Friday, August 18, 2006

Invaded by Vikings

Spent yesterday at the Auckland Museum. It's long been one of my favourites, as its collection contains some real treasures of Oceanic art, and the Pacific Masterpieces room is one of my favourite rooms in any museum in the world. Sensational fish-hooks.
Also they have good swords.
But at present they have Vikings - the same exhibition as seen recently in Sydney at the National Maritime Museum, my spiritual home, although it seems a little smaller here.
But anyway weeks ago I had sketched out the plot for the new Viking book, which is the second in a new timeslip series - not much detail and really just knew how it fitted in with the overall narrative. Research so far had been sporadic, mostly because I start from what I already know and then research in bursts as required.
I stared intently at all the Viking displays, took a million notes, had a coffee and then wandered up to look at the swords in the Armoury. It's not the Tower, but it's a smart, small collection.
Stood gazing at something utterly unrelated (the detail on the guard of an 18th century infantry officer's sword) and then came the flash and clunk of a brain cranking slowly into gear.
By the time I got home from the museum I had the entire book clear in my mind and had started drafting.
Gone a-Viking.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds great. Good to see you have a Rosemary Sutcliff in your personal library, Kelly - is that one out of print I wonder?
The colours on the blog are lovely - I'm doing web usability stuff at the moment at Uni, that background colour looks great. Most blogs are crap colourwise actually.

Kelly Gardiner said...

Thanks, Geneveive. In another life I'm supposed to be a usability expert so if I get it wrong, every web developer I've ever worked with will tease me mercilessly.
Dragon Slayer is not out of print, but I can't imagine it'd be hanging about in most bookshops. I actually just bought a copy of The Lantern Bearer too. The more I read of Sutcliff (or re-read, as I feel I know them all from my own childhood) the greater grows her stature in my eyes.

Anonymous said...

I have really enjoyed rereading Laura Ingalls' books over the years - especially The Long Winter, hardly a children's book at all.

I must get hold of some Rosemary Sutcliff now - you've got me inspired. I have a book hiding here somewhere that I purchased at a school fete, The Load of Unicorn, by Cynthia Harnett, about scriveners and printing - lovely book. But as I say, it's hiding.
And I'm going to collect all Lucy M. Boston's books one of these days - already have An Enemy at Green Knowe.

Kelly Gardiner said...

Oh, Load of Unicorn is lovely, isn't it? I'm at the beginning of a new project set in Amsterdam & Venice a little later than that (late 17th century) also in print workshops, and I marvel at the simplicity of her technical descriptions.
I have Children of Green Knowe but haven't opened it yet. I shall, now.

genevieve said...

Oh, you lucky, lucky person. Reading Lucy Boston for the first time - wow. You are going to have yourself almost as good a time as you could have had when you were about nine (what an awful sentence, but you know what I mean...)