Inspirational Cornwall - the stuff fantasies are made of.

Sun + Cornwall = A truckload of ideas

Sometimes it's important to take time out and chill, and it's so much easier when the sun is shining and the sky is wall-to-wall blue.

Cornwall is gorgeous at any time of year, even when it's raining and blowing a gale, it always has its own special sort of magic. However on a day like yesterday, it has a sort of Enid Blyton feel about it; a sort of living childhood memory.

Spot my home town, Liskeard, in Cornwall's heart.

I live between the moors and the sea, in Liskeard. It's an ancient town with some houses dating to the 1600's. Pretty often Pete and I walk on the moors, we can see them from home; they're only a ten minute drive away and part of the setting for 'The Golden Sword'.

Looking out from the path mentioned in 'The Golden Sword'.

There are spectacular views on every side, this was just one of the inspirational places that started me on my writing journey.

The Cheesewring, a granite natural wonder, towering over the moors.

But yesterday it was a warm, blue-skied day, so we headed for the south coast, about twenty minutes in the other direction. We lay on the beach, Pete had a dip while I day-dreamed... and then the ideas began popping; by the time I reached for my notebook I could barely write quickly enough! Sand, sea and sun is an awesome combination to get those creative juices flowing.

Downderry is along from Looe towards Plymouth.

Fortunately I'd remembered my phone, so I took some photos to show you guys just how beautiful it was.

Last year when we were here, I brought my trusty sketch pad and pencils and spent a happy afternoon laying down the outline of the illustration that ended up in 'The Time Smugglers'. (I was delighted that the judges for the 2015 International Rubery Book Award mentioned the illustrations as well as the story in 'The Time Smugglers'!)
The picture below is the result of that afternoon in 2014.
The island is called Looe Island and lies just about a mile off the coast, opposite the fishing port of Looe, (I've popped a photo of it at the top of this post.) You can't quite see either Looe, or the island, in this photo but you'll just have to trust me that it's there! In the book it's called Lemayne Island and Looe is renamed Pendrym.

One of the illustrations in 'The Time Smugglers'. 

Only the previous afternoon we'd walked the glorious coast path between Talland Bay and Polperro which also feature in 'The Time Smugglers'. It doesn't get much better than this!

Polperro harbour.

Talland Bay, Porth Talant in 'The Time Smugglers'.

Talland Bay or Porth Talant

So there you are, one summer's day in Cornwall. 

The third book is coming along well. I'm very close to the end but there's a lot of editing and proof-reading before it makes its way into the world, so here's a tiny taster of the intro.

'The dragon completed his third circuit of the bedroom, flicked his tail, landed on the desk and eyed the dried beetle held between Nick’s finger and thumb suspiciously.

‘I know you prefer fresh insects,’ Nick said, ’but it’s winter and there aren’t many around.’

The dragon yawned.

‘I can’t get anything else now, it’s this or nothing.’

The miniature dragon flapped its wings, shuffled towards the edge of the desk and swished its tail, sending a stack of empty coke cans clattering to the floor. Nick put the beetle in his palm and opened his hand.

‘I promise that as soon as it’s spring, I’ll be on my hands and knees lifting every leaf to find you the very best insects in all of Cornwall.’  

The dragon teetered on the edge of the desk before launching himself towards Nick and landing heavily on his outstretched hand. Nick grinned as the minute snout tickled his skin while the animal licked the remnants of the dried snack. All the difficulties and complications of owning a small dragon faded away at times like this. He held the tiny creature against his chest and began to stroked its scaly back. Dragon clicked contentedly, a dragon’s purr, and his eyes began to close. 

It was then that the book chose to flick into life. 

The dragon’s eyes snapped wide open as the pages began to turn – by themselves.

This was the first time that Nick had witnessed the book in action and although he’d guessed that it must do something like this, he’d never actually been there to see it. He’d sometimes come back to find it lying open at the page it had chosen, but being in the room while it selected just what it wanted was another thing entirely. He held the fascinated dragon close, he couldn’t risk it pouncing on the unsuspecting book.

The pages picked up speed, pictures flashing past followed by pieces of text, a blur of colour and words in the book’s hurry to get to the page it wanted to reveal. Dragon watched, mesmerised, until finally the pages came to a stop. Nick leant over and stared. It wasn’t a person or an animal; it was a place, and one that Nick knew very well. Immediately Nick’s phone buzzed and Arthur’s name flashed across the screen.

No one would be sleeping much tonight.'

Until the next post folks :)  x