Writing Historical Heists with Laura Noakes

A heist story follows the planning, completion and aftermath of a theft of an item or items from a place. It often involves a group of heisters, who each have a specific skillset that will help them to pull off the caper. 

The Italian Job is a classic heist film

When I sat down to write my heist, I was inspired a lot by the films I watched as a kid. I think my introduction to heists was the classic film The Italian Job, which stars Michael Caine and is set in Italy in the 1960s. I was blown away by the clever ways the characters sought to outwit the security measures to get their hands on some valuable gold, as well as the literal cliffhanger ending! I fell in love with heists watching the Oceans Eleven series, which is far more modern. I loved the cool gadgets and tech the gang used as they closed in on the vault.

So quite a lot of my ‘research’ into the different types of heists was actually just rewatching a lot of my favourite heist films, which was a lot of fun! From these rewatches, I noticed that there are a few elements common in many heists, and I turned these elements into questions to help plot my heist story:

1)      Who is the mastermind behind the heist?

2)     Who makes up the heist team?

3)     What are the team trying to steal?

4)     Why are they trying to steal it?

5)     What’s the plan?

6)     What’s the twist?

Having answers to these questions meant that whenever I got writer’s block, I was able to unstick myself pretty quickly.

Laura's archival research on life in Victorian London

As I wrote my own heist, which is set in 1899 in London, I had to be really aware of the time period and how the historical setting would impact on my heist. In 1899, Queen Victoria was on the throne, women didn’t have the vote and much of the technology we take for granted today didn’t exist yet! I really wanted readers to feel as though they were in late-Victorian London, so I did a lot of research on what living during that time would have been like.

This research came in many forms. I read a lot of non-fiction books about the Victorian era and Victorian London—one my favourites is How to be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman, which told me a lot about everyday life. I also read fiction books set during the Victorian era, and books written by Victorians, like Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.

Websites were also a huge research tool. My main character, Cosima, lives in a group home for disabled children run by a matron. These homes really did exist during the Victorian era, and thinking about these institutions served as the spark which inspired my story. A brilliant website created by Peter Higginbotham formed the core component of my research into these homes: http://www.childrenshomes.org.uk/. Peter is also the author of several excellent books which I wholeheartedly recommend.

I have the same disability as Cos—Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder—so I thought a lot about how different my life would have been if I’d have been brought up in a Home and being disabled during the Victorian era. There isn’t a tonne of information on how disabled people lived in the past, so I turned to a thoroughly modern research tool: the internet!

Finally, I also watched a lot of films and TV shows set in the Victorian era and I also watched many historical documentaries. One of my favourite movies that I saw during research was Enola Holmes, starring Millie Bobby Brown.

Laura's plot takes shape!

When it came to the heist itself, setting my story in the past actually helped in some respects. In 1899, there are no motion detectors, CCTV cameras or complicated security systems to bypass. However, this doesn’t mean that pulling off a heist was easy—Victorians were just as security conscious as we are! Cos and her friends still have to navigate guards, seemingly impenetrable walls, and complicated safes to reach the jewels they’re after.

Heists are full of twists and turns that readers don’t see coming, and I hope I’ve managed to sneak a few into my story. Creating an unexpected twist was really difficult—and I think what helped me to make my twist surprising was that I was also surprised by it.

Bringing the two components of my story together, the historical and the heist, was probably my favourite part of writing my book!

Writing Challenge

I challenge you to plot a historical heist story. This story can be set in any historical period!

Think about how the era will impact on your heist. For example, if your story is set in the pre-historic era, its unlikely that cave-people would want steal a million pounds, because that form of currency didn’t exist then. Maybe instead your cave-people’s target is a Woolley Mammoth! If your heist happens during World War II, what impact will an unexpected air raid have on your characters?

Laura Noakes grew up in Bedfordshire in a home full of books. She loved books so much she went to three universities after school, and graduated with a PhD in Legal History in 2021. Writing stories is her first love. She has Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder, a disability that she shares with her main character, Cosima. Laura now lives in beautiful Cumbria with her husband, Connor, and their two mischievous cats, Scout & Sunny. 

