April 18, 2020

"You need to read the complete series - what more can I say." - Zak

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This week, I was scanning through the titles on Amazon Prime and came across 'Sean Bean on Waterloo',  a two-part documentary that I had heard of, but had never had the opportunity to watch. In it, he looks at the battle from the viewpoint of a common soldier, using letters and anecdotes to illustrate what it was like.

If you want an in-depth documentary about the battle, this is NOT the show for you, but if you're wondering what type of damage a musket ball might do or how effective canister shot was, then you might find this of interest. With the help of the modern British army, they fire off some weapons to evaluate their effects. He also corrals some re-enactors to help determine how effective swords were, by using them on a pig carcass. I was fascinated to see that the sabre of the British light cavalry was, in fact, better at inflicting damage than that of the heavy cavalry?

Overall, a fascinating show and one I highly recommend!

When I originally developed the concept for Temple Knight, I had a character in mind, someone called Margaret deShandria. She was a secondary character (NPC) that I had used in an RPG campaign some time ago, and her storyline grew to be quite crucial to the overall plot of the game. This presented a problem for me when I began work on outlining the book since I’d already used the name Margaret for a rather central character in the Heir to the Crown series, namely the older sister to Princess Anna.

Now, you might think that naming a character is easy, but let me tell you it’s not. I searched through all kinds of websites looking for a name that would give the right ‘feel’ to the character, including some fascinating random name generators, but nothing seemed to work. It was actually Carol that came up with the name Charlaine, and I immediately liked it, as it conjured forth the image of Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great.

That’s not to say that Charlaine is destined to become queen, far from it, she is a Temple Knight, dedicated to the service of Saint Agnes. However, she is destined to become a great warrior and leader of others, and so the name stuck. It’s now hard to think of her any other way, such are the ways of writing!

Speaking of names, I also had to name all the sisters of her order, and there are quite a few, so THAT was also difficult!

Some even take on a life of their own, driving the storyline in unexpected directions. In my Heir to the Crown series, Albreda was initially intended to be a very secondary character, but I had so much fun writing her that I couldn’t let her disappear into the dustbin of history. Now, she even has her own origin story!

I mention this because, as I continue to work on Temple Knight, the characters are starting to come alive. I can’t just let them disappear once the story is done, so you can expect to see more of them in the future.

I am returning to my by-weekly Facebook Live sessions starting Monday, April 27th, and I would love to have some questions beforehand. Please take a moment and ask me a question below.

With more free time than I am used to having, I have been watching some rather eclectic movies of late, so I thought I would share some hidden gems I have come across recently. Here is this weeks!

Known in the US as 'Immortal Battalion', 'The Way Ahead' is a 1944 British production that essentially rewrote a 1943 training film to make it into a commercial release. It follows a group of British civilians who are conscripted into the Army. Headed by David Niven (who also acted as Executive Producer), it also stars Stanley Holloway (who later played Alfred Doolittle in My Fair Lady) and William Hartnell (who would eventually become the first Doctor Who). The script was written by Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov, (who played a minor character in the movie and went on to a very successful movie career after the war) and was a commercial success when it was released in 1944.

The story picks up just after the Dunkirk evacuation and concerns the new recruits who are assigned to the Duke of Glendon's Light Infantry, a fictional unit. After their training, which consumed a significant part of the movie, they are shipped out to Africa. There are troubles along the way, but they eventually find themselves guarding a small town in North Africa when the Germans attack.

This movie does an excellent job of illustrating the 'pluck and courage' typical in this type of film, a far cry from the 'heroic' images that Hollywood prefers. I highly recommend it.

I am now almost 2/3 the way through Temple Knight, and the story is progressing well. In addition, Carol has already begun the editing process, and although there are small changes to be made, she likes the story immensely. As expected, I will have to rewrite some details, since the secondary characters have evolved since their inception, but I don't expect that to take too long. A map will also be needed (several, in fact), and so I'll be spending a portion of my time next week making the mockups that Carol will later illustrate.

From her first read (she reads it 4 times!), she's asked for more details about each knight, so I find myself scouring the Internet looking for pictures that might assist me in the writing of the descriptions. Temple Knight, the first book in the Power Ascending series, has a lot of women central to the plot. This is not surprising, considering it's about the Temple Knights of Saint Agnes, but each needs to be unique in their own way and giving them each some sort of distinctive mark helps the reader connect with them.

Once this is complete, I'm off to write the last 1/3 of the book, and Carol says we are still on track for a late spring release (think June!)

Until next time, Happy reading!

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