What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin L. Funk as a way for writers and readers to stay in touch!What I'm Reading
Right now I'm working my way through Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson, which is a YA retelling of the Bluebeard myth set in 19th century Mississippi. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet; I'm enjoying it enough to carry on reading, but I feel as though the Bluebeard figure in the story is so obviously dodgy that the heroine should be pretty suspicious of him from the get-go.
What I'm Writing
This week I've done very little work on my WIP, aside from editing the very first scene (which I'm still not 100% happy with), because both of my seminars this week have been focused on presentation.
Yesterday I had to read aloud an extract from my WIP as though it were a performance, so I spent all of Monday editing my prologue, and tomorrow I have to give a 10-15 minute presentation about the inspiration behind my WIP, its influences and how it fits into the wider world, so today I'm busy working on that!
What Inspires Me Right Now
History and Historical Fiction as a whole. Pretty broad, I know, but I'm talking a lot about the role of history and Historical Fiction in my presentation, and this Friday I'll be talking about why writers write Historical Fiction in a blog post.
What Else I've Been Up To
A couple of days ago I confirmed my second publishing internship for over the summer - in late July I'll be joining the lovely people at Parthian in their Editorial and Marketing office, so that's exciting!
I love historical fiction and retellings! Thanks for sharing (:
ReplyDeleteNo problem! :)
DeleteI've been fascinated with history since I was in single digits, so I'm always tempted toward historical fiction (my current novel is a case in point). As Stephen King found, however, when he wrote 11/22/63, doing historical fiction well requires a LOT of research, so it's not something I plan to spend a lot of time writing. Too many SNIs... :)
ReplyDeleteAll the best with your presentations this week, Jess! :)
It's true there is a lot of research involved when it comes to writing Historical Fiction, but what I tend to do is general research first (Who was on the throne? How did this affect everyone else? What was the primary religion of the time? etc.) and then write with that in mind. I do all the smaller pieces of research after and go back and edit in what I found out - I love historical accuracy in Historical Fiction, but if I worried about it in the middle of writing the first draft I'd never get anything written!
DeleteThank you! :)
Congrats on the internship. I've never written historical fiction, but love reading it. I always enjoy learning new things, and like seeing different perspectives, places, and times in fiction. So I appreciate what you are doing. Have a wonderful week!
ReplyDeleteThank you! You have a lovely week, too!
DeleteCongratulations on your internship! I'd love an internship or job like that.
ReplyDeleteAs a historical writer, I'll be looking forward to your Friday blog post. I feel like such a minority in the writing blogosphere, since I haven't encountered all that many other people who write historical, let alone are so passionate and serious about it.
Thank you!
DeleteI must admit I haven't come across too many other people who write Historical Fiction either - us lovers of history have to stick together!
Hello, Jess! Good luck with your seminars. You'll do awesome! And congrats on your internship! It sounds like a really exciting opportunity. :)
ReplyDeleteHappy reading and writing! from Laura Marcella @ Wavy Lines
Hello, and thank you! :D I'm really looking forward to the internship - I haven't done anything like it before!
DeleteCongratulations on the internship. That sounds amazing! :D
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
DeleteMy reaction to the Bluebeard character in STRANDS OF BRONZE AND GOLD was the same as yours. He was a bit obvious even if you aren't familiar with the original tale.
ReplyDeleteFirst scenes are so tough. Good luck with editing yours and with your presentation! :)
I suppose it's always difficult to create something new when you take on a myth that a lot of people are familiar with. Hopefully the rest of the book will surprise me a bit more. :)
DeleteThank you!
Oh, I love historical fiction. It's my favorite to write and read. I can't wait to read your blog post on Friday. Good luck with your WIP. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteHooray, another Historical Fiction lover! -high fives- Hopefully my blog post will be worth waiting for. :P
DeleteThank you, you have a lovely weekend too!
I remember being intrigued by Strands of Bronze & Gold. Looking forward to what you think of it.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your internship! Very cool! Good luck with your presentation!
RE: Cheshire Cat leggings - thank you! Blackmilk makes amazing stuff & after I bought my Hamlet leggings, I totally wanted another. An Alice themed one seemed appropriate. :)
I'm just over half way through Strands of Bronze and Gold, so I'm certainly enjoying it enough to carry on reading - I might have a review up in April! :)
DeleteThank you!
They're amazing, I bet they look awesome on. :)