How to write: time travel

Lots of us probably wish we could live in another era, but return safely to our own whenever things got 'hairy', or (if you went a long way back in time) whenever you got a headache and needed some quick pain relief.

One way to time travel is to write. Lots of my novels are set in historical periods I'm interested in: Roman Britain, Viking Wales,. Federation Australia.

If you do lots of research, once you have your characters and a rough idea of the plot, you really do get the feeling that you're 'living' somewhere else as you write.

A trick when writing historical novels is not to use everything that you've found out about the period in which your story is set. The reader doesn't want to feel like she's getting a history lesson. Drip little bits of information in only when it's relevant. It's fun to find out about the fashion fabrics and styles, the kinds of crockery and cutlery used to eat tripe (or whatever) but don't go overboard with these details. When writing A Hard Man to Love  (free now on Kindle) I researched 1910 Australia and also what was going on in the wider world and only added information that was of interest to the main characters, Pansy and Rex. One issue that Pansy thinks about is women getting the vote.

I can't go often, but I do love travelling to Wales. The stones have stories to tell!