In the summer of 2019, with my work-in-progress, Empire’s Reckoning, well on its way to completion, and the outline of the book after that, Empire’s Heir, forming in my mind, I realized a trip to Rome would be useful. I write alternate-world historical fiction, the world in question an analogue of Europe after the (apparent) fall of Rome, but with real differences in culture, geography and history. The capital city of the Eastern Empire in my series, Casil, is a cross between Rome and Byzantium: Rome in geography, but politically a blend.
In a previous book in the series, I’d used the marvelous Rome Reborn videos to structure my city, so it is, effectively, 4th C Rome. But only about a quarter of Empire’s Exile takes place in Casil; probably 2/3 of Empire’s Heir will. And the buildings and public areas will play an important role. I wanted to go there, to look at the ruins, understand their relationship to each other better, imagine myself there.
We divide our time between Canada and England, spending our winters in the UK county of Norfolk. A quick trip to Rome is easy: Norwich Airport is 45 minutes away: hop to Amsterdam on KLM and then on to Rome. So I booked a trip, and a guide, and now I’m sitting in the airport waiting for my flight to be called and thinking – and blogging – about how to prepare for a research trip. Especially since life and other work got in the way, the WIP isn’t done, and the book I’m preparing for hasn’t had the thought and outlining I’d hoped it would at this point. It would be very easy to be overwhelmed by what there is to see in Rome.
This isn’t my first research trip – I dragged my long-suffering husband to Hadrian’s Wall in March a few years ago, and we’re headed to northern Scotland in April – but it’s definitely the most intense. Here’s my experiential advice for using your time well.
Develop a plot. This sounds obvious, I know. Just a vague idea isn’t going to work in this case. Without spoilers, I know that my MC will be moving between a palace and a forum, down a certain set of stairs, and that the temples that were extant in the forum in the 4th C will be important. I know that the view from the palace matters, as do sightlines and distances…the actual, physical realities of moving around the city. Travel will matter quite a bit. Knowing all this means I can focus on those particular factors – and, to be practical – buy the right tickets to the right sites.
Do preparatory research. The Forum, for example, is a big area. Not all the buildings were there in the 4th C. What was? What was the building’s role then – if it was built in the 1st C as a temple, was it still used that way? What stood where the 7th C building is now? What do we know about what a building – exterior and interior – looked like in the 4th C? What role did buildings and public areas play in the 4th C city?
Know what questions to ask. This is an extension of #2, but also, if you’re using a guide – either private or group – ask whatever comes into your mind. They may well know, or know where to send you to find out.
Take photos, if you need to. I probably won’t take many. I have a very visual memory – but certain details, and certain views, will need recording. Write notes as you go. Use voice recording on your phone, if that works for you. Don’t trust your memory, especially on an intense, busy trip.
Be open to new ideas, new locations – if something really catches your eye, maybe you want to include it. The one-time farmhouse that houses the Vindolanda museum just south of Hadrian’s Wall became the model for a school in my books, although I hadn’t intended that at all when I visited.
Know how to follow up. After this trip, I’ll be going back to the Rome Reborn videos, and to a FutureLearn course I signed up for, which also focuses on virtual reconstruction of Rome.
Pace yourself, both mentally and physically. I’m nearly 62. I don’t have the energy I did at 25, or 40. But not only am I planning half-day tours for my physical stamina, but also for my mental focus. I need time not only to absorb what I’ve seen, but to write my impressions and my thoughts, and notes about what I need to do further research on, and what I’ve seen that might change my plot. Otherwise, it will all become a blur of sights and sounds and sore feet.
(And anyhow, there should be time to just sit at a sidewalk café, and watch the world go by, shouldn’t there?)
What are your tips for a successful research trip?
Five years ago this month, Empire’s Daughter was published, the first book of my Empire’s Legacy trilogy. (Not that I knew, at that point, it was the first of a trilogy. I’d written it as a stand-alone.) I was 56.
I’d wanted to be a writer all my life, and I’d written all my life. And, to be fair, I was a writer, just not of fiction. In my first career, I wrote scientific papers for peer-reviewed journals, and procedural manuals, and monographs and chapters in highly technical books. Then I moved away from research and into education, and I wrote curriculum for the entire province, and a textbook, and many presentations and more technical manuals. Oh, and grant applications, in both careers: I was very good at grant applications.
All the writing I did in my previous two careers was very structured; there were protocols to follow. In scientific writing, precision of language was required: the exact scientific or technical term had to be used and the explanations needed to be accurate, unembellished, and follow a logical, clear, order. In writing grant applications, all those restrictions still applied, but I also needed to know what the ‘buzz’ words were, the terms that met the priorities of the granting agencies. Those terms had to be included in a natural way, not forced into the wording of the application.
In my career in education, I had to write for different audiences. A middle grade textbook uses different language than a guide to assistive technology for parents. A curriculum written for high school teachers, following the template provided by the province, is different again. I learned to match my word choice and sentence structure and the layout of the project to the audience.
