Lammas loaf owl with salt eyes

Traditionally August is a month for reflection beginning as it does with Lammas. According to the Celtic Earth cycle, it signifies the first harvest. Hence, the loaf of bread. Not only do we gather corn, fruit  and vegetables during August, we can reflect on what in our personal lives we have achieved.

At the end of July I finished the first draft of my novel, Kaleidoscope. It’s taken a year and as with all projects has needed re-scheduling from time-to-time. Like a toddler the first steps are both an adventure and a little unsteady. I had the germ of an idea. In placing one scene after an other I discovered whether or not the novel was feasible.

The narrative takes place on  20th or 21st June 1920 in Hull. The 1st World War ended in 1918. By 1920 there was considerable hardship and poverty, especially in cities, towns and ports. Race riots and civil unrest occurred in Cardiff, Liverpool and several other ports including Hull. Within  those events there’s  the possibility of a  a story.

Cap badge of East Yorkshire Regiment

A year later I have a number of scenes, and six, possibly eight, significant characters. I didn’t write chronologically so I’ve still to work out their chronology. The first draft interested me. The subsequent drafts need to engage readers.

The inspiration came from Black and British:A Forgotten History by David Olusoga. The different points of view originated from my interpretation of one of Emma Darwin’s blogs about perspecitve. The title, Kaleidoscope,  followed from that. Is that metaphor appropriate? As I move on I need to explore that.

During September, I will start the process of reading what I’ve written and deciding what’s relevant.

While I was researching at Hull History Centre last year, Hilary Mantel died. Hilary Mantel told the story of Wolf Hall by researching first and only fictionalising what wasn’t available to her. In the Reith Lecture 1 in 2017 she said that she made up a man’s inner torments but not the colour of his wallpaper.  That had been my idea. Sadly, I haven’t discovered the colour of his wallpaper, or even if he had any.

The main source of information is the Hull Daily Mail and recent research into the race riots.  As yet, I’ve not found a relevant primary source.  Nor do I have an overall picture of what  the city looked like. That too may depend on my imagination rather more than I’d planned. Facebook has provided photos of the period.

Before I start work of the second draft, I’m following Wendy Pratt’s course – Late Summer, A Sensory Experience. I’m hoping to slow down and enjoy the approach of autumn. Relax a little more. Read and write whatever turns up.

References:

Emma Darwin’s on-line Toolkit- April 14th April 2020

Notes from the Margin – Wendy Pratt – the above course is free and can be accessed by her website and Substack

Lammas loaf owl with salt eyes. Attributed to Wikipedia. Synthiaks. CC BY-SA 4.0

Black and British: A Forgotten History – David Olusoga (2017)

Photo of East Yorkshire Regimental cap badge from Wikipedia entry Hull Pals

Facebook: Hull: The Good Old Days