Dale Hurst – Author - Novelist news and other titbits
  • Home
  • About Dale Hurst
  • Writing
  • Podcast – The Dale Hurst Writing Show
Home
About Dale Hurst
Writing
Podcast – The Dale Hurst Writing Show
Dale Hurst – Author - Novelist news and other titbits
  • Home
  • About Dale Hurst
  • Blog
  • Writing
    • Lust & Liberty
    • Sin & Secrecy
    • You Can Hear Chopin
    • Short Fiction
      • Ballad of a Godless Man
    • Poetry
  • Podcast
    • Season 1
    • Season 2
  • Get in touch
Browsing Category
Sin & Secrecy
Sin & Secrecy

Preview: Sin & Secrecy Chapter I

May 13, 2019 No Comments

After teasing the new book for a few months, about time I gave you a little taste. From the opening chapter…

I don’t know if I mentioned it, but the book I published last year — The Berylford Scandals: Lust & Liberty — is actually the prequel to a novel I wrote two years previously. That story is Sin & Secrecy, which I’m currently revising with a mind to publish sooner rather than later. That way, I can get back to writing my wartime thriller You Can Hear Chopin from the Attic.

Unlike Lust & Liberty, from which I removed massive chunks of plot and sub-plot from the final product in order to make it more concise, Sin & Secrecy will begin as it always has since the first draft written back in 2008. With an incident in the school classroom involving a dictionary and four mischief-makers collectively referred to as The Four Scallywags. Their real names are Andrew Tresswood, Mark Walldrowe and the twins Rosa and Rita Serjeant — in a sense, they are among the newest major characters to come into play in this book. The point of this chapter, other than to open the novel, is to introduce the main anti-hero — Abel Stirkwhistle — as a sadistic and cruel disciplinarian, overruling even his own sister, Rebecca.

Hopefully, you can get a sense of this from the below excerpt, taken from the first chapter. It takes place immediately after The Four Scallywags have been sent to Abel’s office, awaiting their punishment…

Excerpt from The Berylford Scandals: Sin & Secrecy — Chapter I: The Mistake with the Dictionary

Sin & Secrecy Chapter 1 Excerpt 1 Sin & Secrecy Chapter 1 Excerpt 2 Sin & Secrecy Chapter 1 Excerpt 3

Sorry about the gapping, by the way. Just a technical thing I can’t avoid…

Anyway, what did you think? Hopefully, you want to know what Abel does next! And more besides! Subscribe to this page and/or follow the social media accounts. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are currently most active. We’ll be doing more of these previews, along with character profiles. If you have any ideas, please feel free to comment etc.

Continue reading
Reading time: 1 min
Written by: Dale Hurst
Characters Lust & Liberty Sin & Secrecy

Character Profile: Abel Stirkwhistle

May 8, 2019 No Comments

Profile

FULL NAME: Abel Stirkwhistle

BORN: 1st October 1756, Iverleigh Warren, Kensington, London (aged 36-37 in Lust & Liberty; 58-59 in Sin & Secrecy)

EYE COLOUR: Hazel

HAIR COLOUR: Brown, later grey

FAMILY: The Hon. Tobias Stirkwhistle (father); Esther Stirkwhistle (mother); Rebecca (sister); Liza Stirkwhistle (née Rowlands) (wife); Josiah, Obadiah, Priscilla, Cecilia, Septimus, Octavius, Decimus, Lady Irwina Stirkwhistle-Ziegler (paternal cousins); Lady Oliviera Vyrrington, Lady Riva Bært-Styridge, Lady Lavinia Isaacs, Lady Clementina Isaacs, Lady Diana Isaacs, Lady Georgiana Isaacs (maternal cousins)

ALLIES: Priscilla Stirkwhistle, Lady Oliviera Vyrrington, George Whitlocke

ENEMIES: Rebecca Stirkwhistle, all children

OCCUPATION: Socialite, politician (formerly), school caretaker

PERSONALITY: Sadistic, mischievous, roguish, secretive, irritable, severe, violent

POLITICS: Liberal

FAITH: Catholic

Who is Abel Stirkwhistle?

Abel is the main anti-hero of The Berylford Scandals: Sin & Secrecy. He appears in the prequel, Lust & Liberty, though nowhere near as often and much later than I first wanted. In the final version of the novel, he doesn’t physically appear until halfway through the story. When we meet him, he is recovering from a stroke, cared for by his sister Rebecca and his wife Liza. Once he recovers, he quickly becomes established as both a bit of a wind-up merchant and a force to be reckoned with. Probably one of the only people his cousin Lady Vyrrington fears to some extent.