Very importantly, none of this was done alone. I might be – and often was – responsible for the actual writing, but the final product had always gone through peer review, editing, rewriting, more review….and from that I learned the value of other eyes and minds, and how to take feedback (leave your ego at the door) and how to throw out something I loved.
So by the time I’d written Empire’s Daughter, and decided it was worth sending out to the world, I’d already learned a lot of the lessons a writer of fiction needs. (I’d written two previous novels during this time, too. They’ll never be published: they were practice in the craft.) I’d learned about structure and tailoring language to an audience. I’d learned ways to describe concisely and accurately. I’d learned about embedding concepts seamlessly into narrative. And most importantly, I’d learned about listening to those within my field charged with improving the work, and how even a competent and confident writer needs an editor.
The editors I worked with at the small, now-defunct press that first accepted Empire’s Daughter for publication taught me more about writing fiction, but much of what I learned was an extension of what I already knew about writing. I have four books behind me now, and I continue to learn: I hope I always will. But I don’t regret the years I spent in my other careers, the years spent absorbing and practicing how to use words to convey a message precisely, concisely, and with impact. They helped make me the writer I am now. Something else did, too, but I’ll leave that for another day.
A few random thoughts about how I came to be publishing my first novel at age 72.
I have always written – mostly for myself in journals where I bemoan my fate, rant against those closest to me and try to sort out the confusion of my life. These journals are confined to a dusty box and while I dread the thought of my children reading them when I’m dead, I cannot yet bring myself to throw them away. They are embarrassingly dull and depict a person going round and round the same mulberry bush of problems year after year. However, writing down my thoughts and feelings when I knew no one would be watching gave me a fluidity and freedom in writing that has been very helpful. So when the real authors advise us newbies to just keep writing, they are on to something.
I’d still be writing only for myself if it weren’t for writers’ groups, gatherings and workshops. The first one I dared to participate in was led by an off the wall, erudite bibliophile named Gord Jones who made me believe that my writing was worthy of being read by others. That gift of confidence gave me the impetus to actually write one of the two stories I’d been playing around with. A novel writing course offered at a local college was my next step. The teacher insisted at our first meeting that we break into groups based on genre. Naturally, I panicked – I had to choose between my two darlings: mystery or sci-fi? I simply could not decide. Then a woman burst into the classroom late. I immediately liked her and she sat down beside me. She had no qualms about choosing a genre – mystery it was. And there you are; my decision was made. There were three mystery writers and we persisted meeting together long after the course was over. Those monthly meetings motivated me to keep writing chapter after chapter, if only to have something to read to the group. Although I enjoy the process of writing I am not disciplined and need extrinsic motivation. So, know yourself and put in place whatever you need to keep walking, running, crawling or limping towards your writing goal.
I’d imagined the life of a writer in an ivory tower sort of way. Perhaps this works for some, but the encouragement, feedback and contributions of others have made my writing much better than it ever could’ve been had I gone it alone. The novel I just published with Arboretum Press, Evidence of Uncertain Origin, began thirty years ago when, for reasons I do not remember, I daydreamed a vivid scene that became the climax of the story. I spent a very long time figuring out who the people were in the scene and how they got there and what happened to them afterwards. The story shifted and morphed as I shared it with others and became a better story than the one I started with. I know it is terrifying to share your writing with others – it is a tender shoot of your very own tender soul – but taking the risk really is worth it.
Stay true to your story. Don’t take short cuts or try to be clever. Don’t fall in love with your own words. Integrity makes or breaks a story. If a sub plot or character or those well-crafted words do not harmonize with the whole, be ruthless and kill them off. You know the ones I mean.
I’m not sure I could’ve completed a novel any earlier in my life than I have now. I truly do believe that it is never too late to find out what you love to do and do it. So go for it!
Graduating in in 1969 from the University of California, Berkeley, Nikki travelled for several months, arriving in Montréal in April, 1970 where she lived until 1992. Nikki came of age in California during the sixties and held a sympathetic view of the Front de libération du Québec until the October Crisis. The events leading up to the FLQ’s kidnapping and murder of Pierre Laporte, the beauty of Montréal and the complexity of Québec politics inspired the setting and backdrop of Evidence of Uncertain Origin, Nikki’s first mystery novel.
Nikki lives and writes in Guelph, Ontario. She has self-published a book of poetry, connect dis connect with the help of Vocamus Press and developed writing workshops under the auspices of her small business, Scripted Images. She is working on a second mystery novel.
Purchase links for Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other sources here.
A review with a guest blog from the author, Karen Heenan.
I absorbed my father’s love for Tudor history almost by osmosis, and it’s never left me, although the better-known aspects of Henry VIII’s six wives and his rift with the Roman Catholic Church were never the parts that interested me the most. Social history and the lives of people who were not courtiers or nobles, but still affected by the massive changes that Henry brought to England during his reign, are my area.
