The Scottish landscape is masterless…

Tags

Braveheart, films, Glencoe, Gregory's Girl, Greyfriar's Bobby, Highland, Highlander, His Judas Bride, Kara McGurkie, Rob Roy, Romance, Scotland, Shallow Grave, Skyfall, The Black Wolf of Lochalpin, The Thirty Nine steps, Trainspotting

Let me tell you, as someone who spends a bit of time in it, it sure is.

Huddled in the Boot Bar in Glencoe, last January, having had a bit of a run in with a mountain–a tree  root broke my fall as I sort of contemplated the beauty of the gully a hundred feet below–the party of English climbers we got talking to, agreed re the landscape. Hadn’t they just shamefully spent the day at the Ice Climbing Centre instead, having been forced off an adjacent peak to the one we’d been on.

 

The landscape is also stunning. I mean it even makes my photos look ok. From the remote upland hills of the south, to the mountainous ranges in the north, the landscape is also as diverse as the rolling winds that sweep it. There’s the savage grandeur of wild, lonely places like Glencoe and the sunlit splendour of the low lying Lowlands. The Scottish character is forged in granite..and I’m not talking people here, I’m talking the  landscape itself.

Setting out to write His Judas Bride, I wanted to capture that canvas because it’s not just the country, it’s the history, it’s the very particular breed of people who inhabit this land.

Glencoe must be one of my favourite places on earth. The Glencoe Massacre is quite a  story. I liked the idea of an impregnable glen that all the other clans coveted…

It let me set up a Trojan Horse scenario, an enemy chief sending his daughter as a bride, only she’s not there to actually marry anyone—another wee Scottish tradition.

Why was Lochalpin a place no stranger had set foot on for five years though? Well, that’s down to Callm McDunnagh, the Black Wolf.

And, of course his Brotherhood of Wolves

The fearless band who chuck everyone out on sight….if you chance to live that long…who Callm formed in the wake of that afternoon. having first sold his soul to the devil. 

 

You see another good reason to set a book in Scotland…never mind the gorgeous scenery, the rolling mists, the history, is the superstition, the myths and legends. Selling their souls? Scottish lords were aye doing that

Then there’s the fact you can forge your characters from all these things.  Lochalpin is as much part of the Black Wolf as he is part of it. It wasn’t just enough that he HAD to be drop dead gorgeous for to remind Kara of anything, so she’s troubled even from that very first glimpse of him….

 

She is a woman who can well take care of herself. As the story unfolds she needs a reason to want to be involved with a man again, beyond her initial ruthless motives. And this one offers the kind of safety she’s never known.

All right time to stop the Call-fest.

Scotland isn’t just a great location for books, it’s a great location for movies. It’s purely hypothetical, in long ago Scotland there were no cinemas, but here’s ten set in some way in Scotland Kara and the Wolf might have enjoyed and why.

I’ll be back on Thursday this week with my Wolf Brotherhood quiz.

1. Highlander.

What’s not to like about this film that has Christopher Lambert playing a Highlander with a French accent –there was the Auld Alliance mind you –and Scotland’s very own Shirr Sean playing a Spaniard with a Scots accent?  All this fighting stuff and tearing out throats with your teeth would be right up the Wolf’s street.

2. Braveheart

Okay, so the Dulux face paint isn’t exactly fetching when it comes to fashion statements, that hard strength in leather would appeal to Kara. The Wolf might find Murren’s murder a bit hard to take.

3 Rob Roy Well, the scenery is certainly bonnie. And that’s a fine broadsword Liam sports.

4 Local Hero

Local hero?   Now that would have to be the Wolf.

5 Gregory’s Girl Hmmm. She’s a girl and she’s certainly different from any he’s ever known so this might appeal to the Wolf given Kara is much the same. Also it’s a coming of age scenario which neither got the chance to do.

6 Trainspotting.

Tommy and the gang get off an Intercity train to “get some fresh air” on a hike at Corrour railway station, which is located on Rannoch Moor, not far from Glancoe. Imagine what happens next when the Brotherhood of Wolves spot them…..

 

7 Shallow Grave

Bodies in secret graves in the woods might sound a bit more up my other heroines’ street, but I’m pretty sure Kara and the Wolf might exchange a few glances here about her father.

8 Greyfriar’s Bobby

Oh come on….I don’t know about Callm and Kara, but I can tell you now Dug would just love Bobby. She’d bat her doggy eyelashes no trouble at all.

9 Skyfall

Are you kidding? The above scene was shot in Glen Etive which is just around the back of Glencoe. Although I’m pretty sure that knowing every nook and cranny as he does, the Wolf would soon suss that the bulk of these ‘Highland’ scenes were  shot down south. He’d be happy though that James Bond’s father was from Glencoe. Why did Ian Fleming decide on that? Cos he liked Shirr Sean’s portrayal of Bond.

