#WritersCoffeeClub 18/7: Talk about how a work progressed from its initial inspiration. How different was it in the end? The Cruz Espada trilogy began as an experiment. I took a character concept from a Ray Bradbury short story published in 1948, and placed it in a plague-riddled medieval nunnery.

I'm still editing and revising volumes 1 & 2, but vol 3 of the Cruz Espada trilogy is now properly a work in progress. It is set in the post-plague world of the early 1350's, as a new Pope goes to war. Our hero, having gone AWOL during the plague, is back and lucky to escape execution as a deserter.

#WritersCoffeeClub 15/7: Do you read a lot outside of your comfort zone? A difficult question to answer. I don't read #books I don't like, but as I write #histfic, I have to read a lot of research material, some of which can be heavy going. #writing #writingcommunity #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub July 7: How actively do you seek out criticism or critique for a WIP or a finished work? I ask members of an online writers group for feedback on an almost weekly basis. Some are also beta readers. When you get lots of opinions, the important themes emerge. #writing #histfic

#WritersCoffeeClub 4th July ~ Who do you go to for constructive criticism? I belong to an online writers group which has proved enormously helpful. #writing #histfic #writingcommuniy #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 1/7: Recently, how excited have you been to sit down to write? I'm a planner, so much of my creative excitement precedes the writing process. The development of the story and characters happens during my research. #Writing / editing is a different excitement. #writesky #histfic

#WritersCoffeeClub 30/6: How did this month go for you? Not bad. I entered two competitions and submitted full manuscripts to a publisher's "open submissions" event. They will probably come to nothing, but felt like steps forward. I also began #writing Vol 3 of my trilogy #histfic #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 29th Jun ~ Is writing a lonely endeavour for you? Not entirely. While I need solitude to write, I'm a member of a writers group with whom I share extracts from my work and who provide useful feedback. So it doesn't feel lonely. In fact I enjoy it. #writing #histfic #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub Describe your opening scene without using your original text 1346. Three horsemen are riding muddy roads through Normandy on a darkening February afternoon. They are en route to Rouen cathedral. They will find evidence. Demand answers. Make arrests. #writing #histfic #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub #WritingCommunity 24th Jun 2026. Must you know the ending before you write the first line? Yes. If you don't know where your story is going, how do you build the architecture it needs to get there? #writing #histfic #writersky

#ScribesAndMakers Do you create work based on the creations of others? (Eg. Pop art, fan art, fan fic, etc.) Why or why not? My current WIP "A Summoning of Angels" was conceived when I imagined a "character" from a Ray Bradbury sci-fi story in the context of a medieval abbey. #writing #histfic

#WritersCoffeeClub June 22: Walk us through how you build a story. I write real-world #histfic, inserting some fictional but realistic characters into what history tells us. From that point on, the stories almost write themselves. #writing #writingcommunity #writesky #booksky

#WordWeavers 20/6: If you had no worldly pressures, how long would you happily write each day? I am fortunate not to be overburdened with wordly pressures, but even so, I write, rewrite and edit on an unpredictable schedule. Maybe if I had a comfortable #writing chair I'd write for longer.

#WritersCoffeeClub 20. What of your immediate surroundings enter your work? The seasons, music, dreams? A local Roman road appears in one of my stories, but that's all. Probably because I write #histfic set in the 14th century. #writing #writingcommunity #writesky

#WordWeavers 19/6: Have you ever been influenced by your book, like starting a new hobby because your MC has it? I write #histfic, and my research to understand the world my characters inhabit enriches my life the way international travel influences me, providing insights into other ways of living.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 18: Talk about a time fiction shocked you. The only shock I remember was John Fowles "The Collector". An insight into a deviant mind which I did not enjoy. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 17th Jun ~ How colourful is your #writing? I don't have "colorful prose" as a stylistic objective. In fact, I would rather convey a pin-sharp image in monochrome than a blurry but colourful one. It would probably take fewer words too, and concise prose *is* my ambition #histfic

#WritersCoffeeClub 16 Jun Have you ever based a character more or less on yourself? All my characters share (most of) my moral universe, because I don't think I could write a truly evil character. But are any of them recognisably like me? No. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky #booksky

#WritersCoffeeClub 15th Jun ~ What is the most painful part of the writing process for you? The rejections from literary agents. It is discouraging - but not fatal. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 14/6: Talk about something you’re willing to endure in order to write. Like isolation, back pain, rejection, and reading prize-winning comp titles that I would be ashamed to put my name to? #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writtesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 13/6: Share your biggest writing habit (good or bad). Everyone: Do you do this too? If not, would you adopt it? My biggest writing habit seems to be endless editing. Not fun, but bizarrely, after each revision I'm convinced I've made the perfect change #writing #histfic #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 11th Jun ~ How arbitrary are the names in your work? They're not arbitrary at all. I research names appropriate to the geography and era. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky #booksky

#WritersCoffeeClub Jun10 What is the greatest pleasure of your writerly life? Writing is what I've always wanted to do, but I had to spend most of my life earning a living and raising a family. Now, finally, I get to do what I want to do. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 7 Jun Do you avoid idioms, colloquialisms, or embrace them? I write #histfic and modern idioms simply don't fit in historical settings. Avoid. #writing #writingcommunity #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub Jun 5 What climes and climates feature in your work? Why those? There's the Sahara desert (in volume 1) and a frosty English winter (in volume 2). Why? Because my hero was born in Seville and grew up in Morocco before being sent on a mission to England. #writing #histfic

