Have you ever finished a book and thought – you know I don’t think any of the main characters ever ate, drank, slept or went to the bathroom…Or if they did, did it drive you crazy when all they ate was toast, all they drank was whiskey and they never slept unless it was to dream wild fantasies?

As a writer of historical fiction, I can’t wait to describe every meal in detail. In Edwardian England, amongst the rich, food was an elaborate affair and a mark of status. You didn’t just eat, you dined in style. Which is perhaps why I get het up when I read a book in which the ordinary day to day lives of the characters are given short shrift.

I don’t want to know that a character read a book; I want to know which book they read. I don’t want her to simply eat lunch; I want to know what she ate. I want every little detail to count – to provide an insight into who she (or she) is as a character. Okay I confess I may have spent far too much time ‘researching’ food for my Ursula Marlow books. I have deliberated for example on the type of tea she would be drinking at a particular time of day – would she be drinking Orange Pekoe or Irish Breakfast tea? Would she be a Lapsang Souchong drinker? And if she was, what would that say about her? Needless to say, I obviously drink way too much tea.

As a reader I revel in the details or the most ordinary things and get thoroughly annoyed when it appears (to me) that the character never even needs basic sustenance. I was reading a series (I won’t name which) and for the first few books I don’t think the female protagonist and sleuth ever actually ate a full meal - and it drove me crazy. Of course the opposite is also true, how many books drop name brands as if they were somehow a substitute for description? I’m all for funny witty insights into the world of those who sling Prada bags over their shoulders – but sometimes it feels as if this is used as a writer’s crutch to avoid having to explain ‘the ordinary’.

I think when creating a self contained world, all the minute details count in providing the richness that makes that world truly come to life. So go on, fess up – have you ever had the same experience as a reader and closed a book and thought – that character needed to get a life?

And don’t forget to check out Clare’s own blog at Kill Zone.