Saturday 17 September 2011

Clifton Hall and The Novel!

Clifton Hall After Restoration
Clifton Hall Before Restoration
Interior of Clifton Hall Before Restoration
Interior of Clifton Hall After Restoration

Clifton Hall (see photos above) has always fascinated me. As a child, I could see it from my bedroom window at the top of Chestnut Lane in Clifton Campville. It had been a ruin for many years, so it was wonderful to see it restored to its former glory at the beginning of this century! Richard Blunt has done an amazing job. He very kindly emailed me a stack of photos of Clifton Hall before and after the renovation work. 

The Hall features in my novel, under a slightly different name. I had no idea what it looked like inside, having never even got close to the building. I simply used my imagination. So, it was rather spooky to see the photos of the interior yesterday and realising that the rooms were just how I imagined them to be! 

I'm now working on the final draft of the novel and want to try and secure an agent for it by Christmas (ever the optimist!). 

The new Short Story Clinic is going well and I have lots of paid editing work to do. I’m just about to start proofreading stories for Issue 7 of The Yellow Room.

2 comments:

Sally Zigmond said...

I see a Yellow Room! Coincidence?

Jo said...

Yes, it is a coincidence, Sally and weirdly I wrote about a yellow room in one of my novel scenes in the Hall, before I ever saw that photograph. However, it may be one of those scenes that will have to go, because it is a little far-fetched.