Writing, Archaeology, History, and Me

 Archaeologists and museums professionals like stuff and I’m one of them, although I’m not currently working in the sector. Several years ago, a few things happened in my personal life to make it difficult for me to leave the house much. Covid-19 arrived just as I was thinking of returning to the workplace and it put paid to that with successive lock downs while the brilliant scientists worked hard to make the vaccines we now rely on. We all adjusted and re-evaluated and survived as best we could and many of us have changed how we work or what we do for living since 2020. I'm one of those who began something I always wanted to do. I began to take my creative writing seriously.

For a long time, I've been drawn to the gaps in historical and archaeological evidence. There’s so much we don’t know – or can only guess at – about the past and the people who lived so very long ago. What would it be like to use fiction as a medium to fill in some of the blanks? Could I use my experience to research and build the world that my characters inhabit so that I can tell stories that mean something to me? So, with lots and lots of time and trial and error, I now write the stories that I would like to read. That’s important to me. It isn't vanity. I simply couldn’t sustain the writing if I wasn’t fascinated by my characters or the experiences they have and the obstacles that they must overcome.

My archaeological experience is broadly confined to Roman archaeological sites in Britain, especially in the north. I’ve put my fingers into the marks impressed on an amphora by the potter who steadied the wet clay as he built the vessel, and I’ve catalogued makers’ marks on Roman pottery imported from Gaul to Britannia, as well as those on local wares and on the well-travelled amphorae that contained olive oil, wine, and fish sauce. The painstaking task of making records of archaeological objects allows the researcher plenty of time to think and my first historical fiction story ideas were birthed as I made lists of names stamped on ancient Roman pottery. And out of these fledgling ideas, I’ve striven to create whole novel outlines and drafts, and now I’m proud to be rewriting and editing the novel I’d most like to publish first.

A notebook full of research and ideas on my desk in my garden office.

 

This novel is set in the wake of another pandemic, the historic Antonine Pandemic that swept from Parthia to the Roman Empire with the Roman troops returning home after the defeat of Vologaeses IV, the unlucky ruler of Parthia in the mid-AD 160s. And the story sprung from a simple tombstone that was discovered in the Roman auxiliary fort of Arbeia at South Shields in the northeast of England. That’s a story for another time. But, here, I want to note that I’m excited by the way that an artefact that's more than 1800 years old can inspire a research journey that is still ongoing and a novel that is currently well over a hundred thousand words.

I’m not writing alone. This statement isn’t meant to give the impression that I write with others all the time. The opposite is true. I’ve a garden room where I hide out among my books with a laptop and my notebooks. In that sense, I’m alone as I write. But what I have done is sought support to help me finish my writing and begin to put it out in the world. This year, I joined the Ultimate Novel Writing Course run by Jericho Writers in April, 2023.

Writing can be difficult for me to sustain. When doubt strikes, it can stop me in my tracks. So, support is essential for me to succeed. And success is writing every day and moving my writing journey forwards in a variety of ways. My lovely mentor, the brilliant author and human being, Anna Vaught, advocates not shifting the goalposts as one goal is met. Celebrate each success and keep going. By this, I take it to mean that each success, no matter how small, remains an achievement in its own right. And, I think it is up to us writers to decide what success is for us and work towards that. 

And I think, I'll leave this blog post here. It isn't polished, or finished, like my writing journey isn't done, and like my novel is only emerging as I learn how to craft it out of my raw material.