May was a busy month. I finished sending out Champion Bold physical packages. I had a convention, QuantumCon, which was a bit of a last minute addition but worth attending. There were good books and good shows. And as always, writing, world building, and procrastination. the good news is, I head into June with more books published, a short story accepted into an anthology, and a launch party on the way.
Projects
Champion Bold is mostly done. The physical copies of the novel and the supplements are available. The ebook of the novel is up. I still need to finish the supplement ebooks and PDFs and get those up. I should have had them done by now, but once the book is up I find myself looking towards the next project. Lesson learned: get the minor stuff done before the big finale, otherwise you lose focus.
I got a good amount of work done on the Colonel Lieutenant, though not as much as I’d hoped. I’m running into some issues of ‘is this working right’ or ‘did I set this up enough.’ There’s no real way to get around it, so I’m putting my head down and running right into the issues. No way to finish it except by doing it.
And, happily enough, I managed to get a large number of items done off my other project lists. Either small world-building things, or a few scenes I banged out. And some brainstorming that got me past a couple of project blocks, allowing me to figure out major plot points for some very low-level projects. Very excited for how those will workout.
June Goals
Finish Champion Bold ends
Finish the Colonel Lieutenant
Process Champion Impact Responses
Complete revised synopsis of Orcfyre
Knock 10 things of other to-do lists
Books
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Armageddon’s Children (Fiction)
The Elves of Cintra (Fiction)
War and Peace (Fiction, Audiobook)
The Seven Basic Plots (Research)
Complete Idiot’s Guide to Game Theory (Research)
Without Remorse (Fiction, Re-Read)
Hell to Pay: Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan (Non-Fiction)
I’m into the second trilogy of the Shannara series, which has gone from modern fantasy to post-apocalyptic fantasy. The world has gotten a lot bleaker, and there are factions of demons and paladins warring for control of the future. I’m kind of enjoying the series, but it’s not really grabbing my attention. I’m hoping this book picks up the pace a bit, so I don’t feel like I have to force myself to read. And I’m still five books away from the ones I read as a kid.
My re-read of Tom Clancy’s Ryan-verse is going okay. It’s been a long time since I’ve read these books, and it’s gone much as I’d hoped. I’m remember why I liked it, but after so long away, not only do I still enjoy it, but I’m picking up things I’d never noticed before, or didn’t understand. It’s a much different read now. And I’ve still got 10 more books before I hit the end of the main series and the books that Clancy himself wrote.
Hell to Pay is a fascinating history book. It’s covering the planned Allied Invasion of Japan, and it’s doing it pretty well. Each chapter covers one aspect of the plan, without worrying about chronology. So when we discuss Allied recruitment efforts or Japanese defense planning, we get to read everything important in one chapter, without jumping topics. I’m looking forward to finishing it.
June Goals
Finish one fiction title
Finish one non-fiction title
Finish two research titles
Movies and Shows
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Last of Us (Season 2)
Marco Polo
Last Kingdom (Re-Watch)
Andor (Season 2)
Captain America: Brave New World
In May I finished two great second seasons.
In Last of Us Part 2, we see the story of Joel and Ellie continue, much as it does in the second game. This season follows roughly the first half of that game, and it does it pretty well. It hits the emotional high points, but does so in its own way. I think the pacing was a bit off (another episode or two would have helped), but i don’t hate it. Expect a better blog post shortly.
And then there’s Andor Season 2, the last season of this show. Holy crap, talk about an amazing show. The show covers roughly four years of time, leading up to Rogue One and the original Star Wars movie. Great characters, amazing sets and costumes, and a story that just kept me wanting more. Even the last scenes gave us a good wrap up for the characters we wanted to know about. No complaints.
Finally, I saw the new marvel film, Captain America Brave New World. It was good, but not great. This movie had some high points, and some interesting connections to other films in the series. It didn’t quite feel as firm as other Captain America movies, but that’s a fairly minor complaint overall. I would definitely watch it again, but I wouldn’t start someone into the MCU with this one.
June Goals
Watch one Best Picture Winner (three left)
Watch one Fix-It Title (four left)
Finish one in progress show
Start one new show
Games
Stellaris
Space Marine 2
Last of Us Part 1 (Re-Play)
Nothing much in gaming this month. I advanced Space Marine 2 but haven’t beaten it yet. I’ve been playing some more Stellaris with new DLCs, which is fun. And I started replaying the Last of Us Part 1, for fun.
RPG wise, all the campaigns are going well. My characters (French gambler, half-orc noble, half-elf oddity and otter water mage) are all still alive. The game I run is still fun and people are engaging with the story.
So, not much to tell, but it’s still fun.
June Goals
Finish Space Marine 2
Start new PC game
What’s Next?
Launch Party
I’ve got a launch party Sunday, June 8th, at Inbound BrewCo in Minneapolis. 1 to 5 PM. Hope to see you there.