Laura's debut book, Cosima Unfortunate Steals a Star, will be published by Harper Collins on May 25th 2023. Buy a copy online at - https://www.bookscumbria.com/product/uk-books/signed-editions/cosima-unfortunate-steals-a-star/

Learn more about Laura and her writing at her website and follow her on twitter,  Facebook and Instagram

The Chessmen Thief: Action scenes and how to write them - by Barbara Henderson

Viking stories are exciting, aren’t they? All that fighting and pillaging and exploring. And who doesn’t love a Viking ship? Sleek and iconic, we tend to think of them as pulling into some bay or harbour and wreaking havoc in nearby villages and settlements. We sometimes forget that they were also often attacked by others at sea – they definitely lived a dangerous life! One of the great things about historical fiction is that the stakes are often so high – with no rescue service, or hospitals, or mobile phones. Basically, life was a lot more dangerous in the centuries gone by.

 

A viking ship (Illustration by Annie Glennie)

When my Viking book The Chessmen Thief was sent off to the printers, I asked my editor: ‘Now that we’re done, can you tell me – which part of the book do you actually like best?’

She thought for a moment. ‘The action scenes,’ she answered simply.

‘Me too.’

It’s true: a memorable action scene works like a quick turbocharge of energy, giving your story new momentum.

I am not suggesting that I am an expert at all – there are far more talented and experienced authors for children around. But I am more than happy to share what I have learned so far. Ladies and gentlemen, for what it’s worth, here is how an action scene should work. I am drawing on chapters 13 and 14 of The Chessmen Thief to show what I mean. 😊

To give you some context, Kylan (my slave boy and protagonist) is on a Viking longship sailing from Norway to Scotland with his boss, Jarl Magnus.

Step 1: You need one or two sentences of calm atmosphere. Then introduce the threat.

When the wind picks up and carries us in the exact direction we want to go, we step away from the oars and relax. I climb the first level of the mast where I like it the best. No one judges me there or asks me questions.

Until I see it in the distance. Unmistakeable: another vessel, making straight for us.

 

 The Chessmen pieces at the British Museum that inspired my book

Step 2: Take a moment to describe your character’s reaction. It works best if the other characters do not recognise the danger. This technique is called dramatic irony – the reader understands more than most of the characters do, which makes for great tension.

My stomach tumbles and my lungs do something they have never done before: refuse to inhale and exhale. Instead, a strange kind of panting is all I am capable of, with the weight of all the oceans in the world on my heart.

‘Raiders!’ I shout, but all that emerges from my throat is a croak. The men below are singing and sharing a quick horn of ale before their muscle power is required again. ‘Raiders!’ I yell, a little louder, but still no one pays me any heed.

Step 3: Crank up the jeopardy. The reader needs to understand what is at stake.

As the ship approaches, I can see the straggly beards of men who have lived long apart from any kind of company. Their swords are rusty but sharp. There are spears, axes and halberds, and all manner of weapons.

At the front, almost leaning over the hull of their galley, are three raiders with coils of rope around their bodies, ready to throw weighted hooks across—and only now do I see what the front of their ship is made of! It’s not water glistening on the wood—it is reinforced with iron spikes, and they mean to ram us! ‘TURN THE SHIP!’ I yell down with all my might.

Step 4: Give your protagonist something to do.

Suddenly, I am pulled off my feet backwards, the huge hand of the Jarl on my shoulder. ‘Here, boy!’ He thrusts something into my hand, slicing into my palm a little as he does: a dagger, and oh Lord, it is sharp!

The beautiful Isle of Lewis where the chessmen were found

Step 5: The best action scenes have a brave protagonist.

With a terrible clang, a huge metal hook lands over the side of our ship, a rope attached. It tautens almost immediately: the raiders are pulling our ship towards theirs, weapons in hand.

Our men scatter and take refuge, but something possesses me to do exactly the opposite. Darting to avoid the missiles and arrows, I run towards the hooks and slash at the rope attaching the ships to one another.

Number 6: You can’t beat a cliffhanger.

With a final gasping effort, this rope, too, snaps. The enemy ship is only two horse-lengths away. Soon a warrior of strength and stature will be able to jump. Oh no: they are readying themselves!

But then something happens that I have not foreseen. Behind me, there is a commotion; a box is knocked over, heavy footfalls thud on the deck. And then, right past me, Jarl Magnus raises his shield as he runs, mounts the gunwale and, literally, leaps into the air over the whirling waves.