Karen Heenan’s Songbird caught my
attention as soon as I heard about it, pre-publication. I knew about Henry’s
love for music: he was reputed to be a skilled musician himself. I knew,
vaguely, that he had court singers and minstrels, and with a little thought I
would have related the name William Cornysh with Henry’s court, and I might
have even known he had something to do with music.
This tale of Bess, a young girl sold to the
King for her pure, lovely voice, and of her training to be part of the troupe
of singers who entertained Henry and his court plunges the reader into the
lives of a group of young men and women of the back corridors and rooms of the
palaces. Like all royal servants, they had little control over their lives;
they were subject to royal demands and whimsies: sing now; travel now; perform
now, as they moved in and out of favour.
It would be easy to see them as pawns, unimportant, but Heenan crafts a rich and satisfying story around three lives, the girl Bess, the boy Tom, and the outsider Robin. The names expected in a Tudor court story are there, of course: Henry himself, Queen Katherine, Anne Boleyn, Cardinal Wolsey. But they are the minor characters. Through Bess’s eyes, we see events unfolding that are familiar to any student of Tudor history, but we also see the intimate details of her own.
Heenan writes with confidence and style, vividly
drawing the reader into the Tudor court. Each character in her story is fully real,
even the enigmatic Robin, and as they mature over the course of the book, their
personalities develop. They become much more complex, but in ways that seem
fully consistent with the children the reader first meets.
Court intrigues and politics; the fear of
almost-random death from disease or accident; the divisions of class and the
restrictions of religion: all these form the background to a bittersweet love
story that unfolds over the course of the story. Each colours Bess’s view of
life. her expectations, and her determination to grasp as much control of her
life as is possible for a young woman in her position.
I wanted to read this book in one long sitting, immersing myself in its beautifully drawn world both familiar and new. I didn’t: I rationed myself, to enjoy it longer. I await its planned sequel with impatience.
William Cornysh and the Alchemy of Fiction
by Karen Heenan
Songbird was inspired by a throwaway fact in a biography of Henry VIII: the music-obsessed King once purchased a child from his mother to sing in the chapel choir. That was all it took to send me down the rabbit hole of history.
Then, of course, it occurred to me that meant I would
be writing a book about music. I knew next to nothing about Tudor-era music,
its structure, or its instruments. Thankfully, my main character, Bess, was a
singer, so I could start there and learn as I wrote.
I quickly encountered the King’s Music, the name used
for the royal company of minstrels who entertained at court, both publicly and
in private, and placed Bess among them.
On researching the Music, and the topic of Tudor music
generally, it was impossible to miss William Cornysh, who, in addition to being
a significant composer of music both religious and secular, was Master of the Children
of the Chapel Royal, and also managed many of the musical and dramatic
entertainments at court.
Those few facts were enough to start building the man,
and then, with the strange alchemy that is fiction, when I learned more about
him, those new facts fit the character I had created. Cornysh was talented,
hard-working, and seemingly underappreciated, having only been rewarded with a
grant of property shortly before his death in 1523. He was also a father figure
to the choristers, many of whom were quite young. When the court was in London,
the children often spent nights at Cornysh’s house with him and his wife, Jane,
giving them a taste of normal life.
Much of my research for Songbird was done in the dark
days of the pre-internet era, which on one hand meant I stumbled across
interesting facts that I didn’t know I needed, but on the other meant I didn’t
always find what I needed, except by the same happy accident.
As an example, the story had moved on from Bess’s
early days with the Music, and Cornysh was mentioned only rarely. Then, while
reading an online article totally unrelated to him, I saw a mention of his
sudden death.
What to do? He wasn’t a major character at that point,
and leaving him alive wouldn’t be egregious because history would not be
changed in service to the story, but my sense of accuracy meant I could not
suffer a man to live who had actually died.
Back I went to give him his end, and the story was actually stronger for his loss.
This past Sunday night, one of our indie press’s authors had her first book launch. This was only the second launch by the press, so we’re far from experts. But by almost all measures the launch was an overwhelming success. I’m going to take a look at why.
What are our measures of success?
About
75 people attended.
We
sold out all the paperbacks we’d ordered, and we sold another 17 in advance of
the next shipment.
The
other two authors who also read sold books too.
The
musicians sold a bunch of CDs.
All
the food was eaten and the bar did good business.
The
buzz in the room told us people were having fun.
Book launches, unless you are a famous author, are primarily for the
family and friends of the author to celebrate their success. It’s a little like
a graduation. Judge the number of people who will come by that measure. Keeping
that in mind, what can I share about a successful launch?
Location. We chose to go with the upstairs bar at our indie bookstore for several reasons. The space is frequently used for book launches: it has a stage, a sound system, and staff familiar with the entire process. By holding it there, it guaranteed free advertising on their website, and the book in their new releases section, and, the week of the launch, in their front window. There is a charge for the space, but for us the benefits were well-worth the cost.
Even though the space is downtown, on a Sunday
night there is plenty of free parking, and it’s close to public transit, both
serious considerations.
