NK Chats To… Thomas Messel
Hello Thomas. Thank you so much for joining me today. Can you tell us about your book, The Nightingale of Bath and what inspired it?
The plaque at Bath’s 11 Royal Crescent blandly says that from this house, Elizabeth Linley eloped with Richard Brinsley Sheridan on 18 March 1772 – but behind those words lies a much darker story.
Elizabeth was a stunningly beautiful teenager with a fabulous voice, ill-equipped for the adulation of stardom.
She was mercilessly exploited by her ambitious parents and prey to predatory men until she could stand it no longer and vanished, at the age of 17, on 18 March 1772. Her marriage to Sheridan proved to be no picnic, where her collaboration and authorship of two of his most celebrated plays, The Rivals and La Duenna, was given no credit, nor was any notice given to her involvement in his greatest Parliamentary coupin the impeachment of Warren Hastings.
Her passionate and loving nature was only fully recognised through tragedy.
The theme that strikes me strongly about her life was the shocking muzzling and disempowerment of women in this period, however strong and capable they were.
Her story, and that of her remarkable family, first came to my attention through an ancestral connection, through which I had several books recording her life.
What’s your typical writing day like? Do you have any writing rituals like needing
coffee or silence to write, for example?
Throughout my life, I have been an early riser in order to work undisturbed. So, for the writing of this book, my writing times would generally run from 4 am to 8.30 am, with a cup of hot chocolate to kick me off for sustenance.
How do you approach the writing process from idea, to research, first draft, editing
and final draft? How do you know when you’ve done research and editing?
by 
Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: The Familiar Stranger
Welcome to Fiction Friday, our weekly flash fiction challenge.
Here’s how it works:
Set a timer for five minutes and start writing
Keep going for as long as you can once the timer goes off
No editing allowed—raw writing only
When you’re finished, feel free to share in the comments (but there’s no pressure.)
Today’s prompt – The Familiar Stranger.
Your character is at a crowded coffee shop, grocery store, or public place when someone stops and talks to them like they have known them for years.
by Novel Kicks Writing Room: The Sensory Snapshot
Hello and welcome back to the Novel Kicks Writing Room.
Today’s exercise is called The Sensory Snapshot.
This exercise will hopefully help you create vivid, immersive descriptions without complex plotting.
First, choose your moment –
Pick a simple, everyday moment you remember well. Keep it as small and ordinary as you can. It doesn’t have to be interesting, just write whatever comes to mind. For example,
- Sitting in a café
- Walking into your bedroom
- Standing at a bus stop
- Eating your favourite snack
- Waiting in a doctor’s office
- Playing with a pet
Now, before writing anything else, think about the following questions (you don’t have to answer all of them, just what you remember) –
- What did you see? (colours, what was happening)
- What sounds did you hear?
- What did it smell like?
- How did things feel? (hot, cold, soft, scratchy)
- Was there anything you tasted?
by Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: The Door Under The Sea
Welcome to Fiction Friday, our weekly flash fiction challenge.
Here’s how it works:
Set a timer for five minutes and start writing
Keep going for as long as you can once the timer goes off
No editing allowed—raw writing only
When you’re finished, feel free to share in the comments (but there’s no pressure.)
Today’s prompt: The Door Under The Sea –
by Novel Kicks Writing Room: Ideas and Plot Planning
Welcome back to the Novel Kicks Writing Room.
Today, the exercise will be about generating ideas and then creating a small plot plan.
We will be preparing a character, a scenario and a situation.
First – characters –
Write down three characters. Don’t let yourself overthink it. Just write the first three things that come to mind. For example:
- A retired pickpocket who never learned to read.
- A therapist that lies to protect feelings.
- A teenager who can hear plants screaming.
Next, let’s look at the situations (compelling situations or inciting incidents) and write down three. For example –
- Due to a technical glitch, someone manages to claim a winning lottery ticket that’s already been claimed.
- Finds a door in their flat that wasn’t there yesterday.
- Is accused of a crime they technically did commit, but not in the way anyone thinks”
Finally, what is at stake? This is the thing that the character could lose or gain that really matters. Again, write down three.
- Their only family member’s trust.
- A chance to escape their hometown.
- The truth about who they really are.
by Book Club