Number 7: Know when to stop.

Relentless action scenes can be exhausting to read. Follow any action scene with a chapter or so of calm – your readers need a break. Let them have it! Once everyone is safe, my protagonist Kylan is going to spend the next chapter learning to play chess!

Writing Task:

Now have a go at writing your own action scene set on a Viking ship. It doesn’t have to be an attack – how about a storm, or a whirlpool, or a shipwreck? Plenty more dangers to invent. I’d love to see what you come up with!

The Chessmen Thief is a Viking adventure inspired by the iconic Lewis Chessmen which you can see at the British Museum, The National Museum of Scotland and The Museum nan Eilean on the Isle of Lewis. The famous hoard of walrus-ivory-carved chess pieces was found in the Outer Hebrides in 1831, but the figures were likely carved in Trondheim in Norway during the second half of the 12^th Century. If they came to Scotland soon after, they are likely to have travelled by sea in a Viking/Norse ship. Some Viking ships actually survive to this day and can be viewed in a museum in Oslo.

Barbara's books are published by Cranachan. They are available from bookshops and online retailers.

 

Barbara Henderson

For more information about Barbara's books visit barbarahenderson.co.uk

Follow Barbara @scattyscribbler 

 

 

 

 

 

Meet the Time Tunnellers!

 Meet the Time Tunnellers! We are five children's book authors who write historical novels.

Ally Sherrick

Ally’s dream job as a child was to be an Egyptologist and dig up mummies and treasure. Her favourite subjects at school were English and History and she loved nothing better in the holidays than exploring ruined castles and decaying mansions and imagining what it must have been like to live in them with no electricity or hot and cold running water.

After studying for a BA in medieval history and French at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, she pursued a successful career in public relations and marketing. Then, in 2010, she took a break to study for an MA in Writing for Children which led to a publishing deal with award-winning children’s publishers, Chicken House Books.

Books:

BLACK  POWDER, is about a boy caught up in the infamous Gunpowder Plot. (Aug 2016.) 

Ally’s debut won the 2017 Historical Association’s Young Quills Award and the North Somerset Teachers’ Book Award 2017. 

 

THE BURIED CROWN is set during World War Two and links to the discovery of the celebrated Sutton Hoo Anglo-Saxon ship burial. (Apr 2018.)

THE QUEEN’S FOOL is a Tudor-set adventure which sees Cat Sparrow travel to the wondrous Field of Cloth of Gold in search of her sister. (Feb 2021.)

All three books are published by Chicken House.

Ally is currently working on a new book for Chicken House due for publication in early 2023.

Ally is married and lives with her husband and assorted garden wildlife in West Surrey.

Why I chose this hat!

It’s a crown really. It might even be the crown from my story World War Two set adventure The Buried Crown. If it is then it’s very old and belonged to a famed Anglo-Saxon warrior who was rewarded with it and the kingdom by a grateful king for saving him and his people from the ravages of a treasure-thieving dragon. It has a runic inscription on it which reads: ‘He who has me has the kingdom’. And it might, just might, have a touch of magic welded into it too. But to find out more you’ll have to read the book!

Where would I time travel to?

That’s such a tough question! There are so many possible destinations to choose from. But top of my current time-travelling bucket-list is Holy Island, Lindisfarne in Northumbria, a magical place connected to the mainland by a causeway that disappears under water when the tides come in. The time I’d pick is just before the start of the first Viking raid in 793. It would give me the chance to admire the wonderful Lindisfarne Gospels in the monastery scriptorium where they were produced, interview the monks about how they made such beautiful and inspired art and meet a fearsome Viking warlord or two. Though I probably wouldn’t hang around for too long once they started waving their swords and battleaxes and demanding treasure with menaces!

Find out more about Ally:

Website: allysherrick.com

twitter: @ally_sherrick

Susan Brownrigg

Susan wanted to be an author for a very long time! So in the meantime she did lots of other jobs. A graduate in journalism, film & broadcasting, Susan worked on a series of weekly local newspapers, then was promoted to sub editor where she came up with headlines, checked articles for accuracy and laid out pages. Susan then switched careers to heritage and wildlife education, working at a zoo, science discovery centre and for the National Trust. Her duties included looking after animals and living history. Until recently she was Learning Manager at a museum and gardens on the grounds of a former medieval priory. She now works as a library information assistant.

