Editing Nigel Tranter (section)

==Writings==

From childhood onwards, Tranter took a great interest in [[castle]]s and their associated history. As a result, in 1935, at age 25, he published his first book, ''[[#Non-fiction books|The Fortalices and Early Mansions of Southern Scotland]]''.  Encouraged by his wife, he wrote his first novel, ''In Our Arms Our Fortune'', which was rejected by the publishers. However, ''[[Novels by Nigel Tranter#List of novels|Trespass]]'' soon followed and was accepted by The Moray Press.  Unfortunately, they went bankrupt soon after its publication in 1937, and he didn't receive any payment.  Over the next few years, he wrote several more novels in the same vein: light-hearted romantic adventures in varied settings from modern-day Europe to [[History of Scotland|historical Scotland]]. Tranter also wrote several [[westerns]] under the pseudonym '''Nye Tredgold''' to provide additional income for his family, and a dozen children's books -adventure stories aimed at 8- to 10-year-olds.

War service did not stop Tranter writing, and a number of novels were published during the war years, some inspired by his own experiences.<ref>Bradfield, Ray, ''Nigel Tranter: Scotland's Storyteller'', p 64</ref>

Between 1962 and 1971 Tranter published the landmark series ''[[The Fortified House in Scotland]]'' (in five volumes). This attempted to cover the history and structure of every primarily domestic castle in Scotland, 663 buildings in all. A small number of non-domestic buildings associated with priories, churches, communal defence etc. etc. were also included.  Highly regarded at the time, it is still read by those who have an interest in this specialist area.

While researching the castles, Tranter realised that there were many characters and incidents in Scottish history which could be used as the basis for novels, which he tried to make as accurate as possible – while making no effort to hide his own strong Scottish identity. ''[[Historical novels by Nigel Tranter set between 1286-1603#The Queen's Grace|The Queen's Grace]]'' (1953) was his first novel to focus on an historical character (in this case, [[Mary, Queen of Scots]]), although it contained a high fictional content.  Two trilogies followed: the ''[[Historical novels by Nigel Tranter set after 1603#MacGregor trilogy|MacGregor Trilogy]]'' (1957–1962) and the ''[[Historical novels by Nigel Tranter set between 1286-1603#Master of Gray trilogy|Master of Gray Trilogy]]'' (1961–1965).  By this time, Tranter was well established as a writer of serious historical fiction.  The fictional content decreased as he became more experienced, and his later novels were almost entirely composed around the historical record. These novels have gained a wide readership while providing a basic grounding in Scottish history to their readers.