A Distant Prospect – ISBN 9780987435101

Monthly Archives: September 2017

Hitler Arrives in Vienna March 13, 1938. — How do you summarise By Violence Unavenged in 100 words or less? Here’s one draft: ‘I will never forgive … I would have her hang. And if I had to hang her myself, I would.’ Phoebe Raye fulfills her father’s dreams and visits Vienna. Her travel plans, however, conceal her […]

I will never forgive : Leech Gathering #8

September 19, 2017 in Book Production / By Violence Unavenged / Cover / Progress / Sequel tagged Leech gathering by annette

My original intention was for In the Hearts of Kings to be a publisher-friendly, economically written 70-100,000 words. No chance of that. It’s become a trilogy, with each volume being separately published, By Violence Unavenged being the first. Today’s writing session ended with a reconsideration of structure. By Violence Unavenged has fallen comfortably […]

Divide and Conquer?: Leech Gathering #7

September 14, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Progress tagged Leech gathering by annette

One of the challenges of By Violence Unavenged has been make the world of 1930s Vienna accessible to a non-German speaking reader. Music, and song in particular, has proved an invaluable medium. Austrians love to sing, so the inclusion of song is essential in bringing that culture to life. By Violence […]

Handy Music. Leech Gathering #6

September 12, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Progress / Sequel tagged Leech gathering by annette

This week’s Shelfie features a selection of works written between 1900 and 1945 by Austrian and German writers, works which provide insight into the zeitgeist, as well as communicate historical and social details, words, and expressions – all valuable for creating character and setting. They were my staple reading when […]

Capturing the Zeitgeist: Sunday Shelfie, 10 September 2017

September 10, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Reading tagged Sunday Shelfie by annette

In 2013, having decided to shift narrators from Lucy Straughan in A Distant Prospect to Phoebe Raye in By Violence Unavenged, I hoped to avoid writing complex emotional analysis; and instead developed a detached, falsely dispassionate narrator in an attempt to communicate a complicated backstory. What was I thinking? Meanwhile, the little […]

Heeding the Little Voice: Leech Gathering #5

September 8, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Progress tagged Leech gathering by annette

Below is Gustav Klimt’s Jurisprudence, a fragment of which I’m thinking of using as the cover for By Violence Unavenged. It’s in public domain, which is fortunate for publishing purposes. Being in black and white (no coloured picture of the painting exists), I will have to incorporate colour another way: a little […]

Cover image for ‘By Violence Unavenged’

September 7, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Cover / Sequel tagged Book cover / Klimt by annette

Creepy Aunt? Portrait of Jacqueline Boage, by Sergius Pauser — The first Ailine chapter is finished. This umpteenth draft means Ailine gets a few more chapters. Of course she deserves the attention, and I can see how this set-up will work for Volume Three, which I will have to rough out. Writing is like working on an enormous canvas over […]

Creepy Aunt Chapter Finished. Leech Gathering #4

September 6, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Progress tagged Leech gathering by annette

Creepy Aunt? Portrait of Jacqueline Boage, by Sergius Pauser — Continuing with the first ‘Ailine’ chapter. Passages written two years ago are now being reworked, so I have the words (lucky me). I now have to make pictures: dramatic scenes that best illustrate my purpose (I wonder what that is?). Show, don’t tell. But why is it that I never […]

Leech Gathering #3

September 5, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Progress tagged Leech gathering by annette

Creepy Aunt? Portrait of Jacqueline Boage, by Sergius Pauser — Evil: the parasite of the Good. Today’s 1000 words has been spent on the villain, Ailine Devereaux, whom I have avoided up till now, but who must be written sometime. I’ve left her till late because she has to creep through the text, and because she exists mainly through other […]

‘That creepy aunt’. Leech gathering #2

September 4, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Characters / Progress tagged Ailine Devereaux / Leech gathering by annette

168,082 words so far! The last five years have been busy ones, after all. By Violence Unavenged first draft nearly finished.

Word count 4 September 2017

September 4, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Progress tagged Word Count by annette

Sunday Shelfie 03/09/2017 — What I’ve read/ What I’m currently reading this week: Shakespeare, The Tempest, because one can never have enough Shakespeare; because I don’t know this comedy as well as the others, because I need to read Brave New World. Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped. JP was shocked that I hadn’t read it, so am reading […]

Sunday Shelfie 3 September 2017

September 3, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Reading tagged Sunday Shelfie by annette

To give myself some encouragement, I am writing a daily update on progress on the sequel so far. By Violence Unavenged, Volume One of In the Hearts of Kings, is nearing completion. I started this novel in the middle, worked to the end, tackled the beginning, and then worked back […]

Leech gathering, or author’s daily update

September 3, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Progress tagged Leech gathering by annette