While he is only a major player in the first book towards its end, Abel is the main character of the second. He, like Lady Vyrrington, is nearing his sixties. He is tired with his life, marriage and job, in which he makes many an enemy. But the main thorn in his side is still his sister, as you’ll discover. In the opening chapter of the first book, I give quite a detailed description of his appearance and personality:

from Chapter I of The Berylford Scandals: Sin & Secrecy

“…Tall and dark as his Italian heritage permitted, he had once been handsome too in his youth. But a sudden stroke in his middle-age had stolen all that from him and warped his body into that formidable and fearsome mass of flesh which Berylford had come to know and dread. He was all but entirely sunken on the one side; he did not walk or even limp but ambled spikily as a crab would. His neck and head were permanently askew, his lips would often spasm, bearing fangs intermittently – whether they were merely expressions of pain and frustration, or curses to the God who had visited this affliction on him, no one could say.

Either way, it had done as badly for Abel’s mind and temper as it had his body. While politically he remained liberal, sympathetic and even at times generous to those of classes beneath those of his own aristocratic roots, he paradoxically had an unforgiving nature and was capable of great cruelty, regarding little the lives of lesser Earthly creatures. For example, if a simple snail were to be slithering along the pavement, it would be the feet of some children of the town to kick it about the pavement in its shell. However, it would be the cruel foot of Abel Stirkwhistle – the steel–studded boot with the iron heel brought down with such malevolence that would crush the snail in its shell. And a brutal and sadistic socialite was he, and he relished his cruelty grandly…”

Origins & Basis

Abel Stirkwhistle is probably one of the only characters whose name has stuck from day one. I don’t know what it is about the surname Stirkwhistle. It just suggested to me something nasty and malevolent that went with Abel’s character, along with that of his sister. And I always intended him to be a villain to some degree. He started out as the sadistic and cruel caretaker of the school where four of the other main characters, collectively known as The Four Scallywags, study. That part of his character remains.

He was not supposed to be related to Lady Vyrrington in the beginning; originally they were just friends. But I could not justify the lady of the manor being friends with a school caretaker unless they were actually related. With this in mind, Abel couldn’t have the job for the love of it. He had to take it on to keep an eye on his sister — that’s how it developed.

I personally love writing dialogue for Abel — his character is so multi-faceted. That’s whether he’s talking to Lady Vyrrington or his sister Rebecca. He can be roguish and charming one minute, austere and threatening the next. It gives me an opportunity to write both light-hearted and black humour, but also drama that shows off his straight-up violent and evil side. When he exchanges threats with Rebecca — I find that so unlike any other sibling relationship, both in real life and in fiction.

Literary Inspiration

Abel, like Lady Vyrrington, originated in his older form. He is a combination of two Dickens characters. Mr. Tulkinghorn from Bleak House for the personality, and Jeremiah Flintwinch from Little Dorrit for the appearance and movement. The surname Stirkwhistle is also deliberately Dickensian. I injected the mischievous side of him myself to give him a redeeming quality. Despite his malice, I wanted to make him somewhat likeable, or at least relatable.

What’s your opinion of Abel? Likeable anti-hero or straight-up villain? Let us know in the comments!

Continue reading
Reading time: 4 min
Written by: Dale Hurst
Page 5 of 6« First...«3456»

Newsletter

About me

This is Dale Hurst here. Novelist and journalist. Subscribe above to receive all updates.

Popular Posts

ANNOUNCEMENT: New Book in Progress

November 15, 2018

No Time Like the Present…

July 1, 2018

“To Err is Human…”

August 4, 2018

You Can Hear Chopin from the Attic: A Brief Overview

January 24, 2019

Categories

  • Ballad of a Godless Man
  • Blog
  • Characters
  • Food Writing
  • Journalism
  • Lifestyle
  • Lust & Liberty
  • Podcast
  • Poetry
  • Short Fiction
  • Sin & Secrecy
  • Travels
  • Writing
  • You Can Hear Chopin

dalehurst_author

The Berylford Scandals (1. Lust & Liberty, 2. Sin & Secrecy) 📚
Podcaster | The Dale Hurst Writing Show🎙️

