With that advice in mind, I now have a second project underway running concurrently with the writing of Child of War.  I am also working on a short story entitled “The Dream Time”, set both in the present day and in the California Gold Rush era of the 1850s.  The target word count for the short story is 25,000 words, a count based on the writing guidelines published by several of the pulp magazines.  The goal is to complete The Dream Time and have it ready for submission by the end of 2009.

Switching between a short story and a novel brings with it some rather interesting challenges.  In Child of War I have several major plots all intertwined.  Those plots are all building towards a major climax in the final chapter, and they also set the stage for any number of subsequent books set in the world of Westerloch.  Not so with The Dream Time, however.  Given the word count restrictions, the short story by nature has a single plot that will hold the reader’s attention throughout.  There simply isn’t time or space available to develop sub-plots.  That I’m introducing two distinct time periods is challenging enough, although it is safe to assume that the reader is already familiar with the present day.

Without giving too much away, The Dream Time centers around Ethan Stuart, a young boy just entering high school.  While walking home from school one afternoon, he decides to take a shortcut through a sandlot.  A coin in the dirt catches his eye and he’s surprised to learn that it is a $5 gold coin inscribed with the name Moffat & Co. and dated 1849.  The coin, however, launches him on a series of nightly adventures that take him on a journey through time to 1851′s San Francisco, Plumas City, and Rich Bar, California.  These are all very real Gold Rush cities from that time period, and some of the characters Ethan meets along the way are historically accurate.

I finished the outline for The Dream Time tonight, and it looks to be an exciting story.  I look forward to writing it.  As to Child of War, work is progressing nicely.  I have spent some time tidying up parts of Chapter One, and research into medieval battle tactics continues.  Writing time will now be split between these two projects, but the net result will hopefully be a published story early in 2010.  Stay tuned…

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Consider some of today’s better writers of Fantasy.  Katherine Kurtz in her Deryni series, Katherine Kerr with Deverry, the late Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, and George R. R. Martin’s Ice and Fire series all share one major characteristic in common.  In all of their novels the setting and rules of their unique worlds were taken for granted.  They were all accepted by the reader as a given, leaving the authors free to devote precious words to the development of the characters and the plot.  To accomplish this, however, they had to create settings and rules that were both consistent and credible.  The subtle nuances that set their worlds apart were exposed to the reader in small doses, each revealing a bit more about the ways of their worlds in much the same way that a child learns the ways of ours.  We aren’t born with a working knowledge of the rules governing our lives, and neither is the reader provided with the rules governing the fantasy world right from the first page.  It’s a learning process, and the four authors I’ve mentioned here convey that process extremely well.

That is the challenge I face with the world of Westerloch.  To be successful, the early Medieval setting must feel comfortable and natural to the reader.  Adding to that challenge, is a political struggle that pits two opposing factions and one seemingly caught in the middle faction, yet it is a struggle that developed on our own continent in the 17th century.  Marrying those two seemingly contradictory historical periods is both extremely challenging yet a lot of fun as well.

The Colonial Period research is playing very well into the background for Child of War.  This was an era that was glossed over – if it was mentioned at all – in our high school American History classes, yet the drama that unfolded in North America for over 150 years leading up to the American Revolution was absolutely fascinating.  The political free-for-all between France, England, the Dutch, the Spanish, and for a brief time Sweden shaped a continent and in no small way generated the political atmosphere that persists across two continents to the present day.  While I’ve selected only one seemingly minor event as the inspiration for Child of War, the possibilities for future novels in the same setting are virtually endless.

A great line from Billy Joel’s Goodnight Saigon reads, “We held the coastline, they held the highlands.”  While he was referring to the American strategic position in Vietnam, the line also adequately describes the battlefield between New France and the Dominion of New England in the mid-1600s.  Imagine a continent in which one faction, New France, had an entire continent west of the Appalachian Shelf upon which to build, yet their only access to their territory was the St. Lawrence River.  On the other hand, the Dominion of New England held virtually the entire east coast, yet they were boxed in by New France to the north and west, and the Spanish settlements in the south.