10 The Thirty Nine Steps

Richard Hannay goes into hiding in Scotland. Okay somewhere in Galloway might not be anywhere near Glencoe, the Wolf still might be giving Kara a few prickling glares here about her sister’s bodyguard hiding out in Lochalpin. Then, of course there’s the sort of ‘bundling’ scene. Two people forced to spend the night together…..

Oh…all right…cue for a Kara, Callm extract.

“Don’t like bundling?” The pile of furs sank beneath his foot as he reached for a dry tunic from the rope-line that dangled above her head. “Damned right I don’t. So don’t you start giving me any maidenly grief that you’re here and so am I. Or how I shouldn’t have brought you. Do you understand?” He snatched the tunic from the line. “Because so far as I’m concerned for tonight, you’re here…bed. I’m over there…chair.”

“A cave. You live in a cave.” She didn’t mean to sound so forlorn about it but he did, didn’t he? An underground cavern, to be precise. How could he? And how could she be so stupid, when what she   needed was to be amenable, nice.

He whistled and Dug sprung up. “And she’s there. In the middle.”

“Dug? Dug? Dug’s a—” Kara swallowed a gulp. Oh, the night was full of surprises wasn’t it? Horrible ones. And now if that glower was anything to go by, she had offended him further.

“Don’t you go telling me you never saw the damn cur’s minus more than a front paw. No one’s that stupid. Not someone here to be married. Not someone who’s got—”

“But you call her Dug.”

He tossed the tunic down. “Perhaps that’s because she doesn’t like being called bitch.”

 

To love, honor, and betray…

To get back her son, she will stop at nothing…

For five years Kara McGurkie has preferred to forget she’s a woman. So it’s no problem for her to swear to love and honor, to help destroy a clan, when it means getting back the son she lost. But when dire circumstances force her to seduce her fiancé’s brother on the eve of the wedding, will the dark secrets she holds and her greatest desire be enough to save her from his powerful allure?

To save his people, neither will he…

Callm McDunnagh, the Black Wolf of Lochalpin, ruthlessly guards heart and glen from dangerous intruders. But from the moment he first sees Kara he knows he must possess her, even though surrendering to his passion may prove the most dangerous risk of all.

She has nothing left to fear except love itself…

Now only Kara can decide what passion can save or destroy, and who will finally learn the truth of the words… Till death do us part.

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On NOT Getting Published

Tags

Braveheart, dealing with rejection as a writer, Etopia Press, Publishing, Sharon Struth, The Hourglass by Sharon Struth, Writers Resources

Oh God, another helpful post on that. Just what you don’t want to read on a wet Wednesday if you’ve just received your twentieth rejection slip of the day on your perfectly crafted  manuscript and the sugar bowl is all out of sugar so you can’t even sweeten the coffee and that drip, drip sound isn’t just your enthusiasm dripping away but a leaking roof tile.

Can’t these slimy  authors just feck the hell off with their success stories and leave you alone to your misery?

Well.  You will be dancing on your leaking roof to know we can’t. Because today I am going to introduce you to a special guest. Polly Positive. .  

Oops sorry. Just what you don’t need to see on a wet Wednesday… No. Here she is.

Polly isn’t actually mine before you don the boxing mitt and smack her where the sun doesn’t shine. She belongs to author Sharon Struth. Oh dear….another author shoving their success stories and their buy links in your face. Mine are over the page by the way. 

But the fact is it is a lottery getting a publisher. and while we’re busily getting our teeth kicked in, on the prowl we do hear all these marvellously depressing  success stories.  There’s even me oh blah, boast, six days to Etopia Press.  We don’t always hear of the dark moments behind them. The years behind the six days. The times we think ..right that’s it.

Personally I’ve recently come across two fabulous articles. One by author and writing pal, Noelle Clark–oh that’s another thing we do, blab about our fabulous writing buddies. Noelle’s article is a very nice piece though about writers who weren’t in the first flush of youth when they finally made it.

Hey! Not as depressing as all that. You can read it here.  http://www.noelleclarkauthor.com/2013/05/late-bloomers-are-budding-with-great.html

The second was by Sharon Struth. She talked so honestly of her struggle to find a publisher, I’ve asked her here today.

Shey. I wasn’t actually  first drawn to you as a fellow writer because we share the same stable. It was Polly Positive. Sharon, can you tell us a little about that?

