Friday, July 18, 2008

Flying along

No, not me personally *g* but the edits on the Irish novel. I've been working at it steadily for the last three days and progress is surprisingly good. I crawled through one absolute pig of a chapter, where the wrong people did the wrong things at the wrong times and the whole thing needed re-working from the ground up. But once I'd cleared that hurdle I've been chugging along, polishing, tweaking, and adding explanations as I go, and have finished a total of three and a half chapters since Wednesday. I've got another tricky bit coming up now (the direct results of rewriting that earlier chapter - it's like pushing over a stack of dominoes) but even so I'm really pleased with the way it's going.

The novel was inspired by the wild rocky scenery of the Galway coast, and in particular by Gorumna, a small island linked to the mainland by a causeway, which brought a whole new meaning to the word 'wild'. The views were magnificent, the villages remarkably quiet and unspoiled, and there was a ruined church overlooking the sea. I can't find any decent pictures of the church, but you might like to see this brief YouTube video of the scenery to give you some idea of the place. It left a lasting impression on me and I decided it was the perfect spot to set a ghost story! Seven years later, 'Gleams of a Remoter World' is not far off being born.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ireland is one of those 'must visit' places on my to-do list. So much of the Irish and UK countryside is perfect for an eerie, ghostly setting. Always reminds me of Wuthering Heights.

Fiona Glass said...

You're right, and if you ever get the chance to visit, I hope you do! I think it might be because it's such a crowded little group of islands, but the wilderness bits are still surprisingly untouched. It makes for a bigger contrast, somehow.