What makes the setting even more interesting is the fact that neither France nor England provided much in the way of military or economic support to their fledgling colonies.  Rather, in both cases the colonies were funded and supported by private trading companies that viewed North America as a logical springboard for economic expansion.  Their respective governments, however, saw little advantage in exploring or settling North America, and as a result the colonies were left to pretty much fend for themselves.  They were governed from Europe, to be sure, but they were not truly supported by Europe.

All of this plays extremely well into the fantasy setting I’m developing in Westerloch.  That the true politics of the 1600s is not taught in our schools today works well in my favor, since few will recognize Westerloch for what it is – a fantasy recreation of a real-world political infrastructure.  With this in mind, I believe the goal of introducing a credible fantasy setting that incorporates a 10th century lifestyle with a 17th century conflict is achievable.  Of course, how well that is achieved depends on how well I do my job.  Stay tuned…

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As I reviewed some of my favorite authors, I noticed that they would rarely attempt to write in a particular accent.  Rather, their character descriptions were so effective that the reader provided the accent without the disruption of having to decipher it from the text.  That is something I hope to achieve in Child of War.

It amazes me to learn that the art of writing a novel is more than the art of storytelling.  It’s more than just putting words on a piece of paper.  Rather, the novelist must sculpt those words into a sentence structure that imparts mood, feeling, and emotion.  A major advantage the screenwriter has over the novelist is the knowledge that a musical score will accompany the action on the screen.  That musical score can evoke a wide range of emotions without any action or dialogue on the screen.  We all remember how the musical score presaged a tragic event in Jaws.  We remember the anticipation in Star Wars whenever we heard Darth Vader’s theme in the background.  The music set the mode and it heightened our senses in anticipation of some major action.

When writing a novel, the author must set those same emotions but without the advantages of a musical score.  Rather, the author must rely on cadence, on word sequence, on sentence structure.  For example, it’s a fairly common technique for an author to lull the reader with long flowery sentences.  Then they suddenly change.  The sentences are short.  They are abrupt.  The reader reads faster.  Anticipation builds. Then BAM.  The author provides the climax to the scene and, thanks to the buildup, the reader is in the right emotional state for it.  It’s a powerful technique, but very difficult to perfect.

This is what I am working on as I slowly develop the first draft.  The character’s voice is most important.  Without a good handle on voice, not only would the reader be unsatisfied, but it would actually be a moot point.  The novel would never be published in the first place.  What I have not worked on to any great extent is the mood structure.  That will come in the second draft.  For now, the intent is to get the primary action set and let the characters and plot develop naturally.  Adding the musical score – the cadence and sentence structure that will elicit the proper emotions – will come later.  It’s no wonder that the better authors take a year or more to release a novel.  There’s a lot more going into the book than meets the eye.

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Each chapter is subdivided into many very small sections, each with a different point of view. If you’ve ever read any of Michael Crichton’s works, you have encountered a similar style. The small subsections in my case are flowing around 1500 to 3000 words depending on the content. Now, that wasn’t intentional, it just seems to be working out that way. If this holds true throughout the book, then the 300,000 word target will be fairly close to the mark.

Child of War is also very dialogue oriented.  I’ve never been fond of books that ramble on forever with endless descriptions.  Rather, I prefer novels that are heavy on the dialogue, leaving me to form my own image of the characters.  How many of you, I wonder, watched Peter Jackson’s version of “The Fellowship of the Ring” either on the big screen or on TV.  What stands out in my mind was the very first time Gandalf appeared in the movie.  He was in his cart, traveling into Hobbiton, and smoking his long pipe filled (presumably) with the long leaf from the Shire.  I remember feeling chills when I saw that scene because Gandalf, the cart, and the entire scene were exactly as I’d imagined them to be.  Everything fit perfectly, and Jackson had done a superb job of capturing all of the key elements.  How many of you felt the same way?

