Sometimes you come to a place in your writing and there seems to be no obvious direction to take. The story has been rolling along but suddenly you come to a roadblock. That’s when you let your main character take over. He or she will tell you where they want to go. They have an innate sense of the story, after all it is theirs.

Recently I used this method with my current WIP. I knew the cemetery scene was a significant one but didn’t know why. I decided to go to the St Kilda Cemetery not far from my house. It was built in 1853 and is one of the oldest in Victoria, so it was perfect for my historical novel. My plan was to sit quietly, imagining the scene out of my book, imagining that I was the character, then letting her tell me what was going to happen next.

But it didn’t turn out at all as I planned. When I went through the gates I noticed a tall thin man in tee shirt and baseball cap standing in the rotunda in front of me. The cemetery was deserted so I kept an eye on him as I walked down the first narrow path. I didn’t want to get too deep into the maze of pathways so I kept close to the main entrance.

When I stopped to read some words on a headstone I noticed that the tall thin man had left the rotunda and was walking down the path behind me. We were separated by two rows of graves so I felt quite safe. But when he came to the end of his path he seemed to be hovering there, waiting for me. If I had kept on going I would have run right in to him.

I made my way back to the gates to see what he would do next and pretended to read the map. Sure enough here he was coming back my way.

My research had been ruined by a stalker. The only thing I could do was leave.

I was annoyed as I drove away. I still hadn’t solved my problem. I was still stuck.

But then I had a sudden realisation.The stalker was my scene. I thought that the inspiration would come from my imagination but instead it came from real life. I had been looking at the experience in the wrong way!

I stopped at a park and sat in the shade of an old eucalypt and wrote the whole scene up.

So thanks creepy thin stalker guy with the baseball cap, you made my day.

This is chocolate torte is quick and simple.

INGREDIENTS

125 gms unsalted butter

125 gms drinking chocolate  3/4 cup

125 gms almond meal or hazelnut meal

125 gms castor sugar  1/2 cup

3 free range eggs

METHOD

Beat all ingredients together until smooth

Bake for 40 to  50 mins at 180 degrees C.

Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve with vanilla icecream or freshly whipped cream.

I have just returned from a research trip to the area around Wahgunyah and Beechworth where my great grandfather settled when he came from China to Australia in 1853. It is a beautiful part of Victoria and is a significant gold mining region. Beechworth has been extremely well preserved and still carries the old world charm of the mid-nineteenth century. It was easy, therefore, to imagine I was back in 1864, the period my WIP is set.

For many months I have been researching and writing using books and photographs. But actually going to the places I am writing about was so exciting. When I saw a place name that I recognised from my research, it was like seeing a movie star in the flesh. The names of rivers, towns and the various gold rushes suddenly came alive. I had been to this area several times before but never thought I would write about it. This trip made me look at every detail with new eyes.

The customs house. One of the few remaining old buildings left in Wahguhyah.

I took my camera, ipod (which has a tape recorder gadget on the end) and a notebook, so I was very busy recording every aspect. I didn’t want to miss a thing. I had the curiosity of a child and my quest for more information was insatiable. If only I could bring this ‘way of seeing’ back home with me. But it is so hard to remember to do when you are in familiar surroundings. The mind numbs once more. Being in the moment is the key – the power of NOW.

I’m enjoying this writing – of fusing fact and fiction. I never thought I would like writing historical fiction until I wrote Little Paradise. All my other books have come straight from my imagination with little research necessary.

In this series of four novels I’m working on, my young heroine, Poppy, meets some real historical figures like my great grandfather Jimmy Ah Kew Chen, the famous aboriginal artist, Tommy McRae, and the infamous gentleman bushranger, Harry Power who tutored Victorian’s most famous bushranger, Ned Kelly.

Harry Power's Cell in Beechworth.

Pen and ink by Tommy McRae, an aboriginal artist in Wahgunyah in the late 1800's.

Mt Pilot Dancing

Lake Moodemere (aboriginal name Bulgeaba meaning black swan) was a favourite encampment spot for aborigines where ceremonies were held.

Elephant trunk

The Mass Tree Wahgunyah

Beechworth

Find the rosella

Chinese workers' dormitory, All Saints Vineyard, Wahgunyah.

Woolshed Falls where alluvial gold was found