LITERATURE AND HUMANITIES

ISABEL COLEGATE READING AND DISCUSSING HER WORK

17 June 1997

Bath author, Isabel Colegate, provided insight into how she develops a story by reading the
beginning of a new one she is currently working on. The story was triggered by a memorial in Bath Abbey
which revealed the tragedy suffered by Mrs Maycock whose husband and children died abroad. Colegate
explained that most of her novels are set in the historical past. She usually starts with a theme and then
creates characters who within a chosen situation can convey the ideas or issues she has in mind. For
example, in The Shooting Party she explored why men went with so much enthusiasm into the First War
and used the social event and the country house setting to reveal their attitudes.
An active discussion followed about her style, her need for historical perspective and hence the
use of the Victorian and Edwardian periods, the possibility of writing three or four short novels in one book
and the differences in perception between a writer and reader.
Isabel Colegate gave those present a captivating insight into how a creative writer works.

Betty Suchar.