Monthly Archives: November 2012

RAILWAYS

I have just read and enjoyed GIANTS OF STEAM by Jonathan Glancey

We would not be able to stand in awe of the great steam locomotives that once powered their way along the tracks that trellised the world had it not been for the inventors and the men who saw the potential of steam on our lives. It makes an interesting story, an intriguing history and, in the way that Jonathan Glancey takes on the journey through these pages, a pleasurable experience. Inevitably the pioneers of steam locomotion came up against opposition and Glancey weaves their experiences and how they triumphed in spite of political and military hostility. These giants of steam are not mere ugly sights of power; thought and expertise were put into their design so that there evolved machines of  matching beauty giving us extra pleasure when viewing those that still exist or remembering how we once stood in awe of them. This is a book that sets the history of these intriguing machines before us in a readable way and enables us to picture them hauling carriages and goods wagons across the land and see the cooperation and rivalries of their inventors.

It made a recent visit to the National Railway Museum in York more meaningful and left me in admiration of the vast collection that is housed there.  Bill Spence

 

 

THE NEXT BIG THING

THE NEXT BIG THING   This is an ongoing event with questions asked and answered by authors, with up to five authors nominated to take over the following Tuesday

Today it is my turn –  Bill Spence writing under the name of JESSICA BLAIR You can learn more about me and my other writing on my website jessicablair.co.uk

What is the working title of your book?     A TAPESTRY OF DREAMS

Where did the idea come from for the book.   I generally start with a background in mind. In this case it was the woollen industry of the West Riding of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire sheep rearing in the mid-nineteenth century.  I then put the question, ‘What if?’ into play.

What genre does your book fall under?  Historical saga

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? Ambitious greed leads to heartache and destruction.

Will your book be self-published  or represented by an agency? All rights  and publication will be handled solely by my publisher Piatkus, an imprint of Little Brown Book Group. This has been the case of all my books written under the name of Jessica Blair (22)

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript.  I don’t do a first draft which to me implies a considerable structure. I work from an outline, probably no more that 3000 words but I know the beginning and the end and a very rough course in between, but the main characters are there and some subsidiary ones, others come in with their influence  as the story develops. It is my characters who dictate the direction of my story. I work to 100,000 words.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?  When I read about the Lincolnshire longwool sheep

What else about your book might pique the readers interest?

A strong story of tested relationships against interesting lives and backgrounds of opposites

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Writers taking over from me and appearing Tuesday 13th November:

Shirley Wells, Romantic Novelist but now a Crime Novelist with several crime books to her name

Bill Kitson,  Crime Novelist with settings in Yorkshire where he lives.

Penny Grubb,   Crime Novelist, winner of the CWA Debut Dagger Award.  http://www.pennygrubb.blogspot.co.uk/

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Link  http://www.frances-brody.com/blog.

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