#WritersCoffeeClub June 2nd What do you hope sticks with a reader long after? The careful plotting of links between volume 1 and 2. If all goes well, volume 3 will achieve the same. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky

#ScribesAndMakers - 1st Jun. Choose an adjective to describe how you're feeling about your creativity this month. Optimistic. The optimism is essential but may not be well-founded. #writing #histfic #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 1/6: In what ways do your real-world surroundings appear in your work? A Roman road near where I live appears in volume 2, and Oxford University gets a mention, but as the trilogy is set in the 14th century nothing else fits. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 29 May: What (in terms of writing) do you fear? That our digital civilization will abandon long-form literature in favour of little picture books. I hope the trend is reversible, but I'm not sure. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky

#PennedPossibilities 1025: Would you or have you ever killed off a member of the main cast? How would or how did you feel afterward? Volume 2 of the trilogy is set during the bubonic plague, so yes, most of the cast didn't make it. How did I feel afterwards? It had to be done. #writing #histfic

#WritersCoffeeClub May 26 In what ways does your work defy expectation? I write real-world historical fiction, without dragons, magic or wizards. This is apparently unfashionable. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub May 24: What do you need in order to finish your current WIP? If I could afford it, a professional editor. But I can't afford one. So the answer is another four months or so of self-editing. And it still won't be completely finished. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 21 May: What targets do you set? To what frequency? I have a daily target, but it is simply to make progress - any progress, on my WIP. The only other target is annual. One new first draft to be completed every 12 months. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 18 With whom do you wish you could share your work but can't? As an unpublished writer, the answer is "people who might buy my work". #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 17 May 2026 If you work exclusively digitally, could you work by hand? (Or vice-versa!) I probably could work by hand, but it would be a much slower process. My admiration for writers who produced great literature without the benefits of digital technology is endless. #histfic

#ScribesandMakers 5/10: If your project will be part of a series, do you know that before you start? I didn't know it was going to be a series. It started as one book. It is now two volumes of a trilogy, and I can see a long series of books after the trilogy is done. #writing #histfic #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub May 9: Share the first line of your current WIP. "They are not going to escape him. The road is old and straight, easy to follow, even at night." #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky

#ScribesAndMakers 1 May Are you starting any new projects this month? I have a plot outline for volume 3 of the Cruz Espada trilogy. I may make a start on #writing it when I've finished the next round of editing volumes 1 and 2. #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 4/28: How magical is your work? Currently, not at all. I'm writing real-world historical fiction and magic has no place in it. However, there is religious belief, coincidence and misunderstsnding - which often has a similar effect. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 27: Share a possibly unpopular opinion. "Show don't tell" has been adopted by too many aspiring authors as an iron rule which turns their writing into an endless stream of thinly plotted dialogue from which no readable story can ever emerge. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity

#WritersCoffeeClub April 25 - Share your current biggest creative frustration. The hunt for a literary agent. It is *so* discouraging that it almost stops me from writing. I keep putting the search off, so I do another round of editing instead. #writing #histfic #writesky #writingcommunity

#WritersCoffeeClub 4/23. Share a silly mistake you've made while writing. In an early draft of "The Blood Cross", a story set in the 14th century, I mentioned my hero's Jesuit teachers. The Jesuits didn't exist until the mid 16th century. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 04 April: Do you switch between past and present tense? How do you make it work? "A Summoning of Angels" spans a year. The hero arrives part-way through. I wrote the scenes before the hero's arrival in past tense and the scenes after his arrival in present tense. It seems to work

#WritersCoffeeClub Mar 26 How Much of a break or hiatus do you take between works? That's not something I plan. I'm two volumes into the current #histfic trilogy, and editing those is taking longer than I expected, particularly because I've got to get feedback from beta readers. Breaks just happen.

Learned today that I've been turned down for a bursary to fund a mentored writing course which could have been life-changing. I suppose it's best seen as just another rejection slip. More to come, I'm sure. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub AND #ScribesandMakers Day 28: How well did this short month go for you, in terms of writing? I think I'm at last getting my head around self-editing. I'm cutting out filter-words in both my manuscripts. Small changes making a big difference. #writing #histfic #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub Feb 27: Do you edit while you write? Hardly at all on the first draft, but more and more on subsequent versions. Neither editing or #writing has a clearly defined endpoint. By the time the manuscript is close to final form, there'll be more editing, but the writing never stops.

#WritersCoffeeClub 15/2: How big are your settings? Volume 1 - Europe and North Africa during the first half of the 14th century. Volume 2 - An abbey in Oxfordshire, England during 1348/9 and the arrival of the plague. Volume 3 - Europe during the years after the plague. #writing #histfic

#WritersCoffeeClub 11: What time of day is most productive for you? Why? My muse has no particular favourite time of day or place of work. She has recently woken me at 5am with suggestions for rewrites. She is not under my control. I wish she was. #writing #histfic #writingcomminity #writesky

#writerscoffeeclub 02/09 Do you subscribe to "show, don't tell?" Whether I do or not is beside the point. Literary agents demand it and I would stand no chance of ever being traditionally published if I didn't adapt my style to that imperative. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky