When a picture paints a thousand words

As those of you who read this blog know, I am currently writing the first Luke Ballard Historical Mystery, "The Danger of Destiny".

It has not been an easy process partly because I have had to rethink much of the raison d'être behind the Luke books to ensure that everything is set and understood for the sequels, two of which have already been written. Yes, I know that's the wrong way round, but that's how it is.

The idea for this series came, ready formed into my head, on a car journey. I had an apothecary who had a talent for magic using the elements to help him. He had a helpmeet in a special breed of dog, a greyspring, who had the sight senses of the greyhound and scent senses of the springer spaniel, which in Tudor times was known as the "springing spaniel". I knew my protagonist's name was Luke and that he lived close to Hampton Court Palace. The phrase 'Henry's black-eyed boy' had been winging round my brain for a few years. This referred to the son Anne Boleyn never carried to term in 1534. He would have Henry VIII's wily brain and common touch forged to Anne's sloe-black eyes and quick tongue. Using the power of religious unrest in England in the 1540s an 1550s as a background for the plot, "A Duty of Evil" was born without much trouble. "A Taste for Treason" soon followed. The problem for me as a writer came when I realised I didn't know how Luke had come to be where he was and that led to "The Danger of Destiny" which tells of Luke's first 'case'.

Why should writing this prequel be difficult? Because I've had to decide how far Luke's magic abilities may impinge on the mystery story I am trying to tell. After all, if he is a magician - or in Luke's world, an elemancer - then surely all he needs to do is chant a few spells and the mystery should be laid bare. That would make for a very boring read, especially for this author who loves convoluted plots with unexpected twists and turns. So, I have made the basic tenet of elemancy to be that every powerful incantation/spell causes ripples which may be detected by the enemy sunderers - evil sorcerers - who want nothing more than power and will cause whatever chaos and mayhem they can to achieve it. While Luke may use simple spells, anything stronger can only be used in times of dire need. Therefore he must use his logic and deductive skills to solve the mysteries.

I've also had to rethink the role of Luke's faithful greyspring, Joss, who plays an integral part in his life as an elemancer. She protects him when he goes into trances and warns him of danger. Dogs have a long history of warning their owners of impending disasters, so, after much thought, I've decided to let Joss stay.

Most of all, though I needed to have some idea of what everything looked like. Enter the amazing Karri Klawiter, who in less than 4 days produced the cover for Danger of Destiny. I've put it as the banner for this blog and I hope everyone agrees that Karri is an incredible and talented graphic artist. You can find her at http://artbykarri.com

The joys of research

Research is always much more fun than writing. Always. And some people label it displacement therapy and maintain that you should get it all out of the way before you write a word.

When I ground to a halt with the current WIP – Luke’s first adventure “A Dangerous Destiny”, it never occurred to me that there were solid things I could do to get things moving again. I use Scrivener to write my books, so decided that perhaps I hadn’t remembered the details of earlier chapters and that was what was holding me up. I printed off the ‘index’ cards for each chapter. Then I used Easy Timeline to put the main events of the novel in sequence and yes, they both helped.

It wasn’t until I needed to know how the royal household was run that I hit pay dirt. This book is set in November 1546, two months before the death of Henry VIII. I needed to find out in basic terms, how the royal household worked. My favourite writers for Tudor history are David Starkey and Alison Weir. The former writes narrative storytelling history and the latter is always readable and has an innate sympathy with female figures like Anne Boleyn. In fact, Weir’s is the only account I have ever read about what happens to the body when a person is beheaded. If you want to know the details, read “The Lady in the Tower”.

So I went first to Weir’s ‘Henry VIII: King & Court’ and then Starkey’s ‘Henry: Virtuous Prince’. Starkey maintains that the reason all historical palaces are cold and without atmosphere these days is because they were originally built to be just big white rooms. When the King and court were about to visit, the houses would be cleaned. Then there would be a frenzy of putting up wallhangings and bringing out carpets and then a few hours before his arrival, all the plate would come out of the jewel house. A bit like putting up Christmas decorations. 

I read further and Weir mentions the political shenanigans in the last months of the reign. And suddenly – yes, the adverb that all editors hate – suddenly I realised I had not peopled the court in my book with real people like Somerset, Wriothesley, Cranmer, Gardiner and Surrey. Neither had I appreciated the factions and in-fighting that accompanied Henry VIII’s last weeks. I am currently remedying that and can see all kinds of “what-if” possibilities for the plot. 

Who says research is displacement therapy?