Books:

GRACIE FAIRSHAW AND THE MYSTERIOUS GUEST A mystery adventure set in Blackpool. Can Gracie work out which of the guests has taken Ma, as the clock ticks down to the 1935 Illuminations switch-on? (Jul 2020)

KINTANA AND THE CAPTAIN’S CURSE  A treasure hunt adventure with lemurs and magic set in Madagascar during the golden age of piracy. (Jul 2021)

 

GRACIE FAIRSHAW AND THE TROUBLE AT THE TOWER Accidents, pranks and poison pen letters - someone is trying to spoil the Blackpool Tower Children's Ballet's Christmas show. Gracie and her friends must stop the saboteur before their final act!  Published Oct 7, 2021.

All three books are published by Uclan Publishing.

Susan lives with her husband in Skelmersdale, Lancashire.

Why I chose this hat!

This is a 1930s style felt cloche hat! In my book, Gracie Fairshaw and the Mysterious Guest, Gracie’s Ma vanishes. Gracie finds Ma’s hat, squashed on the floor along with her handbag, and determines to seek out more clues, assisted by her younger brother, George, new friends Tom and Violet, and Phyllis the maid. I love the fashions of the 1930s and wish we all still wore hats like this! If you want to know how Gracie works out which guest is responsible for her disappearance and if she can rescue her in time you’ll have to read the book!

Where would I time travel to?

I am fascinated by the story of the thylacine (the Tasmania Tiger.) It is extinct, though every so often stories pop up of sightings. The thylacine was a semi-nocturnal large carnivore that looked like a dog/wolf but was a marsupial – so it had a pouch! It had stripes on its hide – hence the nickname. Originally, they were widespread across continental Australia. There numbers declined due to habitat destruction, introduced disease from wild dogs, and hunting by humans. The last known thylacine, Benjamin, dies at Beaumaris Zoo, Hobart, in 1936. If I could go back in time, I would love to see them roaming wild as darkness beckons.

Find out more about Susan:

Website: susanbrownrigg.com

twitter: @suebmuseum

Instagram: @susanbrownrigg

 

Barbara Henderson

Barbara Henderson moved to Scotland 30 years ago and has somehow since acquired an MA in English Language and Literature, a husband, three children and a shaggy dog along the way. Her day job as a drama teacher gives her ample opportunity to try out her story ideas on youngsters.

Based in Inverness, Barbara is the author of six acclaimed novels for children. Five of them are historical fiction and all are published by Cranachan. She has won several national and international writing competitions and been shortlisted for both the Crystal Kite and the Kelpies Prize.

This year has seen the publication of her new Viking adventure The Chessmen Thief, an origin story for the famous Lewis Chessmen, and Scottish by Inclination, Barbara’s first adult non-fiction title.

She says: ‘To me, the past is the most interesting country of all. I could not be more excited to be a Time Tunneller.’

Books:

FIR FOR LUCK Highland Clearances novel based on real events in Sutherland, Scotland. (Sep 2016)

PUNCH Victorian boy-on-the-run tale based on real events in 1889 and set against a lively backdrop of travelling entertainers. (Oct 2017)

WILDERNESS WARS A contemporary eco-thriller for children asking: 'What if Nature fights back?' (Aug 2018)

BLACK WATER A smuggling novella based on real events and featuring the poet Robert Burns.(Oct 2019)

THE SIEGE OF CAERLAVEROCK A medieval castle adventure based on the real-life siege in the year 1300. (Aug 2020)

The Siege of Caerlaverock has been shortlisted for the Historical Association's Young Quills Award 2021.

THE CHESSMEN THIEF A Viking adventure and inventive origin story for the famous Lewis Chessmen. (Apr 2021)

Barbara's childrens books are published by Cranachan.

Why I chose this hat!

Well, with my head firmly in the late Viking age, I had to choose a Viking helmet, right? What most people don’t realise is that Viking helmets did NOT in fact have horns – the Norsemen used hollowed-out horns for drinking out of, though.

Where I would time travel to?

I always think I would like to experience the Middle Ages – I love so much about that period – the poetry and the architecture, the literature and the pageants with live theatre (as a drama teacher I really enjoy theatre). I adore seeing illuminated manuscripts too, and knights and jousting just add to the magic. People in the Middle Ages loved stories and many of our legends started then. However, I would avoid the Crusades and the wars, and I’d run from the plague – I’m too much of a wimp, I’m afraid!

