Blog Entries
I’m Heather Belleguelle of Behest Fiction Editing. Welcome to my blog! I hope the posts I write will give you some handy tips, information, and ideas to help you on your writing journey.
As a British editor working with authors from both sides of the pond and having spent a year living in Canada myself, I’m very aware of the differences that exist between British and North American life and culture. My hope is that if you aren’t so familiar with all things British, I’ll be able to pass on some tips to help you ensure your British characters and settings are as authentic as possible and that I’ll also be able to introduce you to beautiful Britain.
If you have any questions or subjects you’d like me to consider covering, please drop an email to heather@behest-editing.com or send me a message via the contact form on this website.
- To Rain on a Person’s Parade
I don’t know about where you live, but in my part of the world, we haven’t had much rain lately and could certainly use some. With rain generally being a common occurrence in Britain, it’s not surprising that there are quite a few idioms in the English language featuring the word. Today’s is one of Continue reading...Category: Time Travel Tuesday - Choosing First Names for Your British Characters: Part 2
In the previous two posts about choosing names for your British characters, we looked first at surnames and then started to discuss selecting first names. In this post we’ll continue with first names and consider a few tips to help you avoid landing your characters with ones that wouldn’t usually be found in the UK. Continue reading...Category: All Things British - The Trent Building, University of Nottingham
Once upon a time, many years ago, I studied modern languages in this beautiful building at the University of Nottingham. University College Nottingham was founded in 1881, but it wasn’t until 1928 that it moved from its cramped facilities in the city centre to a spacious new campus in the southwest of the city. At Continue reading...Category: Beautiful Britain - Gold-DiggerMy husband and I recently watched the BBC adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1944 novel Towards Zero. During the course of the drama, one of the characters states sadly that she’d been accused of not marrying her husband for love but because she’s a “gold-digger”. Hearing the word made me wonder when its figurative use began. Continue reading...Category: Time Travel Tuesday
- Lambs
It’s Good Friday today, the Jewish Passover holiday is being celebrated this week, and we’re also well into lambing season in the UK, so what could be more appropriate than this idyllic spring picture of lambs with their mothers? Sheep farming has a long history in Britain, and fields of the woolly animals are a Continue reading...Category: Beautiful Britain - Split SecondI think we’d all agree that the pace of modern life is generally fast. Our ancestors in previous centuries marked the passing of time in years, days, and hours. Today, particularly as the accuracy of timekeeping has improved, we’re down to minutes, seconds, and even nanoseconds. Our word today reflects that speeding up of time. Continue reading...Category: Time Travel Tuesday
- Primroses
There is nothing that says that spring is here more than flowers bursting into bloom, and the primrose in today’s picture is one of the first wildflowers to appear. The name “primrose” even attests to this, as it’s derived from the Latin “prima rosa”, meaning “first rose”. These pretty pale yellow flowers can be found Continue reading...Category: Beautiful Britain - Double TakeSurely it can’t be Time Travel Tuesday again? Today’s subject, “double take”, is exactly what I did when I looked at the calendar. Usually appearing in the phrase “do a double take”, the idiom means “a delayed reaction to a surprising or significant situation after an initial failure to notice anything unusual.” (M-W) As well Continue reading...Category: Time Travel Tuesday
- How Smart Are You?
At a wedding we were invited to when we lived in Canada, I told two male friends that they were looking smart that day. They were flattered by the compliment. However, the meaning they took from my words was completely different from the one I intended to convey! I was trying to tell them that Continue reading...Category: Divided by a Common Language - Winchester Cathedral
This week’s Beautiful Britain picture is of the majestic Winchester Cathedral, which is getting on for a millennium old. I grew up just outside the city so was used to seeing this impressive sight on a regular basis, but it’s only as an adult that I’ve really come to appreciate just how incredible this building Continue reading...Category: Beautiful Britain - April Fool’s DayAs today is the first day of April, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for Time Travel Tuesday to look at the origins of “April Fool’s Day”. How the practice of playing tricks on others on this day came about is lost in the mists of time, but looking at various sources, it seems that Continue reading...Category: Time Travel Tuesday
- Landscape in the Scottish Borders
Britain is known for being very green, which is due to the country receiving quite a large amount of rain. However, all that rain does make for very beautiful, lush countryside, as demonstrated here in this picture from the lovely Scottish Borders region near Kelso. Green as far as the eye can see, a couple Continue reading...Category: Beautiful Britain