by Clare Flynn | Feb 9, 2016
Finding appropriate and memorable names for characters in my novels is a fun challenge. My favourite method – as I write historical fiction – is to have a wander round a graveyard. I’ve always had a weird fascination with cemeteries. I haunted Père Lachaise when I...
by Clare Flynn | Dec 17, 2014
One of the essentials of writing historical fiction is that you get your background details right. What I hadn’t realised when I started on this journey was that I would have to do so much research around modes of transport. I’d never shown the remotest...
by Clare Flynn | Nov 25, 2014
My work in progress has just taken itself off to New York City. This is a classic case of being swept along in the wake of one’s characters. I get very little say in the matter. As a result I’ve been researching life in the tenements of NYC in the late...
by Clare Flynn | Oct 19, 2014
My first two books have faraway locations – a great excuse for combining research with holidays. I thought I was joking at first when I began to tell people novel number 3 would be set in Middlesbrough. For a start I’d never set foot in the place –...
by Clare Flynn | May 29, 2013
The start point for my books is often a location. Sometimes just being in a beautiful or interesting place makes me want to write about it. Sometimes the place itself triggers the idea for a book or a character. Either way it’s a good excuse to go back there to...