Day and Time: Because our author had friends and family
coming from some distance, a weekend was ideal. Saturday night looks good at
first glance, but there is competition for the space, for parking, for the musicians’
bookings. So we chose Sunday from seven to nine p.m: after dinner to not too
late. Sunday afternoon worked well for another of our authors last winter, for most
of the same reasons.
Format: The author’s book and her reading were the
focus of the evening, but not the only entertainment. Two other authors with
our press did very brief readings, and there were live musicians. Between the readings
by the ‘warm-up act’ readers, and the author, the duo played two songs specific
to the era and location in which her book is set, taking those of us old enough
to remember (most of us) to Montreal in the late 60s.
Other readers help reduce the author’s anxiety,
and it also encourages friends and family of those people to attend. Reading
before the author means that any adjustments to the sound system or the lights that
weren’t picked up in the sound check don’t fluster the author, and it settles
the room.
We had an MC, a member of our press collective who
is trained in drama and improv, but any outgoing person who can think on their
feet can take this role. We also had a schedule, and she did a fine job of
keeping us to it.
Book Sales: at the back of the room, with the author’s signing table well away from it to not block the flow of people. Once someone has the book in their hand, they’ll wait for the signing, whereas they may get impatient with waiting to both purchase and get the book signed. I suggest a tablecloth, stands to show off the books, clear pricing, plenty of small bills for change, a receipt book, bags for the few who want them, and, if possible, the ability to take credit and debit cards. We use the Square, and having it meant we sold a third more books than we would have otherwise. We’d also anticipated (too late) the possibility of selling out, so had created vouchers for people who wanted books but couldn’t get one.
Food and drink: We’d advertised hors d’oeuvres and a cash
bar. The venue has a finger-food menu for these events, but it’s not necessary
to feed people immediately after the dinner hour, if the budget doesn’t run to
it.
What didn’t (on the surface) work?
We did a lot of (free) publicity for this event,
through the events section of our local print and on-line papers, and through
the indie bookstore that hosted the event in their upstairs bar. But nearly everyone
who attended was a friend of the author, through work or community. On the
surface, this looks like it wasn’t worth it. But looking at it more closely,
that advertising means a lot of people in our town have seen an image of the
book, and when they go into the bookstore and see it on the new-releases
shelves, they’re a little more likely to pick it up. It’s familiar. (The
bookstore has told me it’s selling.) So while this tactic didn’t bring in
people on the night, it may have longer-term benefit.
A few other ideas: name tags for all the people
helping out are useful. Make sure the MC points out washrooms, coat rooms, and any
other ‘housekeeping’ type announcements. Tip the bar staff. Send thank you
notes to everyone involved the next day.
And a ‘graduation’ present for the writer, especially if it’s a first book, is a nice touch. I suggest a bottle of Writer’s Tears Irish whiskey, personally.
And the book we were launching? Nikki Everts’ Evidence of Uncertain Origin, a mystery set in Montreal in the late 60’s, against the backdrop of FLQ violence. Published by Arboretum Press, it is most easily available in wide release from Amazon, in both paperback and ebook formats.
I recently reviewed M.L. Holton’s novel Trillium, a multi-generational saga set in Ontario’s fruit-growing Niagara Peninsula. I live less than an hour north of this area, and local history has always been an interest of mine. I thoroughly enjoyed the book (my full review is here), so I asked the author to talk a little bit more about the work.
Tell us about what inspired Trillium.
I had been thinking for awhile about how I wanted to focus on a rural environment rather than an urban one as per my last two novels, Economic Sex and The Gilded Beaver by Anonymous.
Small farming communities are tightly-bound social networks
of multi-generational cross-breeding. They are, in the main, supportive and
stable. In North America, they are rapidly becoming a thing of the past as the
young move to the cities for better employment opportunities and generational
farmers, with miniscule profit-margins, sell-out to larger agri-business
concerns. The migration is undercutting the bedrock of our uniquely Canadian
society.
I also wanted to explore and expand on the on-going
controversy between ‘nature’ versus ‘nurture’. How do we become who we are?
Trillium spans a period of 250 years, from early settlement on the Niagara Peninsula to the early 2000. This timeframe gave me a much larger canvas to work.
❖ How has your life influenced your writing, specifically in this book?
There’s no question that I have pulled on my life experiences to craft this work.
I grew up on the fringe of a farming community in Halton
County. We raised sheep and fowl on a small scale. As a child, I watched and
learned from my enterprising father, (born and raised in the area), as he constantly
interacted with the landscape and livestock on our property. Nature was omnipresent
– dictating birth, life and death. Working outside with my brothers and my
father was always fun and pleasurable. Wind in our hair, dirt up our
fingernails. This quasi-bucolic country lifestyle was very far removed from the
social lifestyle that my mother managed to create for our family. She was
involved with various local charities, sport associations and social clubs ‘in
the city’. That activity widened our community circle and life experiences. My
father’s family business was involved with the early development of a yarn
company in Hamilton during the 19th century. But, by the mid 1980s, this
century-old family firm experienced an acute downturn as a result of cheaper
South American and Asian imports. We all had to adjust.
