Friday, August 19, 2011

Shaun's mini workshop

10 minutes turned into a very informative half an hour. Shaun took us through his process of researching his Sci-Fi novel and how history can still be relevant today.

It was fascinating to learn his main character is based on the the Duke of Wellington. A stalwart character who never lost a battle. The topography of some of Shaun's battles are from real locations, ie. the hills, the sea, the battle lines etc.

Why not borrow from history?

We quizzed him on the need for foreign languages in Sci-fi, and Shaun explained that he uses Nouns in this way, but the day to day language is English. Also a fact that he has created a whole new world so why use the word earth for dirt. He has refrained from 'earth' and used soil, sods, dirt etc. Makes sense!

Thanks Shaun for an interesting insight into your thought processes.

1 comment:

  1. I for one thought that Shaun's presentation was instructive. His basing characters and events on historical fact, melded with the imaginative leaps he clearly used, was good grist for my creative mill.

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