New Talent Thursday - Anita Chapman

Some of the writers I have befriended on Twitter/Facebook/blogs have not yet been published.  
In New Talent Thursday, I would like to introduce you to writers who are working towards one day being a published author.


Today I have the pleasure of introducing....

 Anita Chapman

Photos courtesy of the Anita Chapman

The Palio of Siena and incorporating research into a scene

Thank you for inviting me to be a guest on your blog today Carol. I'm thrilled to be here.

I've written a novel with working title, 'The Grandson' which I'm currently submitting to agents. 'The Grandson' is about a girl wanting to get out of Yorkshire who finds love in Tuscany with the Italian-American grandson of the old lady she looks after whilst au pairing.

I'm in my third year of the Romantic Novelists' Association's ("RNA") New Writers' Scheme. This is a wonderful scheme which supports new writers and I feel privileged to be on it. You can find out more about the RNA by clicking here. In October 2011 I set up a blog about writing (www.neetswriter.com) which I've enjoyed writing posts for. You can follow me on Twitter @neetswriter and my Facebook Page is www.Facebook/neetswriter.

I've written a few words about incorporating research into a scene when writing a novel. Below is a photo of some of the research material I've collected about Siena and The Palio.

I enjoyed doing research for 'The Grandson', but including factual information in a scene without it reading like a text book can be tricky. I found the best way for me to do this was to skim through the research first before putting it to one side. When writing the scene I focused on the plot, adding in facts which I remembered where they were relevant. As I wrote I worked out which facts I needed to know and looked them up afterwards.

One of the subjects I needed to research was The Palio, a horse race which takes place in July and August of each year in Siena's main square, La Piazza del Campo. I wanted to use the drama of The Palio to mirror events in the scene which closes Act 1. Although I went to The Palio when I was living in Siena, I didn't know I was going to write about it in a novel years later. When researching my novel, I had to look up facts such as: what time the race started, what was the latest time you could get into the square beforehand, whether a gun was fired to start the race, how many laps were done of the square and how long the race lasted.

About The Palio

Siena is divided into seventeen districts, each one called a contrada (plural is contrade). Each contrada is named after an animal or symbol (eg. tortoise, wave, panther) and has its own flag, fountain, church etc. Click here for more information. Ten contrade take part in each Palio and there is a build-up weeks before each one. Some contrada members dress in medieval costumes before the big day and walk around Siena tapping drums and waving flags. The photo above was taken from my bedroom window days before The Palio in July 1994-members of the Torre contrada, meaning tower.

Most of the crowd stand in the middle of the square whilst the race takes place around the outside. The cobblestones are covered in sawdust and the jockeys ride the horses without saddles. There's a dangerous corner protected by crash mats called Via San Martino corner and many jockeys fall off during the race. If a horse wins the race without the jockey it still counts. Each contrada has friend and enemy contrade. If a contrada loses, the best it can hope for is that an enemy contrada comes second. Coming second is seen as worse than coming last. I took the above photo at The Palio in August 1994.

You can watch The Palio from August 2009 on youtube here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExyTU2OLYgA&feature=related