 Hi everyone! November was a busy writing month, and since we're headed for the end of 2024 I thought it was time to give a writing update. I also have an exciting announcement!
1 Comment
 Delville Wood Cemetery Lately, I've been noticing a bit of a pushback against the lack of clean fiction set in the first world war when compared to the second. As I have several books and stories set during or around WWI, including my published story Awakened in Another War, I was very glad to see this. But something still heavily absent from WWI fiction is the huge role that South Africa played on multiple occasions. While it was deeply involved in both world wars, I find its role in WWI even more fascinating, due to how recent the terrible conflict of the Boer War still was and how young and even fragile the country was at the time. This is something I explore in both Awakened in Another War and several books in my Brothers at War series (still being written).
Ray's story was so much fun to write. When the No Clue Anthology was announced, I knew I wanted to write for it. But I had a problem - I had three distinct story ideas that would fit the theme, and I wanted to write all of them! I took my confused bunch of loose ends to my sister, and after brainstorming for quite a while, we finally tied them into a plot I liked. Ideas kept crowding in, even after I had written the story. In fact I almost completely switched to something entirely different halfway through the process! But I ended up sticking with what I have, and although it turned out somewhat different to what I had planned, I love how many of the original elements I was able to include. This story has some of my favourite tropes and is set in one of my favourite time periods, and I ended up so excited to write it. I started just a few weeks after the anthology was announced, but it was six months of edits before I was ready to submit it. After my family had read it and I had edited it myself several times, it went to beta readers. This resulted in much-needed changes - I'm so grateful to Courtenay, Faith, Joy, and Hannah for all the work they put into this story. Courtenay, in particular, helped me research various historical points, and I ended up enjoying that process way more than I would have otherwise! Not to mention, I found out all kinds of interesting facts about the British army and ended up with a much clearer idea of the setting and time period. Then came the need for a title - and that ended up taking way longer than it should have! I normally have a title right from the beginning, and I find it difficult to write without one. But, right up until it was almost ready to submit, this was just "my No Clue story." I toyed with dozens of title ideas, but none of them seemed to fit. Finally, with the help of my sister and my beta-reader Joy, I settled on Awakened in Another War. And finally, it was ready to submit - only a few days before the deadline! Writing a synopsis was next, and after that, attempts to design a cover. Finally, working with my sister at Coverbook Designs (also the designer of the No Clue cover), I was able to get a cover that I love. Awakened in Another War is a story of war, allegiances, and trust. It can be found in the No Clue Anthology, which is available as an ebook from most online bookstores and as a paperback from Amazon! I just finished reading through the other stories, and I loved seeing the different ways the authors came up with to include the very unusual theme of no clue!
If you've read the anthology, please consider leaving a review on Goodreads. Or let me know what you thought in the comments! ~Lydia Welcome to Beyond History's Page! I'm so glad you decided to join me on my journey through the past. Expect a wide variety of posts, from book spotlights to writing updates to historical tidbits and more! As a South African, I'm very excited to share little-known sides of my country's history through my writing and blog posts. Make sure to subscribe so you never miss a post! ~Lydia |
Lydia Coral Willcockis a South African homeschool grad passionate about writing accurate and realistic historical fiction set in or centred around her own country. She is also an avid reader and strongly believes the two go together. Never happier than with a book in her hand or a WIP in her head, she also loves studying history, playing the piano, and knitting favourite literary characters. Connect with Lydia on:
|
RSS Feed
