Location in writing. Four places in #Glencoe

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Glencoe, Highland Romance, highlanders, His Judas Bride, Location, Location in writing, Scottish, The Deivl's Staircase, The Hidden Valley Glencoe, The Lochan Glencoe

 

Shey – Yup. Indeed I’ve been meaning to blog it and show off a few pics of that weekend….ages ago now.

 

Shey….including the moveable summit there above. I say that cos mountains in Glencoe are a bit like writing books that way. You think you’re there when you’re not. Indeed you could say that about this whole biz.

But location? Yep. Kate Furnivall said something last post about it being another character in a book and for me that says it all.   It may not have goal, motivation or conflict BUT you ignore it at your peril if you want to bring your book to life.  So I always look to choose a location, or invest a place, a house for example, with characteristics that will hopefully do that.   

Glencoe has been a special place for me, for many years.  And when it came to thinking of what I could

blog about this book, well, it’s a place of savage grandeur , I thought given I’ve a lot of different readers now, so why not the places that found their way into the book?

Besides I got Christmas baking to do and get in the freezer.

In writing His Judas Bride, I wanted to write about the Highlands as I know them. And the clans as history tells us. That’s with a lot of bloodshed and savagery, oh and double crossing. 

So….  Location one that found its way into the book–

One -The Devil’s Staircase.

The most obvious way to stop her from leaving Lochalpin—and it was written in his blood, he damn well would—was to station men at the top of the pass. He’d done that. Hell. Four days now. He’d done everything.

 

Seen above there in the snow….. which used to cut the Highlands off in the winter months often as not. So yeah, there’s a  ton of snow in this story. There’s also the Staircase.

In 1692, the path was the approach route for the (apparently delayed) troops coming from Kinlochleven to provide reinforcements for the Massacre of Glencoe in which 38 people died at the hands of billeted soldiers, who had come as ‘guests’ – the only Trojan hamster…oops… horse way in to the glen at that time.  I may have renamed Glencoe,  Lochalpin, but the Trojan horse principle is the core of the book.

Famously? In personal terms? Well the scene of a turn back off the range behind it in June, covered in ice, in Arctic conditions.  

TWO – The Hidden Valley

 Not once in the last hour, as she’d edged along that treacherous gully, expecting to pepper the rocks hundreds of feet below, with her bones at any moment, had she any idea anyone was following

Famously, the scene of one incident where our party handed out hotel towels– be prepared is my  mountain motto, specially with things taken from everyone else, sure the hotel was delighted NOT–and formed a chain across a raging burn to rescue a stranded party, as you do in Glencoe….

 ‘And the Macdonalds hid their stolen cows here?’  I asked the first time I was ever here.  I mean the coos must have had quite a climb, how they got along the rake with their big cloppers, never mind the one slip and that’s it bit,  I couldn’t tell you. But ideal for giving Kara second thoughts about getting out the place again once things start to fall apart.   Oh, and maybe taking you dudes to, next time I visit……

Location three

The Lochan –

Knew it, didn’t he—what a stunning specimen he was. More stunning in fact than the plate-glass loch, the iced mountains that rose like sentinels around it.

All right…man made under the most romantic circumstances by Lord Strathcona, https://shehannemoore.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/she-had-seduced-him/ so here doubling as the lovely loch of Lochalpin. Naturally in the story it has a castle out on the loch, and the Black Wolf and his bunch of bandits live in underground caves on the shore…so let’s not hang about here either…..

Famously- okay, ‘fessing up here.. our party once got rid a large half tree trunk here that had been cluttering our boot.

And lastly

 Four – Eilean Munde…….

‘“Has no one told you about the Isle of the Saints, then?”

“The w-what?” But perhaps that was because she’d always been more acquainted with the Isle of the Sinners.

 

No not a person. A place. The burial island  once used by the Stewarts of Ballachulish, the MacDonalds of Glencoe and the Camerons of Callart. The clans shared the island and the maintenance of the graves, even when they were responsible for putting one another in them.  Also the site of a chapel built by St. Fintan Mundus…naturally chapel and island  doubles for the Island of the Saints, a place Kara rather unwillingly becomes acquainted with. Famously in my own book of life, near the spot where we wrecked the local cafe’s grass when our car sunk into it…..

That’s good dudes, cos see that island. Next time that’s where you’re going.  And since you can’t swim it’s where you’ll be staying too. Now I am gonna to open the voddie and do the cossack dance…….