As example, I was removed from a distanced private
school of 600 students and started attending a nearby public high school of 3000
students. Rather than getting picked up by a bus, I walked to school. To a
wide-eyed teen, the differences between the two learning institutions were
acute. Coordinated school uniforms were replaced by the media-driven trends of ‘fashion’.
Individual ‘popularity’ was valued more than team work or basic ‘competence’.
These kinds of juxtapositions caught my eye and ear
and became a kind of foundation about my evolving observations about the
‘otherness’ of people. I seemed a perpetual ‘outsider’, and did not fully
integrate into any group ‘clique’ after the transition.
I believe this ‘outsider’ status has served me well, long term. It gives me not only an individualistic perception of ‘what’s going on’ but it provides a critical emotional distance to ‘assess’. I have always thought of myself as a ‘witness’ more than a participant. It is a good vantage point and strong starting point for any writer: distanced observation.
❖The cover is your own art work! Tell us about it.
I wanted a cover image that amplified the central idea of natural growth in the story. In this instance, the focus was on a regional grape vine. Initially, I started with a stark photo image but it was too hard. I then tried a stylized graphic but it was too ephemeral. I finally settled on a close-up detail from an oil painting I had done some years ago ~ of a man’s hand holding a grape cluster. To my mind, the image is perfect. It is a human hand connected to the growing land.
❖What do you hope readers will take from Trillium?
My intent was to write an entertaining as well as enlightening book about the evolving rural area around the southern end of Lake Ontario, in Canada.
In order to do that, I crafted the bedlam and chaos
of a ‘good story’, filled with emotional arcs and empathy etc,, but interwove
the story around fascinating pieces of local history from the Greater Hamilton
and Niagara area. The medley of colourful characters is also influenced by larger
global events, like the rise of fascism in Europe during the 1930s and the two World
Wars of the twentieth century. I wanted to make this fictional story ‘believable’
to the contemporary reader. As far as I know, no-one in the vicinity has
attempted a similarly ambitious ‘grassroots’ construct.
I think my voice is rather unique in the telling. But, ultimately, readers must determine if that is true or not.
❖What is odd or quirky or engaging about your story or characters?
There’s plenty of quirk in this work, primarily because each character has an early failing or foible that manifests later. These insights drive the story forward so that there are ‘aha’ moments when a later incident clicks into place. It’s basic ‘cause & effect’ that amplifies the intimate causality of human interactions.
Character names were chosen to reflect the ethnic origins of their families and to help readers keep the large cast of characters clear in their minds. As example, Gregorio is clearly not part of the O’Sullivan clan …
One outstanding quirk was the development of the simpleton savant Anna. Illiterate and sheltered from the world by her protective Italian family, Anna, untethered from normal social conventions, has an uncanny knack with plants. She can grow anything. Her simplistic yet attuned capability irreversibly alters the course of her family’s evolution. To say more may ruin the story for some, so I’ll stop there except to say, readers do seem to resonate with her. She’s a peach, so to speak.
❖To whom would you recommend this book to? Are there any trigger warnings or age restrictions?
I would recommend this story to anyone who loves rambling family sagas, epic storytelling, and historical fiction that rides the vicissitudes of human logic and emotions. There’s a lot going on in this story: good, bad, ugly and even, at times, indifference as the narrative voice pulls back to ‘observe’.
As each generation matures into adulthood, Trillium could be seen as an adult ‘coming-of-age’ tale. As for warnings, there are three sex scenes that are rather graphic. Their violence is an integral part of the story, so that’s that.
❖Would Trillium translate well to the screen? If so, who should make it or star in it?
Ideally, I think this would make an engaging Canadian series ~ a timely cross between the British drama, ‘Peaky Blinders’ and the well-scripted American family drama, ‘Bloodline’, set in Florida.
Trillium would, of course, have to be 100% Canadian. Why? Because Canada is still very young on the world stage. We are in desperate need of these in-depth local stories to explain the unique evolution of our own particular civil society. Otherwise, we’ll continue to be swamped by better told English-speaking stories from elsewhere.
My dream team would be a co-production between
Anglo-Canadian, Irish and Italian producers (to achieve maximum market share),
with a well-rounded cast from each ethnic origin. The director, showrunners and
crew would be Canadian. It could all be shot on location around the southern
end of Lake Ontario – from hovels to mansions.
I have done a preliminary casting, just for fun. In the end though, that’s a pipedream for a writer. If the title was optioned by an established production company, all those casting and location decisions would be their responsibility. Yes, I am the originator of this story, but a team of seasoned scriptwriters would have to flush it out to make it truly noteworthy as well as globally marketable. The story is all there, for the right team.
❖What genre is Trillium? Is this your preferred genre to write in? What do you read?
I call this a hybrid historical fiction. As I explained above, I wrote a ‘good story’ around many current and timely issues.
In the past, I have written poetry, social history, journalism, and two other long-form fictional works. I love the nuances of languages and the endless possibilities that they offer to an open imagination.
