M Rae MacIver

I thought I was writing a fast-paced adventure. Then I spent half an hour researching whether you can grow violets in Crete.

#AmWriting #WritersLife #HistoricalFiction #Horticulture #Gardening #WritingCommunity

In Crete, under jasmine and starlight, she woke to find a violet by her bed — a gift left in silence.

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #RomanEmpire #Crete #WritersLife

This could be something as simple as ending the chapter before two characters get too steamy (that has its place in other novels) to glossing over aspects of an investigation to keep the characters fresh and surprising rather than explaining every little detail.

I am finding that there are scenes in my novel that most definitely take place within the narrative but which are best never written. Not writing is also writing.

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #AncientRome #WritersOfBluesky #WritingCommunity

Awkward Googling for #Writers, Vol. IX

Ancient Roman dinner etiquette: is it rude to bring up Neptune over duck and pears?

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #WritersLife #AwkwardGoogling #WritersOfBluesky #WritingCommunity

When the man feeding you duck and honeyed pears asks if you’ve had divine assistance, the safe answer is always “yes”.

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #RomanEmpire #WritersLife #Humour

"Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents and everyone is writing a book." --Cicero, 43 BCE

literally everyone 😅

Getting close to title and character reveals, but not yet.

Dream Cast for My WIP Novel

Protagonist: Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Real Historical Figure: David Tennant
Good Guys: Rose Leslie, Diego Luna, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Djimon Hounsou, Shohreh Aghdashloo
Bad Guys: Rhys Ifans, Stephen Root, Indira Varma, Rade Šerbedžija

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #WritersLife

I found out that two of my fictional characters, coming from very distant parts of Africa, would be cousins in real life!

It makes things interesting but we end up with the small galaxy problem of Star Wars.

#AmWriting #HistFiction #WritingCommunity #Juba #Caesarion #CleopatraSelene #Cleopatra7

A quiet dinner. A shared story. A warning whispered over wine. And in the morning—a violet and a trail of powder-soft footprints that led nowhere.

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #Mystery #RomanEmpire #Crete #WritersLife

Writing the first chapter after a time jump for the characters oddly feels just like returning to writing after a month off from writing...

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #WritersLife #WritingCommunity

#booksky #writingcommunity #reviewsmatter

Roman slaves could walk across Italy alone if they carried the right letter… without it, any soldier could arrest them as a runaway.

#WeirdHistory #RomanEmpire #HistoricalFiction #AmWriting #WritersLife #DidYouKnow

In my version, Caligula is punishing the Senate for doubting him by forcing them to sit on very basic benches as he crosses the Bay of Naples on horseback. It took about a day and a half.

My version of Caligula remains a bad ruler but is not as insane as the historians suggest.

Awkward Googling for #Writers vol 8

‘How long can a Roman senator survive without a toilet break?’

Asking for Caligula.

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #WritersLife #AwkwardGoogling #WeirdHistory #RomanEmpire

Only in my novel:
Nobles and slaves sleeping side by side under the stars next to sequestered senators who can’t leave their benches for food or comfort, all to watch Caligula cross the Bay of Naples.

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #RomanEmpire #Caligula #WeirdHistory #WritersLife #AdventureFiction

Surprising Places to Write No 73

In the barber's chair.

While not exactly writing, I did manage to plot out the final quarter of my novel in detail, so I'll call that #Writing

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #AncientRome #WritersOfBluesky #WritingCommunity

And I forgot to add, it's in a fictional location!

Overly precise research of the day:
Great Pyramid is visible from 200m elevation, one day’s horse ride SW of Alexandria

Great Pyramid would appear about 0.2° across, less than half size the moon appears.

All for a throwaway line.

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #ResearchIsWriting #WritersLife

Latin Homework.

To Sneak

1. surripio
2. surripis
3. surripit
4. surripimus
5. surripitis
6. surripiunt

#LatinHomework #AncientRome #HistoricalFiction #RomanCulture #LatinLanguage #WritersLife #AmWritingHistorical #ClassicsInspire #AmWriting

Latin homework.

1 Furtum facio
2 Furtum facis
3 Furtum facit
4 Furtum facimus
5 Furtum facitis
6 Furtum faciunt

#HistoricalFiction #WritingCommunity #WritingTips #Latin #AuthorLife #WritersOfBluesky #WritingInspiration #HistoricalWriters

People like that make me wish I carried packets of Imodium and Post-it notes, so I could walk up to their table, leave a box of the pills with a note saying 'For the verbal diarrhoea,' and then wander off in silence.

Wondering whether it would be too pretentious to title my English-language novel in Latin.

It's a story about vampire chickens. No it's not, where did that come from? It's an adventure novel set in Caligula's Rome.

#AmWriting #Latin #WritersOfBlueSky #WritingCommunity #HistoricalFiction

A surprising amount of novel-writing is done in the shower each morning.

Who would have thought, lemon-flavoured shower-gel is the solution to writer’s block?

#AmWriting #WritingProcess #WritersLife #HistoricalFiction #ShowerThoughts

Awkward Googling for Writers Vol 7

“Would Roman senators get haemorrhoids from sitting too long on wooden benches in the sun?”

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #RomanEmpire #AwkwardGoogling #ResearchMatters

Rome relies on the strength of a sword. Egypt, on the strength of words.

The dead do not speak.
Their scrolls, however, sometimes do.

#HistFic #AncientEgypt #Espionage #BookTease #RomanEmpire #TheHistoriesOfTheNoctua #AmWriting

Boredom.

What else was there in the life of a roman noble woman?

* The occasional poetry reading.
* Visiting other bored ladies.
* Dinner parties.
* Religion.
* Gladiator training.
* Burglary.
* Adventure.

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #AncientRome

Awkward Googling for #Writers vol 6

Did the Romans know of STDs they would associate with bordellos?

(Needed a soldier to have a reason never to have visited one)

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #AncientRome

I have. Should I need one it is something that's well within my skills at the relevant time.