To love, honor, and betray…

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

 

Dire circumstances have forced Kara McGurkie to forget she’s a woman. Dire circumstances force her to swear to love and honor, to help destroy a clan, when it means getting back her son. 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…

Since his wife’s murder, 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.

https://amzn.to/2PSe9SR

 

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Interview with the Television Editor.

Tags

East Kilbride, Flash fiction writing, Glasogw, Iain Kelly, New book, Scottish, Short story writing, televions editting

 

 

 

Iain.

Ha, well I’m being facetious when I say in my spare time.

My full-time job is as a Post-Production editor for television, but between trying to write and having twins aged 2 1/2, work can sometimes feel like the time that’s left over! Glasgow is a good city to work in at the moment for post-production as there are several companies based here, along with STV and BBC Scotland. I work at BBC Scotland, and have done for the last ten years. I started out doing various jobs – photo-copying, runner, camera assistant and eventually worked my way up to editor. The work of an editor involves, at it’s most basic, telling a story with moving pictures and sound. It’s often difficult to describe exactly how that happens and it varies between different types of programs. The basic mechanics involve sitting in front of a computer screen and television monitor, either on my own or with a producer or director and figuring out how the story should unfold. There is a technical side to it, but in relation to my love of writing and story-telling with words, there are a lot of creative similarities.

Iain.

I have worked on various programs, and as I say, all are different and present their own challenges. A lot of my more recent work has been on Children’s programs, which, with a young family seems quite appropriate. If anyone watches CBeebies or CBBC the chances are they will have seen my name on the credits to something, like Copycats, Comic Relief does Glee Club, Nina and the Neurons and My Pet and Me,

to name just a few. There’s a long list of other shows including The One Show, Trust Me I’m A Doctor, The Secret Life of Books, The Review Show, Sportscene, T in the Park. A couple of things I am most proud of are editing the final interview given by the author Iain Banks that he gave about two weeks before he died – ‘Iain Banks – Raw Spirit’. We literally finished editing the program on a Friday, and he passed away on the Sunday. It was very emotional and touching, especially as I am a big fan of his writing. Another, completely different, thing I worked on, as part of a massive team was the BBC Sport coverage of the London Olympics in 2012. I was based in the Olympic Park for the duration of the games and got to edit some amazing footage and sporting events, as well as experience the Games from a unique perspective. I have just finished a series of special programs of ‘My Pet and Me’ where they went to film wildlife in the Galapagos Islands, with the same cameraman who filmed for ‘Planet Earth’. They will be on CBeebies in March and we’re all really pleased with them – well worth looking out for even if you don’t have preschool kids in the house!

 

Iain.

I ignored my Career Guidance Advisor at high school and decided to go to University and study Film & Television Studies at the University of Glasgow because film was something I had always enjoyed. At the time you had to do the course combined with another subject, so I combined my love of film with my love of reading and ended up with a MA degree in English Literature and Film & Television Studies. I loved doing this course, but my Careers Advisor was right on one level because at the end of the course I had no idea what job I wanted to do, or how I was going to turn my love of film and reading into viable employment. After a bit of time working in shops and temping in banks I gave up my flat, moved back in with my Mum and started at the bottom as a runner. There were definitely times when I was delivering mail round offices, doing the tea rounds and photo-copying scripts that I wondered what I was doing with my life and with my degree, but after a lot of long hours and hard work it all worked out in the end. My ‘break’ came while working as the mailroom assistant on BBC Scotland’s soap drama River City. I was able to spend a lot of time with various departments, learn how television was made, and had access to editing equipment – that was when I decided editing was for me.

Iain

Well, like I said, I had always enjoyed reading and equally I have always enjoyed writing. From a very young age at primary school I would write little stories. In the years when I was working long hours trying to make my way into a television career I stopped writing for a long time with only occasional half-hearted attempts at starting to write a novel or short story. Partly, in the days before online blogs and self-publishing, there was always a part of me that thought it was a bit pointless because no one would ever read what I had written. Only in the last couple of years have I returned to writing regularly. At the start of last year I finally did an online writing course with Strathclyde University and through that caught the bug again to tell stories with words. With the stories I wrote for that course I decided to start a fiction writing blog and try and get my stories out to an audience rather than leaving them unused and gathering dust.

Iain.

As part of the writing course and for my blog I have concentrated on short stories. With a blog it is much easier to gain a wider readership with short pieces. I really enjoy the satisfaction of sitting down to write a piece of flash fiction or short story and having it finished either that day or within a short period of time. There is an instant sense of gratification and achievement when something is complete – especially if you know you have written a good one, which doesn’t happen everytime!