My reading, as a human on the planet, has always been ferocious.
❖Tell us about your writing process.
For this title, I followed a strict regimen. From February to October of 2018, I did nothing but write, edit, re-craft and finalize the work. Literally, 10am to 6pm, 5 days a week. I took weekends off to recharge and took hourly lunches during the writing week to refresh myself.
It may interest your readers to know that I wrote a detailed outline for Trillium almost a decade ago. That outline smouldered in my writing box until I found the key to access the story. The key was ‘technology’.
Technology has transformed our lives over a very short period of time. I wanted to ‘document’ that evolution and could do that quite clearly within a historical context.
I stopped this story before the internet became
ubiquitous.
Saturday was our city’s yearly book fair. I’ve participated every year for the last four (except last year, when I was away) but this was the first time I was there as a representative of our press collective, responsible not just for my own books, but two other authors’ promotion as well.
We did a lot of research and brainstorming about what we needed to have.
Table space was limited, so we went with a stand-alone banner, ordered from an
on-line print shot for a reasonable price. I’d put the logo together already,
so we didn’t have to design it.
The banner, our table, and three authors.
Bookmarks with our current releases also seemed like a good idea – another online order – and brochures showing what’s available now and what’s available next year. So I made those, using MS Publisher, and printed them at our local print shop. Then we added a bowl of candies, posters advertising the launch of our newest release on November 3rd at our local indie bookstore and the prices of books – and hoped we’d got everything we needed.
As not everyone carries cash, we bought a Square reader, to take credit cards. Remarkably simple to use – and we needed it! But also small bills – $5 and $10, to make change. A receipt book. Pens to sign books…..what are we forgetting?
OH! Postcard-sized invitation
cards for the book launch. Another MS Publisher production, printed at home.
A tablecloth! Arghhh…a last-minute dollar store purchase.
Books and the stand-up banner (in its case) go into a hockey bag, for
easy movement. Everything else is in a tote box. I load up the car, and go to
pick up one of the other authors. Her books should have been delivered for this
fair, but print-on-demand turned out to be print-at-their-leisure, so we’ve
been scrambling to promote the launch instead. She’ll bring a proof copy for
people to look at, and vouchers for the book. The other author will meet us
there.
Fast forward several hours. We’re tired, hoarse from talking, sore-footed from standing. But we’ve sold books in fair numbers, given out a lot of invitations to the book launch (we could have definitely sold several copies of this book, had they been there), and most of the bookmarks and brochures.
And, of course, several writers have wanted to know how our press collective works, and if they can join. So I explain they have to bring skills to the table, and it isn’t my decision alone. Some may pursue it; others won’t. Some just want advice and someone to talk to about their writing. I direct them to the man who runs the non-profit writers’ community in my town, and whose brainchild this book fair is. The support of Vocamus Writers’ Community has been instrumental in developing Arboretum Press, and supporting me and almost all the writers who are part of the collective.
And then I go home, unload the car, pour wine, and collapse onto the couch. To immediately begin thinking about next year. What could we have done better? Your thoughts, readers?
Battles do not occur frequently in my books, but when they do, they are
pivotal scenes. I have no personal interest in warfare, in strategy and tactics
or in battlefield recreations, or in the choreography of fighting. How then do
I write the scenes?
I’ll use the final battle in Empire’s Exile, the third book of my
Empire’s Legacy trilogy, as the focus of this discussion. Briefly, the
battle is taking place between Viking-like invaders to a country with
similarities with England. There is no magic, and both sides have relatively small
numbers.
I begin as I do with all battle scenes: what needs to happen here? Is there a particular topography or geographic feature I want to include? Is the weather important? Is there a concept—betrayal, a specific act of heroism or selflessness, overwhelming odds—that must be included? Are particular weapons important?
Once I have those defined, Google and my long years of research into my
particular time period become my friends. Quite simply, I go looking for a battle
I can—not quite copy, but base mine upon.
What did I need for the battle in Exile? Small numbers, as I’ve already said. Because I wanted to reference a battle described in Empire’s Hostage, Book II of the series, it needed to be on a river. A vague memory surfaced, something learned many long years earlier for the language it was written in, not the actual battle. A 10th Century poem…
I couldn’t remember more than that, but a quick search was all it took: The Battle of Maldon. I read the poem again, and as many interpretations of it I could find, both on-line and in my university library, but for ease of access, I’ll reference Wikipedia. The italics indicate the parts I drew inspiration from.
“The Vikings sailed up the Blackwater (then called the Panta), and Byrhtnoth called out his levy. The poem begins with him ordering his men to stand and to hold weapons. His troops, except for personal household guards, were local farmers and villagers of the Essex Fyrd militia. He ordered them to “send steed away and stride forwards”: they arrived on horses but fought on foot. The Vikings sailed up to a small island in the river. At low tide, the river leaves a land bridge from this island to the shore; the description seems to have matched the Northey Island causeway at that time. This would place the site of the battle about two miles southeast of Maldon. Olaf addressed the Saxons, promising to sail away if he was paid with gold and armour from the lord. Byrhtnoth replied, “We will pay you with spear tips and sword blades.”