Yet, J. R. R. Tolkien did not go to great lengths in describing that scene.  Rather, here is all he wrote:

At the end of the second week in September a cart came in through Bywater from the direction of Brandywine Bridge in broad daylight.  An old man was driving it all alone.  He wore a tall pointed blue hat, a long grey cloak, and a silver scarf.  He had a long white beard and bushy eyebrows that stuck out beyond the brim of his hat.

That’s it.  In just four short sentences, we have the full description of Gandalf the Grey, the cart, and his entrance into Hobbiton, yet all of us have a very vivid image of how Gandalf should look.  When we watched Jackson’s interpretation, few people were disappointed in his portrayal of Gandalf.

That is what I’m striving for as I write Child of War.  As I work my way through this first draft, I’m attempting to allow my characters’ actions, not my descriptions, to paint their images in the imaginations of the reader.  One of the incidental characters in Child of War is described as follows:

The barefoot serving girl looked to be in her eleventh or twelfth summer.  She was wearing a loose-fitting deer skin tunic with matching skirt cut neatly at her knees.  Long, free-flowing, obsidian hair and charcoal eyes betrayed her Pia-Sha heritage.

If you can picture her clearly in your mind, then I’m doing my job.  The description needs a few tweaks, and I’ll get to that when I return to a second pass at the scene in which she appears, but you get my point.  I think, based on those three sentences, that you can picture her face, her height, her build.  You can probably imagine the color of her tunic and skirt.  Most of you probably added some decoration to the clothing, which is fine.  I’m striving for simplicity in my descriptions of the characters, and I’m relying on the reader’s imagination to build a complete image as the novel unfolds and the characters’ actions further mold the images we hold of them in our minds.

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I realize how odd it may sound to readers when they hear an author talk about characters in this fashion.  After all, the characters are our own creation, so they should do and say precisely what the author wants them to do or say.  Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work that way.  It’s necessary for the author to step into the role of the character from who’s point of view the scene is being sold.  The author in some sense becomes an actor bringing this character to life.  If the character does not feel real and alive to the author, then neither will the character feel alive to the reader.  As the author assumes the role of the character in question, it’s not at all uncommon for the character to take off in a completely different direction than originally intended.  It’s not a conscious decision on the part of the author.  Rather, it’s the way in which the imagination works when we allow it to run free.

Have you ever imagined an entire conversation in your own mind?  Perhaps you were driving to meet someone for the first time and you were imagining the meeting and the conversation.  Did it go precisely the way you wanted it to go?  Probably not.  More than likely, your mind took it in a rather astonishing – and possibly quite disturbing – direction.  That’s the way it is with writing.  When we give our imaginations free to wander, we develop truly three-dimensional characters that have unique personalities, quirks, likes and dislikes.  If we try to hold a tight rein on that process, we ultimately inhibit that character development to the detriment of the work in progress.  It’s necessary for the reader to develop strong feelings about the characters in our stories.  For that to happen, though, the characters must have unique characteristics.  They must have personality.  They must feel quite real to the reader.  That, I hope, is what is happening in this first chapter as I introduce Alaric and Alexandra.

The actual writing of this first chapter is somewhat of a challenge.  This is the reader’s first introduction to the world of Westerloch.  It needs to feel familiar, yet it can’t feel like it’s the world in which we live.  Westerloch has its own names for the seasons and the months of the year.  It has its own special holidays.  One of them – Interlude – is mentioned in the first chapter, but I’m thinking of changing that name.  I don’t like it.  I’m thinking of “Ludus”, which is Latin for “play” and the root upon which “Interlude” is formed.  This particular festival is a 5-day religious celebration that marks mid-solarstide (what we would call mid-summer.)  In any case, I’m not happy with the name, so expect it to change.