Iain

The difficulty I find with writing a longer piece is you don’t get that instant gratification and feedback – it’s a long old slog and you have to keep these characters and plot swirling around in your head for a long time without becoming bored by them – something I have always struggled with.

However, as well as keeping my short pieces going, the target over the next few months is to get a novel finished. I have an idea and a rough plot and am literally starting to write the first few pages now. 

Iain

Getting towards the end of last year I realised I had a good six months worth of short stories and flash fiction pieces that amounted to a reasonably substantial piece of work. There were also enough recurring themes and ideas among them all that I thought they would work together as a collection of stories. Having not self-published before, it also presented a good opportunity to learn about the process involved in doing this. It also meant I could find a new audience for these stories and keep them fresh rather than disappearing on the web and never being read again. I had no great expectations at the start of the process, but I’m really pleased with how it has turned out and I think it stands as a really good selection of my work. I called it ‘Collected Sketches’ because I felt the stories leave a lot for the reader to do, they are in many cases starting points that give you something to think about after reading,  to fill in the rest of the story as they want to – that’s a kind of fiction I like to read as well. 

Iain

It’s been said before by plenty of others more qualified than me but the simplest advice is to keep writing and keep reading. Don’t let doubt get in your way. My other tip would be to not be afraid to get your work out there somehow – whether self-publishing, via a blog, entering competitions – make sure it gets read and take back all the advice and criticism that comes your way – 99% of all the feedback will be constructive and encouraging and it is so fufiling to know that people are taking the time to read your work and respond to it. 

Iain

I am proudly Scottish, but it’s a very fluid question at the moment with the political situation in the UK and Europe.  I support independence in principal for Scotland, but would also like us to remain within the European Union. I have an English mother and other relatives, so I am by no means a hardcore independence campaigner. It has also been a tricky time working for the BBC, which has been seen by some to be biased against the independence campaign and anti-Scottish. From my position on the inside that’s not an argument I agree with particularly, and I try to avoid getting into that particular debate! All the uncertainty in Scotland and more widely round the world does mean there is a lot of fresh material to use as a writer – these are interesting times, and my writing does tend to use real world situations and scenarios (as opposed to fantasy or hard science fiction) In my writing I do like to try and bring a sense of Scottish-ness to my stories, and being born and bred in Glasgow, even a certain Glaswiegian sensibility to my characters – and the novel I am starting just now definitely does that, as well as touching on some of the politics of the day (although it’s never a good idea to get bogged down in too much political debate in a fictional novel). 

Iain.

My film reviews were something I started a few years ago to try and use my education and keep my hand in at studying films. As a film student I always find it difficult to narrow down favourites, but I guess spy films (think Le Carre through to James Bond) would be at the top of my list. However, anything that is a good film I will watch, regardless of genre – which is also true of my reading preferences. If I ever find the time I would like to return to doing more regular film reviews on my blog alongside my fiction writing, but at the moment I’m concentrating on the fiction work.

Iain

As I mentioned the target for 2017 is to get a first novel written, edited and out there – whether that’s sending in out to agents and publishers or self-publishing I will decide once I have a finished novel. Alongside that I will continue to write my short pieces and there is always the opportunity to follow up my first collection of stories with further collections if this first one goes well. Keep an eye on my blog for further news. I’m really enjoying the writing and the journey that I’m on at the moment, so hopefully it continues to be fun as well as productive. And I have to do that in as well as carrying on my editing career and chasing after two toddlers with way more energy than I have!!

 

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Collected Sketches is a series of short stories and flash fiction exploring human nature and the world that we inhabit. Sometimes funny, sometimes scary, from the everyday to the imagined future, exploring locations across the globe, these stories reflectt the globalised society we live in today, the recent history that has led us here and the future we may have already created.

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Iain Kelly lives in East Kilbride, near Glasgow in Scotland, where he spends almost all my time raising his twin son and daughter. In his spare time he  works as an editor of television programmes.  Highlights of his work include London Olympics 2012 / Sportscene (BBC Sport), My Pet and Me / Nina and the Neurons / My Story / Same Smile (CBeebies), Copycats / Comic Relief Does Glee Club / Who Let The Dogs Out and About? (CBBC), Time To Remember (BBC4), Trust Me, I’m A Doctor / 2012 – Scotland’s Year to Remember / The Review Show / The Culture Show (BBC2), Iain Banks – Raw Spirit / Question Time / Weakest Link (BBC1) among many others.