Sharon.  I’m so glad you liked Polly Positive, who publically appeared in a piece I had published in “Better after 50.”  She’s a constant companion, only veering from my side on occasion. I’m a true optimist, so naturally that helps a great deal in my new job as a writer. Here’s a link to my “Polly” story: http://betterafter50.com/2013/05/its-never-too-late-for-a-new-career/.

Shey. So how old were you when you started to write? Or is that big girl’s secret!?

Sharon. I became a full-time writer around five years ago, at the age of forty-eight.

Shey. Just how it feel when that phone didn’t ring?

Sharon.  I’m a realist. I knew that a writing career would take time, hard work and commitment. I knew it wasn’t for anybody lacking in a thick skin. My skin isn’t terribly thick but I had Polly Positive (you know, my sidekick mentioned above.) She reminded me to stay focused on my tasks, not worry about the outcome. 

Shey.  Even when you had an agent? And still waited?

Sharon. Having my agent has been a true godsend. For the first time, I didn’t feel alone. I had an ally who wanted to see my work published, too. Sure, once she began to submit, we got rejections. I stayed positive, at least for a while…

Shey. I’m just thinking of the line from Braveheart here.

And dying in your bed many years from now…. Was that an all time low? Did you consider giving up?

 Sharon. I had one dark moment where my writing career seemed so bleak that I went into total blackout mode. Polly Positive left my side and I was one step from getting out the “Want Ads” to find an office job to go to each day rather than my trusty computer. Well, the planets must have been in perfect alignment that day because that’s the exact moment my agent called with an offer on The Hourglass, my new release. I still can’t believe it happened that day but am thrilled that it did!

Shey. What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Sharon. Learn everything you can, write every day and find other writers to hang out with (critique groups, professional groups, RWA etc.). Oh, most of all, never give up.

Shey. So there you are. Of course Sharon does have a book out. But I think we can only commend her on her steel teeth. Finish our coffee, phone a roofer AND get back to that manuscript.

Blurb for THE HOURGLASS by Sharon Struth:

Can forgiveness survive lies and unspoken truths?

Until Brenda McAllister’s husband committed suicide, she appeared to have the ideal life: a thriving psychology practice, success as a self-help author, and a model family. But her guilt over her affair with Jack’s best friend prevents her from moving on. Did Jack learn of her infidelity? Was she the cause of his death?

The release of Brenda’s second book forces her into an unexpected assignment with arrogant celebrity author CJ Morrison, whose irritating and edgy exterior hides the torment of his own mistakes. But as she grows closer to CJ, Brenda learns she wasn’t the only one with secrets—Jack had secrets of his own, unsavory ones that may have led to his death. While CJ helps Brenda uncover the truth about her husband, she finds the path to forgiveness isn’t always on the map.

Excerpt:

An unexpected gravitational pull swelled Brenda’s anger. Her cute quip ran into hiding. She no longer cared about winning this man’s favor. His rudeness left her feeling as if she’d been doused with hot coffee this time. Brenda clenched her fists. A year of internal browbeating over Jack’s suicide had left her easily irritated.

Brenda gripped the frail edges of her self-control. “I once again offer my apologies for the accident, by definition an unplanned event with lack of intent.” He looked down his sturdy, Grecian nose at her, so she stood and put her hands on her hips. “Shouldn’t you, as a writer, know that?”

Every line on his face tensed. “I could do without your sarcasm.” He leaned closer. “Thanks to you, I missed my meeting. Maybe tomorrow morning you could get room service.”

The brunette unleashed a tight smirk. CJ motioned for them to move on.

Brenda fumbled for a good retort. As he stepped away, the last word went with him. The same way Jack had the last word in their life together. A silent explosion went off inside Brenda’s head and propelled her anger forward.

“Mr. Morrison?” She raised her voice to be heard above the crowd.

He looked over his shoulder and arched a questioning eyebrow.

Brenda crossed her arms and fixed a phony smile as she nodded toward his companion. “It’s so nice of you to bring your daughter to the conference.”

 FOR A TRAILER AND BOOK GROUP QUESTIONS, VISIT: www.thehourglassnovel.com

 Buy THE HOURGLASS at:

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Hourglass-ebook/dp/B00CIX1YDO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369939228&sr=8-1&keywords=the+hourglass+struth

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-hourglass-sharon-struth/1115199538?ean=2940016552453

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 All Romance E-books: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thehourglass-1173513-149.html

                                ~ About the Author ~

Novelist Sharon Struth believes you’re never too old to pursue a dream. The Hourglass, her debut novel, received first place in the Dixie Cane Memorial Contest and second place in the Golden Heart. She writes from the friendliest place she’s ever lived, Bethel, Connecticut, along with her husband, two daughters and canine companions. For more information, including where to find her published essays, please visit www.sharonstruth.com