“With the ebb of the tide, Olaf’s forces began an assault across the small land bridge.Three Anglo-Saxon warriors… blocked the bridge, successfully engaging any Vikings who pressed forward. The Viking commander requested that Byrhtnoth allow his troops onto the shore for formal battle. Byrhtnoth let the enemy force cross to the mainland. Battle was joined, but an Englishman called Godrīc fled riding Byrhtnoth’s horse. Godrīc’s brothers Godwine and Godwīg followed him….Then many English fled, recognizing the horse and thinking that its rider was Byrhtnoth fleeing. The Vikings overcame the Saxons after losing many men, killing Byrhtnoth. After the battle Byrhtnoth’s body was found with its head missing, but his gold-hilted sword was still with his body.”
In
Exile, the Emperor manipulates his enemy to fighting at a location based
on the river and its islands and causeway, almost exactly as described in The
Battle of Maldon. In a different source, I discovered that if the Viking ships
had sailed into the mouth of the river at high tide, a sandbank at the mouth would
prevent them from leaving until the next high tide, about 12 hours later. So I
included that, too.
I
put the confrontation between the two leaders into my battle, and Brythnoth’s
words about ‘spear tips and sword blades’ are repeated by the Emperor. I used
the blocking of the causeway. I used Godwin and the horse in a different way, a
tactic by the enemy, but with similar results. And at the end of the battle, the Emperor,
like Brythnoth, is dead.
I
wrote an outline of the scene, just the action. I drew pictures of what
happened. Then I wrote the first version of it, through the eyes of my
protagonist. I write in first-person, so the reader knows only what the
protagonist knows, but also sees and hears and feels what she feels, including
her interior thoughts. (Video comes in useful here, any good medieval battle
scene, for the sounds and sights.) Smells need imagination —the metallic scent
of blood; the pong of river mud, the stench of a disembowelled horse, the tang
of sweat. Feelings—the horse underneath you, the sweat on your hands as grasp
your weapon, wind in your face. Thoughts—fear, calculation, unnatural calmness,
regret, anger, joy: however your protagonist would react.
Then I gave the scene to my critique partner, who does know a bit about battles and tactics, and he gave it back with a lot of suggestions, and after three rounds of that, I had my battle. If you happen to be either a scholar of Old English poetry or 10th C English history, you might recognize its source. Its derivation adds verisimilitude to my fictional, analogue world, and it’s in keeping with how I do most of my world-building.
As
for who wins…well, for that, you’ll have to read the book.
Well, yes,
I am – writer, editor, press coordinator – but it’s not what you think. A thousand words
per day, and time for leisurely lunches and long walks to get the creative
juices flowing? Ha!
Most days I
wake up at six, without an alarm or the cat encouraging me. I get up, yawn,
wander into my study, wake up the computer, and sit down to do social media for
an hour. The cat helps, or hinders; mostly she hinders, walking on the keyboard
and blocking the external screen. I persuade her to settle on my left shoulder
and type one-handed. I update and respond on Twitter and Facebook. I answer
emails. I find news stories related to writing or to my historical period and
add them to my feeds. I update Twitter again.
Then it’s
coffee and breakfast. My husband and I may have exchanged a few words by now. Then
I look at my very long to-do list, and my week’s priorities, and due dates and
deadlines, and decide what I’m actually doing today. The collective press I
coordinate has a book launch coming up in three weeks, and we’re attending a
book fair in two. I’ve dealt with most of the immediate issues for both of
those, and it’s too early to send out press releases about the book launch.
Posters can wait until next week – more than two weeks’ notice, and they get
lost in the huge number of events happening in our artsy town. But I still have
to design those posters, so I can’t wait too long. I star that on my to-do list
for Monday.
I have a
semi-annual report to write for the community newsletter I chair, but that too
can wait a few days. My priority today is to read the revised chapter one of
our authors has sent me: we are meeting tomorrow to discuss her book. In our
collective, she’s our face-to-face publicity person, our extrovert who MC’s
book launches and fronts the table at book fairs. Her book is our first foray
into non-fiction: it’s a look at using improv in the workplace to build teams. It
needs a very different internal layout than a novel, and I’m doing a lot of
research and consulting, both into appropriate layouts and programs with which
to do this.
That will
take a couple of hours. The cat will attempt to help. My ADHD mind will
generate random thoughts and ideas and snippets of dialogue related to my own work-in-progress
at any moment, so I have sticky notes to hand; they decorate the frame of my
external screen like mustard fields in flower seen from a plane.
I try to get up every half-hour or so. Usually I stay in my pajamas till mid-morning, then shower and dress. I do laundry; I do bits of dinner prep, I water plants or pick tomatoes. Sitting for long periods is NOT good. The Pomodoro method more-or-less works for me, unless I’m so focused I just turn off or tune out the alarm.
