Time travel?

No, not time travel as such, but an engagement with the past.

Try this,

Small Finds

Murder and archaeology connect a local community with the crisis and upheaval of the end of Roman Britain.

Ends

The Readers of the Lost Ark

Readers' Panel Report. 1.

Small Finds

A murder mystery with time travel. 
An archaeological dig, a modern community and an untold story.

A short something to read: a 500 word extract from the novel prepared for the Writing Festival in York.

A collation of all the comments.

Firstly, the pacing is nice and high-octane, and you set the scene very well.  Easy to picture.
Also like the suspense - makes me want to read on to find out what's going to happen!
There are a couple of bits that to me could be clearer.  Firstly, this bit:
“Four hundred yards ... right ... then water,” she said.
“Interesting,” said Harrison Jones.
They swung right and the vehicle ahead turned left.
I'm not sure how 'she' knows to turn right when Harrison doesn't, and the car ahead turning left seems to suggest they are going the wrong way?
The other bit is that there are three points which I think are the inner monologue of the girl:
Great!
She was going to die. Mum would murder her.
What the hell did he think she was doing?
The last of these in particular I had to read a couple of times to work out that this was the case.  Perhaps italicising these bits so that they stand out separately will make it clearer that it's not part of the general narrative?
From a 'flowing' perspective I think it's all great, with the exception of this passage:
They skimmed between buildings - sheds of some kind – with water close by. They
burst onto a road. Tyres squealed on tarmac. The other car swerved and disappeared
between high hedges. Harrison Jones followed and they were met with a blaze of
white and flashing blue light.
Using 'Harrison Jones followed' (i.e. the full name) seems a little awkward in this paragraph.  Perhaps 'Jones followed and...', although this depends on how you've referred to him throughout the book I guess.
And that brings me on to the biggy...
Feel free to disregard this (in fact, feel free to disregard all of it, as it's just my tuppence worth!), but I'm not sure about the Harrison Jones name as the main character.  I can see what you're doing, and it does immediately put me in the picture as to what the rest of the book is going to be like (if my suspicions are correct, of course).  However, it might be seen as being a bit 'obvious'.  My concern is that it perhaps positions the book as a piece of fan fiction, with the names changed to avoid copyright issues, whereas you probably want the book to stand on its own merits.

I think it’s great – very gripping, fast paced and engaging. I think the way it’s written: short lines, snaps of dialogue etc, contributes really well to that.

 My only other comment as far as substance goes is about the line just on the top of page 2 – after ““Swim!” he said” – where the narrative then says “Great!” as one line.  I don’t know if my comment will make any sense…. and I contradict myself in a minute, but…

I just wondered that since other sensory narratives are given an owner in the third person, – “she heard an outboard motor” etc – this emotion is left hanging without an owner?  This probably isn’t an issue, but this was the only thought I had!  I wondered if you could add “she thought” after it, or to run this sentence straight into the next sentence, “She splashed..”, so that the emotion is joined up to her actions, and gives it ownership that way?

But, just to contradict my own comment in the same breath, I think the “Answered prayer.” Sentence works without any more ownership because it follows the line “She wished it would stop..” so fits with that to me! 

genuinely liked the full use of protagonists name for use of excerpt. Creates intrigue around the character. I thought it worked well for the purposes of an excerpt. You need to be able to demonstrate as many features of the book as possible in a short space and that does give an insight to the character which may be lost if you remove it.

End of comments relating to A short something to read

7 tips for keeping your motivation as a writer

OK. Lets' have a look. What are the tips?

1. Outlining. 
2. Take a break. 
3. Let it go. 

Let it go? AArrGGh!.....

• 4 ...
• 5 ...
• 6 ...
• 7 ...

Are you serious?
I know. I know. You are.
7 tips for keeping your motivation as a writer
From RozMorris at the Nail your Novel blog.

Ends

Inspector George Gently

Last night, despite the almost overwhelming attraction of Prom 69 on BBCRadio3, I settled for George Gently on BBC2. So now George, as a penance, you'll have to pay your way.
What was it all about? Was it any good?
Here's a quick summary:

• A young woman is found drowned in upside down car in river
• George Gently is in with his GP downloading grief
• DS Jupiter is in bed with ... (Its better not to know)
• The chief suspect (there's history) is local Hooray Henry
• The investigation begins
• Mix in standard Country House eccentricity
• The young woman's father, it turns out, works on the estate
• Lord B is refreshingly down to earth
• His wife is awful, his son Hooray H.
• Young woman was a singer with the band. Widely admired.
• Signal class warfare.
• OK. Cut to the chase. Who done it?
• Not telling.

In terms of literary structure. The genre is Crime. The play is the detective (GG) and his sidekick (DS Bacchus). The characters are from central casting except for the young woman herself and, perhaps, Lord B. We learn about the young woman, obviously, in retrospect, through the recollections of others, which are fully realised on television. I don't know how it was done in the book. If there is a book.
[Technical note:

• Director: Gillies MacKinnon
• Producer: Faye Dorn
• Writer: Peter Flannery

 Close Technical note.]

The pace was point perfect; the pitch, nicely judged; Martin Shaw giving George Gently the right amount of gravitas and humanity. You (me) had to keep watching even though you (me) might have been trying (pretending) to read a serious discussion of the mental state of St Paul the apostle as displayed in .... (I'll have to read it again.) The conclusion was overworked. It is my one criticism. The author (scriptwriter) tried too hard. It was all very Agatha Christie and Miss Marple in the drawing room. No, she didn't do it. She explained who done it. No, she wasn't ... Oh. I give up.

So, in summary, the whole thing - in terms of what made it watchable (i.e. as a book, readable) - swings around the characters of George Gently, his Lordship and the young woman with the others bit-players, necessary but not essential; if you know what I mean.

Perhaps it was just the acting. Perhaps it was there in the writing. In terms of reading and writing, it demonstrates a truth that if one of the characters, on the page, doesn't grab the reader pretty damn quick then the reader may opt to investigate the mental state of a first century lunatic instead. (For more on this, see my future blog on The Return of the Native. Yes, Eustachia Vye, not St Paul.)

The television programme: Inspector George Gently, Series 5, Episode 2:

• BBC One Gently with Class  
• Watch on iPlayer

The author Alan Hunter and the books:

• on Wikipedia
• on Amazon

Now I'll have to find Messiaen and Mahler on iPlayer. Note: these links are only valid for 6 days starting ... Now! (I mean my now not your now.)

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Patricia Duncker: What I'm Reading

Patricia Duncker is Professor of Contemporary Literature at Manchester University. She teaches Romantic, Victorian and contemporary literature and supervises doctoral work, both creative and critical. 

On her web site, she gives some clues to her own reading.

JULY 2012

Never underestimate the power of the simple linear plot...

NOVEMBER 2011

I dip my nose into the giant pool of genre fiction at less frequent intervals than my closest friends do, the friends who are also writers. Most of them read crime...

See:

• Patricia Duncker: What I'm Reading
• Patricia Duncker: University of Manchester webpage

Ends

Writability: How to Use Brainstorming to Edit

Your goal isn't to rewrite what's already there—it's to relive the scene and write something better.

 From the blog post by Ava Jae. 
Writability: How to Use Brainstorming to Edit

You’re Reading It Wrong: How to Not Treat Your Readers - Surly Muse

Once you finish a book and put it out there, it pretty much has to speak for itself. You don’t get to tell your readers how they’re allowed to interpret it, or how to feel about it.  

From the blog post by Daniel Swensen.
You’re Reading It Wrong: How to Not Treat Your Readers - Surly Muse