I need to write as accurately and authentically as possible. I want my writing to be raw! Earthy! I’m weary of reading books set in Scotland that are inaccurate and overly romanticised. Scottish history is deliciously dark, and I owe it to my ancestors to write stories that reflect the real struggles they faced, while still weaving in myth and fantasy. My goal? To get as close as possible to a Pictish mindset, to imagine what it was like to live in AD 530. It’s not easy, but here’s how I try.
Read, read, read: I read everything I can get my hands on. Novels set in the same period are good for getting the creative juices flowing, but I take them with a pinch of salt. They can be wildly inaccurate, so I do a lot of factual reading as well. I look for books by university professors, not just the glossy coffee table ones. Old books are a gold mine, especially for old place names. I signed up to Academia’s free site and through that I discovered the work of Professor Gordon Noble and the Northern Picts programme at Aberdeen University. That was a real game changer for me.
Find an expert: You do not have to meet them in person. Just read their work, watch their videos, sign up to their webinars, and follow their Facebook pages. I follow the Northern Picts Facebook feed and have picked up all sorts of useful information, like when they have their open day at their annual dig at the Pictish Fort in Burghead.
Use maps: Ordnance Survey maps are my secret weapon. They are incredibly detailed and show all sorts of historic sites, from battlefields to stone circles and early forts. There are so many ancient sites in Scotland that you will not find signposts for them. My husband and I have stood in the middle of sheep fields, ankle-deep in mud, trying to find standing stones. In Scotland, some landforms are named after mythical characters like the Cailleach and the Bodach, which I love.
Visit the places in my book: I try to imagine what they would have looked like in the period I am writing about. For Pictish times, I picture a landscape that is more wooded and wetter. Loch Spynie, for example, is now more like a big pond, but a few hundred years ago it was a large sea loch covering several miles. Loch Roseisle has disappeared altogether. There would have been no bridges, and I try to visualise byrehouses and how people would have moved around.
Visit museums and historic sites: Luckily, I have a long-suffering husband who is happy enough to come along on my Pictish stone hunts. I have even planned holidays around visiting collections of Pictish stones. Some of the places I have managed to visit include the Tarbat Discovery Centre, Meigle, St Vigeans and of course my local museum, Elgin Museum . There is something about seeing these stones in person that you just cannot get from a book or a photograph.
Join groups and societies: I joined the Pictish Art Society, which puts on webinars throughout the year and holds a yearly conference. I have learnt so much from these and they have given me loads of ideas for my book. It is also good to know there are other people out there who are just as obsessed as I am.
Attend workshops: I went to a taster workshop at the Scottish Crannog Centre. I got a tour of the museum, tried my hand at pottery and jewellery making, ate some Iron Age food, and learned how to spin using a spindle. I came away with a real sense of how smoky their homes must have been and just how much of the day would have been spent keeping the fire going. It was fun!
Attend webinars: I have joined quite a few webinars with different societies and museums. Groam House Museum often has webinars with a Pictish theme, which are brilliant because you can ask the experts questions. It is a great way to get the most up-to-date information, straight from the people who are doing the research.
Research more than just history and geography: I have read novels where the history was well researched, but the natural history was all wrong. I once read a book set in Neolithic Ireland that mentioned chipmunks and bluebirds. Ireland does not have chipmunks or bluebirds, and neither does Scotland. Another book set in Pictish Scotland had the main character being chased by locusts. There are no locusts in Scotland. Even though I have a degree in zoology, I still have to check when animals like wolves, bears, and lynx went extinct. I also make sure I am using the correct names for the time period. Alasdair and Fiona are Scottish names, but they would not have been used in Pictish times as they are Gaelic.
I suppose what I am saying is, if you want to write about the past, you have to do your homework. Read widely, ask questions, and do not be afraid to get your boots muddy. The real Scotland is far more interesting than the romantic version, and the more you dig, the more you find. If you have any tips or favourite resources, I would love to hear them.
"...if you want to write about the past, you have to do your homework. Read widely, ask questions, and do not be afraid to get your boots muddy." Thanks for bringing us along on this epic labour of love.
Thanks!