Muse News #8: Rest Of The Holiday & Back To Reality

Well, I'm back home again after a fantastic week away in the Scottish Highlands.

This time last week I was looking forward to four more days of adventuring.  It seems like much longer and those little adventures now feel like dreams.  I won't bore you with all of the details, but I will give you the edited highlights for now (Trust me, I can bore you - I took over 1500 photos and can tell you at length about each one).

So, the edited highlights from Tuesday onwards:

Tuesday

Last year my best mate and I explored a little bit of Glen Coe, a place that is usually known for the infamous massacre of 1692. It's also a place of outstanding beauty with towering mountains that line the winding glen below.

Our amazing destination, the falls of Coire nan Lochan.
[Photo: Jack Gilbert]

The view from the falls back down to the road far below.
It's the pale line in the glen below...yeah, that far!
[Photo: Jack Gilbert] 

Last year we didn't really get a chance to walk very far up one of the craggy paths that climb the mountains, so we decided to put it front and centre of this year's itinerary.  I'm glad we did even though it meant facing my fear of heights again in order to reach a waterfall high up on the valley side.  This place and the walk up gave me plenty of inspiration (More of that in Thursday's NITM).

Wednesday

Another development of last year's trip was my second ride in a RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat). Last year I agreed to a ride up Loch Ness.  I thought if you're going to see somewhere as magical as Loch Ness, do it in a memorable way.  So we saw it from one of the fast boat tours that ply its waters.

This year, we took an equally exciting and fascinating wildlife tour around the waters of Loch Linnhe and Loch Leven.  The ride was choppier than I'd expected out on Loch Linnhe, but again really worthwhile as we saw seals, wild goats, geese, cormorants as well as the lodge in which we stayed for the week from the great loch.

I really loved it.  I want to do another boat ride next year! The question is, where?

Yours truly sporting this summer's maritime look.
[Photo: Jack Gilbert]

I have no idea what the seal on the left was trying to tell us.
I think it was giving us its seal of approval...
[Photo: Jack Gilbert]

Thursday

Another place we visited last year was the Isle of Skye.  On that occasion it pelted it down with rain all day, so we only got limited glimpses of the fantastic scenery that lines the route up to the Kyle of Lochalsh and the isle itself.

So that too made it onto the "visit again" list and to make it all the more worthwhile we dropped in on the Talisker whisky distillery for a tour while we were there.

The weather wasn't perfect, but clear enough for us to finally see the full beautiful scenery that surrounded us.

Sea and Skye.
[Photo: Jack Gilbert]

Friday

For me, Friday was the highlight of the week.  It was the day that we returned to one of the places that started my whole love affair with the West Highlands.  Glen Gour is the place in which I set part of The Wickedest War and it was on our first visit in 2014 that we first walked along part of this wonderful glen.  We walked it again last year, getting further than before on account of not stopping to take photos every twenty yards (I still took over a hundred photos the second time round).

This year we walked for just over six hours (there and back) and still didn't traverse the entire length of the glen.  However, we did discover a new delight in the form of another (small) waterfall.  Each time we've visited Glen Gour the weather has been glorious and this year was no exception.  It just adds to the attraction of the place.

It started as a name on a map and now this place is very special to me.  Don't be surprised if it doesn't end up featuring in all of my novels in one for or another!

One of many, many photos I took of Glen Gour this time round.
It's hard to choose just one.
[Photo: Jack Gilbert]

Oh, OK. Just one more photo. The falls where we had lunch.
[Photo: Jack Gilbert]

Home Again

So, that was the holiday.  I'm home again and pining for...well, not the fjords, but the lochs.  I was hoping to get the feel of what it's like to be in a more natural, less urban environment for my fantasy series, Kiranan's Crucible, and I've certainly achieved that.

Now, it's back to reality and back to turning all that inspiration into stories!

Notes In The Margin #6: Location Scouting Can Be Fun! (And Sometimes Useful...)

Today, I'm busy packing for a trip to the West Highlands of Scotland (I may have mentioned this elsewhere on The Annotate-Id).

This will be the third time I'll have been to Kentallen in as many years and it's safe to say that I've fallen utterly in love with the place.  I have my best mate to thank for talking me into going in the first place.  I chose Kentallen as the setting for 360 several years ago after I'd completed the first draft and felt unhappy with the vague description of the fictitious location in which I'd set it.

The view of Loch Linnhe from Kentallen on a very sunny day!
[Photo: Jack Gilbert]

Like a character without a decent backstory, the anonymous place felt unsatisfying and shallow.  So, I made a list of the criteria the location would need to fulfill and started trawling Google Maps for suitable places around the Scottish coast.

Many happy hours of searching later Kentallen rose to the top of the list of places I'd virtually surveyed.  And so the second draft of novel saw it find its home in a fictional castle built on the shores of Loch Linnhe in Kentallen.  The novel went to my beta readers and still no-one was any the wiser that I'd made up all the descriptions of the Kentallen.

While 360 was being read, I hauled The Wickedest War from development hell and began work on a new draft of that.  Most of the action takes place in central London, a place with which I am very familiar and visit often.  Getting the details about places that I knew so well wrong was not an option. Some scenes, especially one chase along the South Bank and the nearby streets, relied on getting the geography and timing right.  I walked the route, noted the landmarks and the time it took to get between them. I also visited the other places in London that featured in the novel on fact finding visits too.

The remaining action takes place in the West Highlands.  I needed somewhere remote again - although not too remote - and the Highlands fitted the bill.  Thanks again to our friendly online map providers it didn't take long to identify a suitable location.

Then my mate asked if I planned to go to Scotland and visit those places too, just as I had with the London locations.  I made excuses and said it was too far.

We had the conversation several times over the next few months and each time I made excuses until it was suggested that we include them as part of a whistle-stop tour around Scotland.  Suddenly it seemed a really good idea!

I could happily walk for hours along this glen.
[Photo: Jack Gilbert] 

I'm really glad I agreed.  Not only did it give me a chance to correct the wildly inaccurate descriptions of the area in the earlier draft of 360, but I also got to know a lovely part of Scotland and hike through some awesome scenery, including the glen that features in The Wickedest War (seriously, the photo doesn't do it justice).

To see it on a map is one thing.  Looking up at the mountains rising either side of the river in the valley floor is a whole different matter. I've stood where my characters have stood and seen what they've seen.  I've sat on the shores of Loch Linnhe and watched the sun go down.  I've shared that experience and that moment with my characters. Hopefully, because of that my readers will share that experience too.

It's always worth checking your facts.  I can be satisfied that I did my best to get them right.  It won't always be possible, but where I can I will try to stand in my characters' shoes and see what they see.

And besides...why should the imaginary characters have all the fun?  Sometimes it's good for the writers to have adventures too!