As well as the health benefits of walking and cycling, writer S.G. MacLean finds they are also valuable research tools.
Plots have been developed, characters honed and new perspectives given to settings when she takes off with her ‘research assistant’ George the dog.
“I’ve often found that plot problems resolve themselves for me while I’m out walking the dog.
“The main character of my 17th century, London-based series, The Seeker, came to me one dreich winter’s day on a walk in Conon Woods.
“I’d gone out after a phone call with my editor, and in my mind’s eye the character more or less emerged from the bushes ahead of me, fully-formed.”
Support for new walking and cycling festival
S.G (Shona) MacLean, whose books include the Bookseller of Inverness, has backed the inaugural Inverness Festival of Walking and Wheeling this month.
She says she finds walking and cycling are the best ways to see the city.
One of the reasons she started writing The Bookseller of Inverness was because she wanted to write something close to home.
The historical thriller, set in the 18th century in the aftermath of the battle of Culloden, was a departure from her previous Alexander Seaton and Damian Seeker series.
“With family, friends, or often alone with the dog, I walked around Dunlichity, Loch Duntelchaig and Foyers.
“And on the other side of Loch Ness above Drumnadrochit at Craigmony, and further into Glenurquhart around Corrimony.
“I set scenes in all those places, needed to try to get the lay of the land that my characters were going to be traversing, and the best way to do it was on foot.
“I also walked closer to home around Loch Ussie, Brahan and Fairburn, again thinking about routes in the book.
“In the city, I walked with my friend the writer Jennifer Morag Henderson around Tomnahurich and Craig Phadrig, as well as the sites around the town centre.
“Seeing the town and the firth from those different perspectives helped me form a better picture of how things might have looked in the 18th century.”
Useful perspectives for writing
Taking to her bike, she cycled from Culloden to Cawdor and back by way of Kilravock.
“Again, I wanted to get an understanding of the lay of the land, especially with reference to the Jacobite army’s disastrous night march to Nairn the night before the battle of Culloden.
“I also went by bike to Clava Cairns, then by way of Daviot to Moy.
“I also cycled from my home in Conon over the Corrie at Muir of Ord and into the Aird which again gave me useful perspective on the relationship between Mackenzie and Fraser territories.”
She adds: “For almost every one of my 11 books, I’ve walked to places it’s set in to get to understand it.
“Being able to do so much cycling and walking close to home for The Bookseller of Inverness massively enriched the experience of writing it.”
Shona says while she admires the lycra-clad keen cyclists she is more of an “ambler”.
“I enjoy getting out and about on my own, clearing my head, taking the sights and the views.
“I always feel more energised, and happier, after a cycle than I was before I left the house.
“Although my ‘commute’ is up the stairs to my study, I like the chance to nip on my bike to go into Dingwall on errands, or to see my sisters in neighbouring villages.
“I like to think if I lived in Inverness I would hardly use my car at all.”
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