Elizabeth Storrs

I'm not sure whether I'd say whether I dislike them anymore, but I do recognise that the writing approach has become a bit dated.

So you'll get something like Sheen Plady and writing about the Tudors there, and the women that are presented are often very constrained and...

Not like the Philippa Gregory's.

So suddenly, and the writing style changes as well.

Robert, it sounds like you've got some ideas there.

A lot of readers love the author's note.

They love the fact that the author can then actually, like Robert's saying, identify what was factually checked.

When you're giving detail, it's important that it's a telling detail.

So your example, giving an example of talking about the buttons and the dresses,

I think it's more important that if you're going to bring in some sort of description, that it actually has relevance to instilling sense of place.

It's moving the character along.

It's moving the plot along.

So you're not just giving this detail as ornamentation.

You're actually making it pertinent to your novel.

I'd like to mention one of the speakers at our conference is David Wish-Wilson, and he's written the book called The Coves, which is a fascinating kind of...

revelation that San Francisco, in the wild old days, which was then called the Barbary Coast, actually was, prior to that, controlled by an Australian gang.

And he's used amazing research to bring that little gem of history alive.

Yes, and I might add that Jock Sorong and Robert were going to be at our conference, but both of them are wandering off together to America on a tour.

So Jock couldn't be with us and neither could Robert.

Oh, tell us what you're doing, Robert.