not overdone though.
#ScribesAndMakers July 11. Is art necessary, and why/why not?
No idea why, but as every human culture produces art, the answer is "yes", art is a necessary part of being human.
#WritersCoffeeClub 12th July 2025. How much do themes of transience or permanence appear in your work?
Not much is permanent. In "The Plague Angel" one of the themes was that even "immortal gods" are transient, their scared places regularly inherited by new gods over time as civilizations rise and fall.
#WordWeavers Jul 11: How is your current WIP going? Anything you'd like to share about it?
Now just over 50k words, up from 20k words in early May. The plotlines are complete, so now I just have to write another 30k words of world-building "texture" and miscellaneous detail.
There's a new book coming— "The Saddler's Song"
Currently on preorder special for 5.99.
https://mybook.to/TheSaddlersSong
https://youtu.be/8xkcz30zsbY
#Books #BookSky
#BookChallenge
#writingcommunity
#historicalfiction
#AustralianHistoricalFiction
#StepBackInTime
#histfic
#Bookthreads
#BookHunters
#HiddenGems
#WritersCoffeeClub 10/7: Describe a way you've developed a character.
I wrote a character in "The Blood Cross" who has ADHD. But as its the 14th-century they don't call it that. His father is ruthlessly ambitious for him and does bad things to other people to clear his son's path. The young man has a difficult time, made worse when he discovers what his father has done for him, and he doesn't end well.
#ScribesAndMakers 07/10—How difficult would it be to continue your creative activities if you couldn't have your favourite beverage?
My dependency isn't coffee, its Internet search engines. Without them, I'd have to spend months in libraries doing research. #Writing would stop.
