More things to put in the novel(s)
Fragments of Samian. The number of late Roman books (even including Rosemary Sutcliff) that include references to this pottery! I think they're a supposed to be heirlooms, or some such, but the numbers that survive intact in novels about the 5th century are amazing. It's bordering on the Dormouse test. So some fragments found in a mole hill near a derelict Roman villa will do nicely.Beavers. I want 'em in. They're lovely beasts and are odds on to go into SoD. Beaver teeth pendants are sometimes founds in Anglo-Saxon burials, and that's a good enough excuse for me. A scene at the beaver-created fishpond perhaps?
Trouble is, these things have to have some sort of purpose within the story, so weaving them in is a delicate job.
posted by Alex Bordessa @ Monday, January 30, 2006
1 Comments:
I really wanted to include a miniature Japanese tinder pistol in my novel, but I just couldn't get the hero to use it. To paraphrase Chekov, if there is a tinder pistol shown on the mantelpiece in the first chapter, it should be used to set fire to something in the ninth chapter.
So it has to go, to be replaced by a few barrels of marine acid and discussion of the heyday of 18th Century ballooning.
There's always the sequel, since I have lost the big idea for that to another writer...
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