Saturday, October 5, 2013

Attack of Inspiration!




Often I get asked where do you get the inspiration for your books? For my historical novels, I do a lot of research and often come across a piece from the past that inspires a scene or a character. During my research I often find little tidbits that make me stop and make a note of a fact or historical figure. I can't help wanting to add or even find out more about such events or people.

In Claimed By A Charmer, I was watching BookTV and saw an interview about the movie The Magdalen Sisters. The author was speaking about real events that were shared in the story. One of the themes centered around the movie was how young girls were sent to the asylum by their parents. It inspired me to have Isabel being sent to an asylum and where she's saved by the hero. The asylum where she's sent is just as horrid as that depicted in the movie, and there are some dark events that take place.

In One And Only, I was researching medieval festivals and read about St. Swithin's Day. Of course I had to use it as the festival day when Bree goes missing as a small child. And I just loved the ditty about the festival too, and had her sing it.

In my newest story, On A Highland Hill, I wanted to put something historical in my story and was researching pinsels and found out that Alexander II was the first to use a royal standard of Scotland. In my story, a woman (of course fictitious) was sewing a banner for him and used some of the images in her pinsel for Alexander. There's also a little bit about what it means to be born on a certain day. Monday's child is ... You'll have to read the book to see :) but it's a fun bit of inspiration I got from research.

I know that many authors, like me, do try to be accurate about historical events, and so I try to weave them into my stories without compromising history too much.

Hope you enjoyed this little insight into where I get my inspiration.

Fondly,
Kara Griffin

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