Dale Hurst | Author
I love creating characters. It's the greatest joy I love creating characters. It's the greatest joy of storytelling, I think. But to make sure they all don't end up as one-dimensional cardboard cutouts in the story, I create comprehensive profiles for all my principal players. Some of the things to include in such profiles are discussed in the latest post on my website (#linkinbio) ✍️✏️🖊️📝📖📚📘📙
.
#writingcommunity #writersofinsta #writernetwork #writingwisdom #authornetwork #amwritingmystery #amwritinghistoricalfiction #charactercreation #characterprofile #creativewriting
Another very popular episode and one of my persona Another very popular episode and one of my personal favourites, featuring filmmaker Jamie Webb of @jkw.media talking about true crime documentary and drama and the trials and creative processes behind both. Here's a snippet. You'll have to listen to the whole thing to hear the flipside 😉🔍🎥🩸📝🎙️
.
Find it on Spotify, Google Podcasts and Amazon Music 🎙️
.
#podcastersofinstagram #podcast #podcastsofinstagram #podcastaddict #writernetwork #writingpodcast #writingwisdom #thedalehurstwritingshow #amwritingtruecrime #truecrimeaddict #truecrimecommunity #documentary #filmmaker #drama #writingcommunity #authorsofinstagram #filmmakinglife
One of my favourite characters to write. Love her One of my favourite characters to write. Love her or hate her, there's no denying Mrs Urmstone is devoted to Lady Vyrrington and won't hear a word said against her. This quote from Lust & Liberty pretty much sums that up 📖📘📚
.
#amreadingmystery
#amwritingmystery #amreadinghistoricalfiction #theberylfordscandals #lustandliberty #summerreading #summerreads2023 #bookquotes #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #igbooks #histfic #historicalfiction
5 whole years ago, I published my debut novel, Lus 5 whole years ago, I published my debut novel, Lust & Liberty 😱🤯🎉 letting loose all the scandals in Berylford and the dramas of its people. 
.
Everyone's support and responses to the story have been overwhelming and I'm continually grateful 🥰
.
(If you haven't read it yet, add to your summer reading list and grab a copy on Amazon now 😘📚📖)
.
📸 Patrick Cermak
.
#summerreading #summerreads2023 #theberylfordscandals #lustandliberty #bookiversary #publication #anniversary #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #igbooks #readingcommunity #readingtime #regencyromance #amreadingmystery #amreadinghistoricalfiction
How can we as authors continue to think outside th How can we as authors continue to think outside the box with female characters in the sci-fi genre? Fellow Star Wars enthusiast, writer and cosplayer @aimocreative joined me on the podcast with some of her thoughts. Full episode on Spotify, Google Podcasts and Amazon Music as always 📚📖🎙️📝✍️
.
#podcastersofinstagram #podcast #podcastsofinstagram #podcastaddict #writingpodcast #thedalehurstwritingshow #writingwisdom #amwritingscifi #amwritingsciencefiction #writingcommunity #authornetwork #authorsofinstagram #authorscommunity
Enjoy these covers while you can... They might be Enjoy these covers while you can... They might be changing soon... In light of the recent announcements from Amazon that they'll be hiking up their printing prices, we need to do some down-sizing. More news to come! Both books are still available from Amazon as always (#linkinbio) 📖📘📚📙 
.
📸 @jkw.media 
.
#bookstagram #booksofinstagram #igbooks #theberylfordscandals #lustandliberty #amreading #amreadingromance #amreadingmystery #amreadingcrime #amreadinghistoricalfiction #historicalfiction #histfic #mysterynovel #crimefiction
Spoilers ahead if you haven't read Lust & Liberty Spoilers ahead if you haven't read Lust & Liberty but are planning to.
.
In this new blog post, I reveal the reason behind killing off a fan favourite... a decision that more than one reader has called for me to change 😆
.
Link to the new post is in the comments ⬇️⬇️⬇️
.
#theberylfordscandals #lustandliberty #writingwisdom #writingcommunity #authorsofinstagram #authornetwork #writersofinsta #amwritingmystery #amwritinghistoricalfiction #creativewriting #spoileralert🚨
This month, Lust & Liberty celebrates its 5th anni This month, Lust & Liberty celebrates its 5th anniversary 😱🤯🎉🎆 picking out some of my favourite excerpts, beginning with this from everyone's favourite anti-heroine, Lady Vyrrington 📝✍️🖊️📖📘
.
#theberylfordscandals #lustandliberty #amwritingfiction #amwritinghistoricalfiction #amwritingmystery #amwritingromance #periodfiction #periodpiece #regencyromance #writingcommunity #authorscommunity #authorsofinstagram #writersofinsta #writerslife
Load More… Follow on Instagram

Dale Hurst

  • About Dale Hurst
  • Get in touch

Recent Posts

  • Building a comprehensive character profile
  • Why did I decide to kill off this character?
  • Planning a new book – my process
  • 7 things to remember when writing a first draft
  • Where do you get your ideas for books?

Dale Hurst

  • Email
    dale.hurst93@gmail.com
  • Address
    Poole, Dorset
© 2020 Copyright Dale Hurst // All rights reserved