Adventures in Time Travel
Lady Moppet heads for an urgent meeting at Buckingham Palace; no time to change
Photo by John Cunliffe for Abigails Ateliers
How it all started
Adventures in Time Travel is a series of stories narrated by my alter ego, Lady Moppet of Yorkshire, who is entrusted with a top secret mission that will turn her life upside down.
For most of her career Lady Moppet, an art historian specialising in medieval decorative arts, toiled away in libraries and archives, occasionally emerging to teach a summer school. But her specialist knowledge of twelfth-century Europe makes her the perfect choice for a very unusual mission.
Lady Moppet’s task: to return to Henry II’s Christmas Court of 1184 in order to capture Empress Matilda’s crown, thus saving it from being lost in the Wash in 1216 and returning it to The Client, its rightful owner.
Acknowledgements are due to: Sheri Vangen-Ratcliffe for writing Heir Apparent, which I look forward to reading one day, Misfit (At home with a good book and the cat…) and Michele (A Reader’s Respite) for their reviews of Heir Apparent, which inspired me to write this parody, and Ken for the ‘drunk as a moppet’ joke.
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The original short story
Adventures in Time Travel: Undercover at the Court of Henry II
This story was originally written as a series of posts at Historical Fiction Online, which can be found here.
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The sequel
Adventures in Time Travel: Deeper Undercover (quite a bit longer) can be found here:
Original posts at Historical Fiction Online available on the same thread.
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The story continues in…
Lady Moppet’s post #1: More demands from the Wendy House
Lady Moppet’s post #2: Oscar disgraces himself
Lady Moppet’s post #3: Meeting Melusina
Lady Moppet’s post #4: Confrontation at Marlborough
Lady Moppet’s post #5: Dinner with Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn
Lady Moppet’s post #6: More Lingerie Shopping
King John’s post #1: Moppet’s Romantic Weekend
King John’s post #2: Fierce Bad King John
Lady Moppet’s post #7: Fierce Bad Moppet
Lady Moppet’s post #8: Surprises
King John’s post #3: Some bodices were ripped in the writing of this post
Lady Moppet’s post #9: There’s Something About Moppet
Lady Moppet’s post #10: The Baby Shower
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Extras
Results of Lady Moppet’s Mary Sue Litmus Test
Lady (Miss ) Moppet! Let me post a comment from you from HFO:
“I know. I wish there was someone like this in my life but there isn’t. I have to rely on my own judgement which really doesn’t work. Re-reading the book, which I haven’t done for a few months, I am absolutely amazed that, after so many years of very hard work, it is so bad and so far from what I wanted it to be. I have no idea how to make it better so I’m not going to waste any more time on it. At the moment I really doubt that the new project will be an improvement but one thing is for sure, it can’t be any worse.
Thanks to everyone for taking the time to share your thoughts and comments.”
What you have to know and really believe, is that I and all your many fans KNOW that you have a really wonderful talent for writing and an incredible gift for inventiveness (if that’s a real word!).
I don’t know what to say about your wip. The era and the subject are not my cup of tea, but that’s just me! However, with Lady Moppet, your sure touch in finding exactly the right scene set and the dialogue to go with it, are without parallel and you absolutely must not give up writing (including the definitive novel!
Your blog is a delight and serves to demonstrate your talent. Maybe you just need to redirect these talents into a different writing style. Not for me to advise, I’m just a struggling writer myself – but I know talent when I see (read) it!!
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Ken, thank you so much for your support and your kind words about my writing. That means a lot to me. I love writing about Lady Moppet and although it’s just for fun, I think I’m learning from it. I want to carry on writing HF but perhaps, as you say, not in quite the same style as before.
I’m so very pleased you are enjoying the blog and as long as people keep reading, I’ll keep writing.
Just seen elsewhere that there is a new episode starting up! What about my w.i.p? Have you no pity???
Seriously though, could you not turn your talent for writing and comic expression, into writing a sort of ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’ type novel of Lady Moppet’s adventures??
You could start with her adventures with Henry 11 and carry on (with cliffhanger style links)through as many kings as you wanted. The subplots included would give the reasons for her travels back in time for her various clients and link each adventure to the one that went before and to real events in history.
What do you think?? I’m off to read the latest episode!
I like that idea! But I think I’ll probably keep it as just a fun thing. I think you have to know as much as my readers do about history to understand a lot of the jokes. Plus I like the King John/Lady Moppet pairing. But I do have plans for Lady Moppet to meet up with another king a bit later on…
Miss Moppet, I heartily second Mr. Ken’s suggestion. And why would writing histfic and “a fun thing” be mutually exclusive?
Also, will Lady Moppet time travel forward to meet Jane Austen?
Good point, Catherine.
I never thought of Lady Moppet meeting Jane Austen! Or perhaps Jane should do some time travelling on her own account…I like to imagine her with secret powers.
Oh, most definitely, Jane HAD secret powers. And look at her History of England…
Hi miss moppet
I just wanted to say I am on wordpress now and I was not sure how else to contact you
I do love your site!