Writing crime novels in Transylvania

[topum]

Arabella McIntyre-Brown, a British writer and publisher, moves to an isolated village in Transylvania, where she organizes workshops, writes non-fiction and crime novels and watches the world go by.



"When she moved to the village, people kept asking her how come she’s not married, how come she’s a woman living alone. “They just couldn’t understand why I wasn’t married. But when I said I was a writer…’well…in that case…it explains everything’. So I can get away with murder because I’m a writer. I’m just an odd English woman writer,” she said laughing."

Full article is here.

I read Arabella's book Liverpool: The First 1,000 Years, which was a best-seller and hit no.2 around Christmas.

Arabella's sister was Virginia Frances "Ginny", Lady Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes an explorer, the first woman to be awarded the Polar Medal and the wife of adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

The village of Magura, which Arabella moved to is beautiful, see here.

Comments

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

What an interesting woman!

[topum.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Interesting and brave.

[beautesauvage13.livejournal.com]

Hm maybe that's what I need to do to break this 10yr or more writer's block..move to Transylvania. 

There aren't any poisonous giant spiders over there are there?  I can't live with giant eight legged freaks - I've a hard enough time living with the non harmless small ones here. 

Athena

[topum.livejournal.com]

No, there are no giant spiders there as far as I know. Actually in that village there are no ticks at all and almost no mosquitos, apparently it is too high up for any bloodsuckers to be able to live there. Or maybe it is because where there are vampires, no other bloodsuckers are needed?

[beautesauvage13.livejournal.com]

Ha!  I suppose vampires are territorial..So maybe that is why there are no bloodsucking mosquitos there or tics. 

They do have bats..but I like bats.  Bats are cute. 

Athena

[topum.livejournal.com]

Yes, not far from that village there is a cave where bats leave, it is interesting to visit. They are harmless.

[beautesauvage13.livejournal.com]

I'd love to see such a cave.  We have little caves here but no bats in them..Although we do have brown bats around here.  But they're up in the country outside the city. 

Athena

[topum.livejournal.com]

It is quite a hike to get there.

[beautesauvage13.livejournal.com]

Are the caves up a mountain?  Like in the movie Dracula untold?  Vlad climbs up this mountain to a cave to meet the thing men feared most.  Turns out he met Charles Dance - well ok Charles as an old vampire who gave Vlad the blood so he could have powers to defeat the Turkish army. 

Athena

[topum.livejournal.com]

The village itself is quite high up in the mountains so it is just a hike from there not so much a climb. Romanians are big on caves. They even have this:



It is an amusement park in the middle of a lake inside a giant cave made of salt (this is the view from the "ceiling" of the cave). It is huge and has other connected caves. People with asthma and other respiratory conditions come to spend time there as it is apparently very beneficial for them.

[beautesauvage13.livejournal.com]

Wow that looks cool. 

I wonder what is in the air there that relieves respiratory issues like asthma? 

Athena

[topum.livejournal.com]

There is a combo of factors which affect the unique microclimate aparently (humidity, temperature, zero allergens and pathogens in the air, ionisation, etc). The cave is made entirely of salt, it is a former salt mine.

[beautesauvage13.livejournal.com]

Ah so the air is purer and healthier in the cave compared to the air outside the cave.

Athena

[gneu.livejournal.com]

Watching the world go by is about the extent of my life, too.

[topum.livejournal.com]

Not the worst way to spend your life but would not come easy to me, my hyperactivity requires constant activity.

[gneu.livejournal.com]

Does that mean you're fidgety on the airplane?

[topum.livejournal.com]

Not really, I like flying, I usually take something to do with me. And for long haul flights I try to fly overnight so that I just sleep on the plane.