Lord Winterton's Secret One Year Anniversary - Inspiration and Landscape

It will soon be the one year anniversary of my Regency romance mystery, Lord Winterton’s Secret, published by DC Thomson/The People’s Friend on the 20^th of January 2022.

Other versions include a large print edition published by Ulverscroft and a self-published digital edition with the title Curious Governess, Dangerous Lord (which was the original title when the manuscript was first submitted to The People’s Friend!). The kindle version is the author’s original version, without any changes to fit the publisher’s inhouse style or wordcount.

 

Lord Winterton’s Secret was my first pocket novel. Pocket novels are a series of quick holiday reads, just under 200 pages, with a limited print run. To celebrate the book’s anniversary, I thought I’d write about what inspired me as well as any major changes the story went through during the first draft stage.

A Light On The Horizon - Writing Process

With the release of another of my short stories in The People’s Friend magazine, A Light On The Horizon, I’ve decided this blog post will be about my writing process for historical fiction 😊 It’s an adventure romance set on the Norfolk coast with lighthouses, smugglers and a great big storm! Currently available in issue 236 of The People's Friend Special.

 (Some pictures may need to be clicked on to better see the text)

Gorgeous illustration by Mandy Dixon

Growing up, I loved reading fiction which wove lots of historical detail into the narrative. When I come up with ideas for my own stories, I like to focus on one interesting fact, such as local folklore or how ice-cream was made in the 19^th century, and shape the plot and characters around this. As most of my stories are set along Norfolk’s coast, countryside or in Norwich city, I also include a regional meal or location.