A Photograph of Diana holding a wine glass, wearing a fancy red sweater. She's got shoulder length brown hair, peach skin.

Diana Jackson

Views, reviews and muse related to my writing

An Image of my latest book Missing, Past and Present. Sat on a wooden table with a brown background.
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Research

  • Murder Mystery Evening ~ What a Hoot!

    Apologies for a break in my Virtual Tour of the Solent Area and Beyond but this is one of my spontaneous off the peg posts! It was the first weekend since Christmas that both of us felt well enough to entertain and so, needing some laughter, we invited some close friends to Waybak for a Murder…

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  • The Solent ~ Virtual history tour No 4 ~ Amble in Hamble

    Approximately 8 miles north west as the crow flies from Lee on Solent and a few miles further by road, Hamble is a gem of a place snuggled at the mouth of the River Hamble as it flows into Southampton Water and the Solent beyond. It is well known to the sailing fraternity, who moor…

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  • The Solent and beyond ~ A Virtual History Tour Post No 3 ~ Lee on Solent. Seaplanes, hovercraft and helicopters!

    On my virtual historical tour of the Solent we will continue heading north west, but will pause a while at Lee on Solent. This is an unscheduled stop because Lee on Solent does not in fact feature in my novel ‘Ancasta ~ Guide me Swiftly Home,’ but the bay certainly has important history and my parents…

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  • The Solent and Beyond ~ Virtual Social History Tour Post no 2 ~ Fort Grange

    For my second post in this series we are going to travel a short distance along Stokes Bay and follow the route of main road, until we pass Fort Grange, the second in a row of five Palmerstone fortresses. Four of these forts are still within the grounds HMS Sultan Naval Base, Gosport. The Aero…

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  • Location, location, location ~ How important is a sense of place in a novel?

    Is a strong sense of place important for a novel’s success? Good characterisation is vital for a successful novel, as is a sense of the time period. In fact the era, whether a modern setting or in the past,  needs to seep into every nook and cranny of the plot, dialogue, setting and language too, but I…

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  • Historical Fiction ~ Historical Research

    There is always a great deal of controversy between the purists  who research history for its own sake, and those, like myself, who try to popularise it to make it accessible to a wider audience by turning it into fiction. I must admit to taking the research far more methodically for my second novel ‘Ancasta ~ Guide…

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  • BBC Radio Solent. Diana and Colin have a chat with Katie Martin

    I met Colin van Geffen, (the local artist who designed my covers and historian who checked some of my facts) outside the Bitterne Heritage Centre. Both Ancasta ~ Guide me Swiftly Home and Riduna are for sale there. It seemed a fitting place to meet since that’s where my research in the area began several…

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  • Spike Island by Philip Hoare ~ a personal book review

    Thanks to ‘Spike Island’ by Philip Hoare, The Royal Victoria Hospital came alive for me and I could easily imagine some of my characters going there. I will not say in what fashion though. The Royal Victoria Military Hospital in Netley must have been an astonishing sight to behold on entering Southampton Water from the…

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