A fair amount of research has gone into the first few pages.  I needed the name for a ceremonial sword that a boy receives when he is 14-years old.  I needed an ancient sounding derogatory name for the mindless court maidens that sit around waiting for some unattached squire to notice them.  There were a few other common names or events that I needed to sound foreign yet comfortably familiar.  The challenge with that type of search is that it breaks the train of thought.  As a result, the amount of time it takes to write an entire section becomes somewhat elongated.  I may change my approach to that process.  The software I use provides the capability to add search-able notes in the manuscript.  What I may do is just insert the common English word followed by a search-able note indicating that I have to go back and research a better term.  That will allow the train of thought to continue to flow through the keyboard, and I can improve upon the concept once the section is complete.  Every writer has their own method for handling these types of issues, and I still need to perfect mine.

Now that I’m on vacation for a week, I hope to make significant progress on the first chapter.  For now, I’m pleased with the way the first chapter is starting, and I look forward to seeing tomorrow where Alaric and Alexandra will take me.  Stay tuned…

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Now that the outline is complete, the need to focus on research is apparent.  Not only am I researching the military tactics of the time period, but I’m also focusing heavily on the lifestyle of both the nobility and the common folks in several different cultures.  In Child of War, there are three main cultures in constant conflict, and I intend for each of them to be noticeably different.  While I know what I want for each of them, there are some significant details that need to be worked out, and that’s where the research comes in.

Right now I’m working through the Osprey Publication “Armies of the German Peasants’ War – 1524-26“.  In addition to some excellent tactical diagrams, the book provides excellent insight into the life of the lower class in that time period.  Granted, the time period is more Renaissance than medieval, but there are many aspects of that particular setting that will fit well into Child of War.

As to where things stand at the moment, the goal of finishing the outline prior to 09/30/09 has been met.  I will be starting the first draft shortly, although there’s some cultural information I need to research first.  I’m on vacation next week, and I’m hoping to use that time to make some good progress on the first chapter.  Stay tuned…

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Something with which I am still struggling, however, is the size of the various populations.  As a general rule, the military infrastructure can be no larger than 10% of the population at large.  The remaining 90% represent those outside of military age, the infirm, and (in some cultures but not all) women that are ineligible for military service.  What it boils down to, though, is that a village with 200-300 residents – rather large for the 10th century, when you think about it – could field no more than 20-30 people in a military campaign.  The popular Hollywood concept of these vast medieval armies with tens of thousands of knights on horseback just isn’t reality.  The populations of the time simply couldn’t yield a military force that large.

The style of muster in Carolingian society works well with the small village population, and it also works well when you consider that the majority of people – including the military elite – made their living primarily as farmers.  It was an agrarian society by and large, so the military structure as well as the campaign season had to be structured to support farm life.  The Carolingian culture handled this very well for nearly three centuries, and I expect to utilize their concepts as I develop the background lifestyles in Child of War.

Something that did come as quite a surprise to me, however, has to do with the lack of fortifications around most of the villages and towns.  I had envisioned some type of walled structure – even if it were simple stockade type walls – around the villages.  That, it turns out, was not the case with the exception of some of the larger cities that would be built around a castle.  An example of the latter style would be the city of Durnstein, Austria.  Built sometime prior to the 12th century, the city has a traditional medieval castle set on a hill overlooking the Danube.  The walls of the castle extend down to the river, and the city itself is within the castle walls.  Consider, though, that in 2005 with the city expanding well beyond the original castle boundaries, the population is still only 911.  So both the construction of the city and the subsequent population is a major consideration in developing the credibility of the world of Westerloch in Child of War.

So walled cities will be rare in Child of War.  Lightgate, certainly, will be a walled city, as will Clifton.  Alaric’s hometown of Dunhaven, however, will be more along the style of the traditional 10th century Carolingian village of small homes with thatched roofs.  I believe I’ll have a stockade around the central part of Dunhaven where you would expect to find the marketplace, the seat of government, the church, etc.  The bulk of the homes, however, will be outside of the stockade and will be structured similar to what you would find in any farming community even today.  That’s going to make the initial chapters of Child of War more interesting, in fact, since it will add to the unfolding drama.

