Category Archives: Historical Fiction

Virtual Tour of the Solent and Beyond ~No 15~ India ~ The last Post

This is my last post in my virtual journey to the various locations in Ancasta Guide me Swiftly Home and it’s a place I never expected to go to when I planned the novel. Although I made an outline before I began to write, for me it’s always the research, as well as intuition and listening to my characters, which leads the flow of my writing. I often end up in locations which are a complete surprise to me and India was one of these.

I had a vague idea that Siberia played a part in the Great War, but I had absolutely no idea that we sentSolent Google Map Karachi1 troops to India, in fact my character arrived in Karachi, which was part of India rather than Pakistan back in 1916, when this part of my novel took place.

I was asked during one of my talks at Bitterne Library whether I’d visited India (& Pakistan) as part of my research, and I have to hold up my hand and admit that I didn’t and so how did I write the relevant chapters?

I don’t want to tell you the story, but I my aim was to weave historical detail around a plausible tale. Letters reaching home from so far away were sporadic and so this added to the anxiety of family left behind in Woolston. First I read as much as I could on the internet but, always liking to verify these web pages, I was sent copies of accounts of the times sent to me by The Hampshire Regiment Museum in Winchester. I have subsequently visited the museum and, almost as if to prove a point that the world is not so far apart, there were Gurkhas and their wives visiting at the same time, who took part in WW2. These accounts coloured my writing, not only with detail but descriptions and atmosphere. How did the troops feel to be so far away? What did they do? What did the area look like?

Here is a link to the Imperial War Museum where you can see the badge of the 9th (Cyclist) Battalion, The Hampshire Regiment.

Other questions pertinent to my story were,

How did Harriet’s son Tom, the quiet unadventurous one, cope with life in India?

Did he return?

What part did he play in the Great War?

What news of his experiences was he able to send home in his letters?

Through my story I tried to show the contrast in conditions to life here in England, or even to those poor souls out in the muddy fields of France, but most of what you read in the ‘India’ chapters are my imagination, seamlessly interspersed with factual details of the day. I can thank staff at the museum for reading the chapters to check for authenticity.

And so I end my virtual tour today. I have enjoyed sharing my journey with you, of locations that have become so vivid in my imagination that, when I visit them, (maybe I will go to Karachi one day too) I can imagine my characters living and working as if it were all true. Well, they certainly are true in my heart!

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Filed under Ancasta, Historical Fiction, Planning a novel, The Great War, Virtual Tour of the Solent and Beyond, WW1

A Big Thank You!

Today’s post is to say thank you, firstly to the people who worked with me to organise last Weekend’s Blog Tour. Then to the followers who promoted my posts and finally to share what I have learnt.

Firstly there’s Debra Brown, who seems to work tirelessly to keep up a blog which never ceases to surprise. Debbie, who writes fiction in the Regency Period, hosts posts from a wide variety of authors of historical fiction and you can gain an insight into the depth of their research. It is a place to ask questions and there is often a debate going as to a piece of research that has become a bit puzzling. It is a site for anyone interested in history and not just authors, but the beauty of it for an author is that there is a whole community on facebook who support each other, share and tweet posts. Here is her site:

English Historical Fiction Authors

The second person I need to thank was writer Mary Ann Loesch. She has guest bloggers from a variety of subjects and also does reviews. Here’s another good post on All things Writing on making an e book in Callibre.

All Things Writing

Now the first two posts were plane sailing and there the fun started. It’s a lesson to authors to factor in different time zones when planning a venture like this because my next post on the Saturday was to promote both of my novels. I knew it was an Australian site and so expected them to be in front of us. Confusion reigned because their server was in the US and so I quickly calculated that the post would go live at approx 11am UK time, and so it did. No worries! Many thanks to Stacey Nash for the promotion.

Authors Promoting Authors

Lastly I need to give a big thank you to  JA Beard, who also works with Debra Brown on Goodreads to manage the Historicalfictionitas Group, where you can ask questions, read reviews, advertise your special promotions and generally chat to other similar authors. JA Beard is a YA author who has published The Emerald City and he kindly interviewed me for his site. Where they both find time to write I have no idea, but his site is worth a look whether you are an author or a reader.

JA Beard’s Musings

So, what have I leanrt:

  • Organising a simple weekend Blog Hop is possible, fun but quite time consuming
  • Don’t forget to use all platforms to promote it..twitter, facebook and good reads and more …I’m afraid I didn’t get around to Goodreads. It was such a hectic week
  • Try to arrange it in your schedule when you have time to spare (difficult I know!)
  • Always follow up comments if you can and thank for RT
  • Start small, in a manageable time period
  • Don’t forget the time differences and factor it in accordingly
  • Just chose a time slot and send off your polite email requests. The writing community out there is very kind and supportive but it works both ways. Don’t forget to support others too.
  • Finally enjoy!

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Filed under Blogs, Events, Historical Fiction, Marketing your novel, Social Media Networking

GOOD NEWS ~ DIANA JACKSON’S WEEKEND BLOG TOUR

I am pleased to announce this weekend’s blog tour from:

Friday 15th February to Monday 18th March

FRIDAY ~Launching this tour on Friday 15th February I will be a guest blogger on Debra Brown’s historical blog which is well worth a follow. You will gain an insight into some of the interesting and intriguing research from a variety of authors:

Englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.co.uk

My theme will be:

Early Women Aviators

This post looks at women pilots who dared to be different from as early as 1911!

SATURDAY ~ I am happy to announce that my second guest appearance on Saturday 16th February is on Mary Ann Loesch’s writer’s blog, a place where authors share their experience and pass on knowledge and advice to other authors:

Allthingswriting.blogspot.co.uk

This post will reflect on The Tapestry of Writing ~ an analogy

SUNDAY ~ LIVE 11AM GMT 6AM EST!

Authors Promoting Authors are promoting both of my novels on Sunday. This site is certainly good to follow to find out what books are out there

authorspromotingauthors.blogspot.com.au

MONDAY ~ Finally on Monday 18th February I will be interviewed by JA Beard about my novels and writing. Here you are more likely to find out that nougat of information about authors, novels and characters which makes reading come alive as you ‘meet’ the authors themselves:

riftwatcher.blogspot.co.uk

A place to ‘Meet me’ and find out what I’m thinking!

All these events will be advertised on twitter and facebook too. Please share and retweet to your friends and followers.

An exciting and full ‘Diana Jackson’s Weekend Blog Tour!’

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Filed under Ancasta, Blogs, Book reading, Book reviews, Early Flight, Events, Historical Fiction, Marketing your novel, Role of Women