Find out more about Barbara:

Website: barbarahenderson.co.uk

twitter @scattyscribbler

Instagram @scattyscribbler

Facebook: barbarahendersonwriter

Catherine Randall

Catherine’s love of history began at the age of 6 months, when her history-teacher mother took her into lessons in her pram. After that there was no looking back as family holidays involved lots of castles and classical ruins, with her mother often able to provide a running commentary on the people who’d once lived there. Catherine also devoured all the children’s historical fiction she could find, as well as writing her own stories (often about families with large numbers of children) because writing had become a passion from the age of six.

After studying history at university (no surprise there), Catherine worked as an editor in publishing before taking time out to bring up her three children. The urge to write wouldn’t go away and when her youngest child started school, she did an MA in Children’s Literature which confirmed that writing for children was what she really wanted to do.

Books:

THE WHITE PHOENIX Catherine's debut children's book is set in London in 1666, it features forbidden friendship, prejudice, plague, a bookshop and of course the Great Fire of London. (Aug 2020)

The White Phoenix has been shortlisted for the Historical Association's Young Quills Award 2021.

Catherine is currently working on her second children’s historical novel.

Catherine is very proud of coming from Shropshire, but now lives with her husband and varying numbers of grown-up children in Teddington, Middlesex.

Why I chose this hat!

A few years ago, while I was researching the Great Fire of London for my first novel, I realised that I knew a ridiculous amount about the subject and wanted to share it even before the novel was finished. A kind lady at the local theatre made me a seventeenth-century costume (including this cap) and also produced some aprons and cloaks. Now when I visit schools to talk about the Great Fire, I can go in costume and the children can dress up too. I love talking to children about the Great Fire!

Where would I time travel to?

I’ve spent so much time imagining I’m in seventeenth-century London that I just have to choose that. Although London in the 1660s was noisy, smelly and dirty, it was also a very vibrant, colourful place, with lots of interesting people busy discovering exciting new things about science, art and astronomy, and then discussing it together over meals of pies and oysters. However, I have to say that the 1660s would only be fun if you weren’t poor, and it would also be better to be a boy than a girl. Girls in 1660s London probably had more freedom than they did in some later periods, but they were still not treated as equals with boys. This is one of the reasons why Lizzie in The White Phoenix has to fight so hard to save her bookshop.

Find out more:

Website: catherinerandall.com

twitter: @Crr1Randall 

Jeannie Waudby

Jeannie grew up on a little island in Hong Kong, which was a leprosy treatment centre. Almost all the buildings were quite new but there was a tiny old temple, an original hamlet and several centuries-old graves. Maybe because none of the original inhabitants now lived on the island, Jeannie used to wonder about the people who had been there long ago. Going into old buildings still sparks this fascination for her, and is probably behind the story she is currently working on. Jeannie is half Scottish and half English and this story is set in the Highlands and near London, where Jeannie lives.

Books:

ONE OF US (Chicken House) is a contemporary YA story (12+), set in a parallel reality, so although time is not going backwards, it shifts sideways.

ONE OF US was shortlisted for the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award and the Lancashire Book of the Year 2016. 

It has been adapted by Mike Kenny as a play in the Oxford Playscripts series, and is also an audiobook read by Melody Grove.

Why I chose no hat!

I am wearing a shawl rather than a hat, because when the Clearances force my main character to leave the Highlands in 1848, she takes with her a shawl she made herself. In the background you can see the current Inverness harbour, taken from the site of the old Thornbush Pier, which is where the Steam Packet sailed from Inverness to London before the railway.

Where would I time travel to?

I wouldn’t like to be limited to just one time if I could time travel! I would love to see what life was like when my parents were young. I think I would want to be able to come back whenever I wanted, and that being the case, I would love to see London in the mid nineteenth century and to travel across oceans on a sailing ship. I’d like to make the journey my character makes – four days in a steam ship down the east coast of Britain – a journey I’ve made so many times by rail. Whenever I visit a grand old house, I wish I could time travel back to meet the servants. 

Find out more

Website: jeanniewaudby.com

twitter: @jeanniewaudby