In any case, that is where things stand tonight.  I’m back on the job after a 4-day weekend in New Hampshire.  Research continues, and the general notes regarding the world of Westerloch are starting to take shape.  Stay tuned…

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My final (for now) research books arrived in the mail today.  These two books are intended to assist in creating plausible battle scenes and credible battle strategies.  Since I don’t profess to be fluent in medieval battle tactics, the research material is an absolute necessity.  To that end, the two books that arrived today are both from Osprey Publishing and are entitled “Acre 1291 – Bloody Sunset of the Crusader States” and “Poitiers 1356 – The Capture of a King“.

Don’t read too much into their titles.  The purpose of the books is truly to provide details on battle strategy, military life in the Middle Ages, and the composition of troops in that time period.  Child of War is not a crusader type novel.  The religions depicted in Child of War are not even closely related to Christianity or Islam, nor is the conflict in any way shape or form reminiscent of any of the Crusades.  Rather, since the setting I’ve chosen is roughly the late 13th century, the real-life battles from which I can glean tactics and strategies are almost invariably those of the Crusades.  That, however, is the extent of the similarities.

Needless to say, I have a ton of research left to complete.  Once the outline is completely finished, research will be the focus for at least a couple of weeks.  The Osprey Publishing books are rather thin, but they are jam packed with information.  It will take some time to glean the information I need from them and to assemble it into the material that will form the basis for life in Westerloch and the details surrounding the battles that will forever reshape that troubled land.

The religious sequence should be complete tomorrow.  While I still need to pack for the weekend, I don’t expect that to interfere with the completion of this portion of the outline.  Unfortunately, after tomorrow I’ll be out of touch until Monday evening since I don’t expect to have Internet access while I’m in New Hampshire.  Upon my return, the focus will be on the second pass through the complete outline.  Research will also be underway (since I can at least read while in New Hampshire.)  The goal of completing the outline by September 30th is still well in reach, and I’m still optimistic that it will be completed ahead of schedule.  I’m anxious to begin writing the novel itself, so motivation to finish early is very high.  Stay tuned…

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Misbehaving characters rose to the forefront today as I finished the outline of one of the religious factions central to Child of War.  My original intent was to have two religions at odds with each other.  I had envisioned a “good religion” – one with whom the reader would empathize – and a “bad religion”.  The latter is aligned with the major antagonists, and while not a religion of evil, per se, certainly one for whom the reader would find little sympathy.

Ah, the best laid plans, and all that.  What happened today is that my good religion went rogue on me.  Oh, they started out with the best of intentions, but having been left to their own devices they’ve turned out to be just as ugly, just as ruthless, just as unscrupulous as the enemy.  Without ever intending it to be so, my religious sub-theme has become a treatise against state sponsored religion.  The concept of a separation of church and state follows quite logically as a result of the rather despicable activities of this particular faction.  That was not my intent, but it has certainly become the result.

What worries me now is how my other religious faction will behave.  Now that I’ve completed the outline for this “good” faction, I intend to turn my attention to the “bad” religion.  Surprisingly, I no longer know what to expect.  Will they turn out to be equally ruthless?  Will they live up to the despicable reputation they have carried to date?  Or, like Elphaba, do we learn that they have been sorely misunderstood and were really the ethical group all along?  Those aren’t leading questions designed to instill interest in the reader.  They’re questions that I cannot in truth answer right now, since until I see how they behave in the sub-plot, I honestly don’t know those answers.

Novel writing, it seems, is an evolutionary process.  We start with a general idea, something we believe will provide the foundation for a good story.  As the concept grows and as we start to flesh out the details, however, the resulting manuscript begins to take on a life of its own.  Our characters become three-dimensional.  They have their own goals, their own likes and dislikes, and they certainly have their own personalities that may not fit very well with the image we, the authors, may have had in mind.   That, perhaps, is the most exciting aspect of writing.  Learning what happens next in a novel is as exciting to the author as it is to the reader.

So as of today, half of the major religious sub-plot is complete.  I start work on the second half – the “bad religion” half – tomorrow.  I’m hoping to wrap that up before I leave for New Hampshire on Friday, but there are no guarantees.  Stay tuned…

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