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Meredith J Piper

Music was a very powerful influence when I was writing Dream Catcher.
When writing Chapter 8 about Jenna’s Naming Ceremony, where she becomes Wa-Sna Mahpyua, Storm Cloud and she goes through the Hunka Ceremony to adopt her into the tribe, I listened to a piece of music called Indiana Drums.
This powerful piece of drumming helped me visualise the scene and more so enabled me to feel the intensity between Black Hawk and Jenna.

01/12/2021

My two ever faithful writing companions 🥰

21/09/2021

Dream Catcher took me 5 years to research, two years to write and another year to refine.
A lot of things influenced my writing and built the story in my head from listening to Native American music to visiting Sioux City and the Royal Ontario Museum to researching on line.
These were the first images I took when visiting Sioux City and it was from here that the Garrison Town of Five Oaks began to take shape in my mind.

19/09/2021

This fireplace was in the John Wood suite that I stayed in, courtesy of the Royal Crescent Hotel when I was doing my research for A Message Through Time.
Looking at it, after it had been lit for me, I wondered what it would have been like to have to ensure the fire was lit early in the morning without being seen and again, having to clean the ashes without leaving a single mark or evidence that you had been there. Servants were only seen when required.

14/09/2021

If you continue down the Gravel Walk where Georgian duels were common place you come to the Georgian garden. It is behind No.4 The Circus and is a recreation of an eighteenth-century town garden.

13/09/2021

This is The Gravel Walk situated behind The Circus and where the park in front of Royal Crescent ends. This place was notorious in Georgian times for duels to take place.
A duel was planned between two gentlemen of upper classes using either a pistol or sword in front of witnesses or seconds to settle ‘affairs of honour’ or disagreements. It was the first duty of the seconds to try and resolve the issue first. True conduct would have been for the challenger to accept an apology if it could be done with honour.
If any of you watched Bridgerton, you will have seen this played out in one of the episodes where Daphnes brother challenges for his sisters honour.

11/09/2021

So just a little way from where this picture was taken is the beautiful Royal Crescent Hotel. This hotel has its rooms decked out in the traditional Georgian style. I was lucky enough to stay here AND be upgraded to the John Wood suite when I was doing my research.
The view from the window looking down onto the park was thought provoking. How many maids and footmen stole a glance through that window watching the well heeled ton having a stroll or alighting a carriage, wondering what it would be like to be them for a day?

10/09/2021

A Message Through Time
So here I am outside Number 1 Royal Crescent in Bath.
It was here that I came several years ago to do some Georgian research and thanks to the information the historians gave me, the story of Rose and her life as a child servant began to grow.

09/08/2021

Dream Catcher
496 pages
5 years to research
2 years of writing
1 year of refining
Now available as paperback and ebook on Amazon

03/08/2021

Entries to the Publisher Amazon KDP Storyteller UK 2021 Award close on 31st August so I’ll find out how well Dream Catcher has done against the big guns in a month or so!

19/07/2021

Author copies are here!!
If you’ve reserved a copy it will be making its way to you very soon 😊

12/07/2021

Inspiration - Where Birds Don't Fly

Music is one.

Music can invoke powerful feelings from lifting you within to bringing out deep emotion.

When writing this novel, I created a playlist to get me into the right mood and frame of mind to write certain parts.

For example, early on when Paul is in an induced coma and then heavy sedation, Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb and Enigma's Morphing Through Time got my mindset right.

Una Mattina by Ludovico Einaudi enabled me to visualise when Samantha is on the runway waiting to go to Afghanistan and the rain is falling.

And Cold Play's Paradise, where Samantha finds Mulroys lifeless body after a fire fight at a Forward Operating Base I felt signalled her move from idealistic girl to woman.

Music is powerful and is my constant writing companion.