Having written this blog entry, I’m off to start the focaccia I’m making for tonight’s dinner, and have my shower while the yeast is rising. Then I’ll jot down any thoughts that occurred while I was showering, put on some music, and make the bread. Then I’ll begin the chapter review. Once I’ve analyzed the chapter, written notes and the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting, I’ll take a longer break, for coffee; maybe I’ll read an article in Medieval Warfare or another few pages in the research paper on land rights in early-medieval England I’m slowly getting through.
Say ‘ancient Rome’ and you have my attention immediately. So I had to read Brook Allen’s debut novel, and I also invited her to contribute a guest post to this blog. So, here’s my review, and her piece, and some of her photos, too!
My Review
Marc Antony
is a familiar historical figure. Whether it’s from Shakespeare, film, video
games or history class, his basic story as Julius Caesar’s right-hand man, Cleopatra’s
lover, and a key figure in the transformation of Rome from a republic to an imperial
state is known to many. But how did he become this man? What drove him?
Brook Allen’s
Antonius, Son of Rome, the first book in a planned trilogy about Marc
Antony’s life. Beginning when Marcus is in early adolescence, the story intertwines
known information with imaginative situations. Impeccably researched and richly
described, Allen brings the beginning of the end of the Roman Republic to life.
Her characterization of the young Antonius gives insight into and motivation
for later actions.
Last year,
in research for my own books, I took a course on the fall of the Roman republic.
I rather wish I hadn’t bothered: reading Allen’s series will be a far more
entertaining way of reminding myself of the history! But even though the personalities and actions
of this period are fresh in my mind, I wasn’t the least bit bored by Son of
Rome. Creating suspense when the outcome is known is a difficult task, and
one well-managed in this novel. When an author can vitalize known history and familiar
characters as well as Allen has in this book, I know I’m onto a writer I’m
going to want to follow.
Highly recommended for readers interested in the period, or who would like to know more about this tumultuous, influential time in the history of Rome and its empire. I am very much looking forward to the rest of the trilogy!
I’ll never forget the first time I visited Pompeii.
I entered through the Marina Gate and as I walked slowly toward the Forum, it was as though I was going back into time with each and every step. And the place still possesses its very human story through its various buildings—some of which still stand complete—and it’s wall frescoes and plaster-cast molds of victims. The site is a world treasure. Though people and animals tragically died here, it’s a veritable time-capsule of information on just how ancient Romans lived and died. And perhaps the most surprising thing that a visitor takes with them upon leaving is the thought that, “They were just like us!”
In Rome itself, apartment buildings called insulae (islands) were often up
Insulae at Ostia Antica: A typical insula (apartment building).
to seven or even eight stories high. Plutarch, an ancient biographer who liked to tell the stories of famous Greeks and Romans, told about Marcus Licinius Crassus, a contemporary of Julius Caesar. Crassus became rich through vast purchases of properties in Rome—specifically insulae. Since Rome had no fire brigade at the time, Crassus trained a band of his own slaves to be firemen. If there was a fire in an insula, which occurred regularly, due to people trying to cook in their apartments, Crassus would show up with his firemen. He’d offer to buy the insula for a ridiculously low price and the poor, panicked owner would either have to sell his enflamed property or watch it burn, as Crassus would only order his firemen into action if he sealed a deal.
And—hey! McDonald’s anyone? Common plebians typically ate their meals at fast food stalls, located on the streets and sometimes even built into insulae. Americans might think they invented fast-food, but these tiny eateries would serve up steaming veggies and meats onto husks of bread for a filling meal two-thousand years ago. It was only the upper middle classes and families of noble descent who could really afford to recline in their painted triclinia, served by slaves.
Ancient fast food restaurant: This little taverna is in Pompeii. It’s very typical of the sorts of fast food establishments that existed in the ancient world.
Lastly, I have to mention the Roman passion for games. Now their tastes were different than ours—bloody beast and gladiator shows were the norm. But this enormous public park easily lends to our imaginations what mighty structure once stood there. The Circus Maximus was the place to go for gladiator shows, public executions of criminals, and the favorite Roman pastime—chariot racing!
Circus Maximus Painting: As it may have been.
The Circus Maximus is HUGE and worth a visit. Visitors can still walk where the original track was laid out and see where the spina—the “spine” of the complex—once was. By Julius Caesar’s day, this enormous arena seated over one-hundred-fifty THOUSAND people! As the Republic morphed into Empire, several Emperors renovated and improved the mighty Circus Maximus, and other hippodromes similar to it were added in notable cities throughout the Roman Empire.
I am of the opinion that there’s NOTHING boring about history. People who poo-poo the study of other cultures from the past simply haven’t gotten INTO the spirits of the people who once lived so long ago. Tourists who visit Pompeii and experience the many similarities between ancient Roman culture and ours are right. In many regards, they were “just like us.”
Brook Allen (Click on Brook’s name to go to her blog, full of more information about Rome and its inhabitants.)
marianlthorpe.com 
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