Writing Inspirations – Clare Marchant
To be asked what inspires my writing is probably the best question in the world – It means I can wax lyrical about everything that I love (and I can certainly chatter on about things that fire up my creative Juices!).
As a historical fiction author, a lot of my ideas and inspiration come from all the wonderful old buildings and artefacts that surround us today. The landscape and the flow of time, the connections we can feel with that history and the people who lived before us. I am especially lucky here in Norfolk, I have easy access to many old buildings, stately homes and churches where I can be found on most weekends with our dog Fred. He enjoys the walk, and I enjoy soaking up the ambience of centuries past. Also of course, I am close to Norwich, a medieval walled city with remarkable old buildings and a castle, together with museums and galleries.
Some of my favourite places to visit are the derelict monasteries that were ransacked and demolished during Henry V111’s dissolution in the sixteenth century. There are plenty of these dotted across the country where we’re able to walk around and see how they would have once been. There is nothing I enjoy more than drifting through ancient rooms, abbeys, cloisters with my eyes closed, imagining the lives of all the monks who walked those passages before me.
I can almost feel them gliding past me, habits swishing on the ground still living their lives hundreds of years later. I might add that it can be dangerous walking around old stone ruins which are uneven underfoot with your eyes closed and I don’t really recommend it! (If you do want to, I always check the ground out in front of me before I shut my eyes and start to occupy another world.) The architecture of the abbey buildings is incredible, where it still survives to this day we can only imagine how long and painstaking the work must have been to create such magnificence.
I’m also very keen on visiting old churches – most villages in England has an ancient church surrounded by graves so old they are frequently illegible, and inside (when we are able to get into them) there are signs everywhere of the people who over the years have come together to pray, celebrate or mourn. People connecting with each other.
As I’ve just described, I feel a link with our ancestors when I’m visiting the places they lived, but I also love looking at the artefacts people owned, used and loved. I am inspired by imagining the ties people had with those items. Jewellery that might be given to a new bride by her husband, special memories attached to precious things which may have been secreted into pockets as men went off to war, or crusades. When young girls were sent to another home to marry a man they’d never met, what did they take with them to remember their family? What stories can those objects tell?
I often look at things that I own which are special to me; they may not be valuable in monetary terms, but in sentimental significance, they are priceless. I know I’m not the only person who has many items that my children made at school still scattered around the house and pictures attached to the fridge by magnets that track the many holidays and foreign cities I’ve visited seeking out works of art that inspire me. I have letters secreted away written by my (now elderly) mother who has been writing to me – or emailing these days – and they are a glimpse into our past. And it’s the past which inspires me most.
And as well as our connections to objects that we own and love, are the threads that bind us to each other. We all have people we love, our family and friends, and I draw inspiration from those relationships. How we interact with others.
All these people, places and objects have a story to tell us, and if you have read The Secrets of Saffron Hall you will know I think about how the lives of our ancestors are still a part of us today. It is said that ‘no man is an island’, and that is so true of our place in history. We are all connected to our forefathers, not just through our genes, but in the memories and belongings they left behind for us.
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Growing up in Surrey, Clare always dreamed of being a writer. Instead, after gaining a degree in history and an MA in Women’s Studies, she accidentally fell into a career in IT. Now finally writing full time, she lives with her husband and the youngest two of her six children in Norfolk, where weekends are spent exploring local castles and monastic ruins with her dog Fred. The family also make frequent visits to the coast where they all (including Fred) eat a lot of ice cream!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/claremarchantauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClareMarchant1
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Two women, five centuries apart. One life-changing secret about to be unearthed.
1538 – New bride Eleanor impresses her husband by growing saffron, a spice more valuable than gold. His reputation in Henry VIII’s court soars – but fame and fortune come at a price, for the king’s favour will not last forever.
2019 – When Amber discovers an ancient book in her grandfather’s home at Saffron Hall, the contents reveal a dark secret from the past. As she investigates, so unravels a forgotten tragic story and a truth that lies much closer to home than she could have imagined…
Category: On Writing
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