Writing the Bronze Age with Natalie Haynes
I’m just dipping my toe into writing Historical Fiction with my first book, The Unstoppable Letty Pegg published this year with Bloomsbury Education. I’m a huge fan of the genre and of the writings of Natalie Haynes. Her work A Thousand Ships was featured in the recent Troy exhibition at The British Museum.
Writing Historical Fiction offers up many a problem for an author. I struggled with irritating facts like dust carts not being covered until 1920 when plotting The Unstoppable Letty Pegg. These difficulties are nothing nothing compared to the challenges of writing about people who lived so far in the past that even apricots didn’t exist!
In this podcast we discuss research methods as well as how to relate to forgotten cultures. The gulf of time has made it so hard to have their stories come alive today, but Natalie proves it is possible. If you are an aspiring writer, I really recommend giving this one a listen!
The British Museum Membercast is a monthly podcast made available to ‘all studious and curious persons’. Comedian, podcaster and super-fan Iszi Lawrence (The Z List Dead List) presents snippets from exclusive Members’ lectures at the Museum, artfully woven together with interviews and her own musings.
Please share your comments and feedback about the podcast! You can talk to us on Twitter @britishmuseum using the hashtag #membercast or email friends@britishmuseum.org
In a new series the British Museum Untold sees Dr Julia Farley and Iszi Lawrence discover all the different ways The British Museum has been supporting international conversation projects and bringing the past to life!