Editing and Tailoring

Edits of Coalface continue this week - the great thing of rewrites is I take a fresh look at elements of the story I thought were great, and get the chance to make them even better.
The downside is, when you've resolved one plot point, another three unresolved plot points pop up...

It's tricky work, then something lands in your laptop that keeps you going.

I'm a scribbler when it comes to illustrating the alternative Victorian England of Coalface - drawings with a lot of passion, but not much accuracy.



Stirling Single at NRM pic: wikipedia

I'm always on the lookout for things that reflect what I'm trying to bring to the page, and I have to give a big thankyou to Tor.com for posting some fantastic David Sims pics of Prada's forthcoming range of menswear.  The choice of actors to model the outfits is inspired, turning the shoot into something that crackles with potential for me as a writer.


If you want an idea of what Coalface looks like in my head as I'm writing and editing it, (and what I'm saving up to add to my wardrobe as of today) - this is a good place to start - just add one of these in the background...

Out and About - Lanhydrock

Inspiration comes in all sorts of places – one of the strangest things is when it comes back to meet you when you visit somewhere again…

Lanhydrock has been a National Trust house since the 1970s – it’s interesting because the exterior of the building is thoroughly Elizabethan, but a 19th c. fire gutted one half of the building.  The result is a Victorian version of Grand Designs, with the cutting edge of gadgets and ‘in’ designs of 1883 rubbing shoulders with the ancient plasterwork in the long gallery.



It’s my second visit to one of the places that fuelled my imagination as I began to create the alternate Victorian England of Coalface, and has inspired some of the places Cole encounters in his quest to avenge his father’s death.  The whole house exudes a unique character, so much so that it influenced one of my favourite lines in the story.  I’m working through re-edits of Coalface at the moment; fingers crossed the sentence makes the next edit – you never know until you finish.

I took these snaps at Lanhydrock while my tent was being tested to destruction on the Cornish coastline – I lost the tent, but got the pictures –enjoy.