In the fall of 2021, I started reading Philippa Gregory’s Plantagenet and Tudor Series. I had been discussing historical fiction with a friend in a writing group. and she mentioned this series. I recognized some of the titles from movies and shows, but I hadn’t read any of them. So, I hit the library and started reading.
The series spends fifteen books covering the Wars of the Roses and the reign of the Tudors. Roughly 150 years of history as of the last book. It tells stories of the reigns of twelve English monarchs, from Henry IV to Elizabeth I. It does so by telling the stories from the eyes of the women: the queens, mistresses, and court ladies who watch great events with an often-overlooked perspective.
(Update: After starting this blog post, I discovered that Philippa Gregory has announced a new book in this series. This book will follow Jane Boleyn and is set five books back from the last book I read. So, this post is a review of the series so far. I will review the next book when it comes out.)
This is a review of my experiences with the series. First, my overall thoughts. Second, I’ll go over structural and literary topics I want to cover. Then I’ll discuss some of the thoughts I had about the women POV characters. And finally, I’ll hit some points about the series as historical fiction.
Overall Thoughts
This wasn’t a series I’d probably ever read if it hadn’t been recommended to me. My historical fiction tends towards military characters or great leaders, with lots of battles and conflict. And, honestly, mostly from male perspectives.
This series has battles that occur, but rarely are we given anything more than a few paragraphs; this series is more concerned with their influence on events. Great leaders are common in every title, but we’re seeing them from a close and personal viewpoints, warts and all. And seeing the series from an a primarily women’s perspective paints the decisions of the era in a very different light.
All that considered, I liked this series. Looking back at the titles, many more of them were ones I would revisit than ones I would be okay never returning to. None of them reached into my lists of favorite books, but I’m still glad I read them.
Literary Thoughts
These are several points about the series from a literary perspective.
One thing real quick, because this will help understand the points below. When Philippa Gregory started writing these books, she was actually writing two different series: The Cousins’ War about the Wars of the Roses and The Tudor Court about the reign of the Tudors. They remained separate for fifteen years, until she combined them into one narrative. This does have an impact on some of the topics I will address below.
Multiple POV Characters
One great thing about this series: it was the first series I’ve read that every book follows a different character. Other series follow one character from start to finish, or switch between characters each chapter. Not this one. Each book followed a different character than the previous.
This means that each book comes with a different attitude, set of skills and relationships to experience. In the shifting politics of the era, this gives each character strengths and vulnerabilities that are markedly different from the preceding book. We see these characters experience great rises and falls, each of which is unique to that characters’ position.
And, it’s nice that the POV characters in one book are supporting characters in other books. So, after reading with one character for a book, you may get to see how the rest of their life plays out in other books.
Assuming they survive their own book, which isn’t always the case.
As a writer, it’s great to see a long series that doesn’t follow the same character through each book, especially a multi-generational series like this one. It’s made me wonder if I could do something similar with one of my ideas
Not Written in Order
By this, I mean the books are not written in chronological order. They are written and inserted into the timeline as they come out. The first book chronologically is the 9th book written in the series. New titles added to the list can (and will) be inserted into the chronology where she wants.
This isn’t the first time I’ve encountered this. The Sharpe series does the same, with Bernard Cornwell adding new stories here and there as he finds stories to develop. It means that as you read them in order, you’ll find the writing style change dramatically, as the book that follows may have been written years before the book you just finished. Her writing style changes as she continues to write. As it does for everyone.
Magic
This series has an odd aspect to it, in that some of the books (particularly the early ones) include some fantastical magic powers. We’re not talking about fireballs or enchanting items. These are more about minor divinations: abilities to see the future or know what’s happening far away.
Not every book has this aspect. Many of them don’t touch upon magic or powers except as an excuse to execute someone. In the books that do have it, it is very minimal, used only to inform the character — and by extension the reader — of important plot events.
It’s a nice way of advancing some stories, without needing the same powers to appear in all of them.
Women’s Perspective
I’ve read plenty of books with women protagonists, but this was a new experience. It was a whole series of novels, written from different women’s viewpoint, all unified by shared experiences with the system they lived in.
Again, this isn’t something new I’ve never experienced. You can’t read historical fiction and expect to find modern sensibilities in previous eras. But there’s a difference between having a few female characters in a male dominated narrative, and having the entire narrative told from their POV.
Influence on the Narrative
For starters, it’s a different read when most of the characters have limited influence and agency instead of just a handful.
Now, the first thought might be to say ‘these characters are passive participants of their own story’, but that’s not the case. None of these characters are weak. They are extremely limited in how they can influence their world, but they do have options. One character might present the best version of themselves, whatever that version needs to be; another might scheme for power to protect herself through family and patrons. How each individual character approached their situation and how they try to control it is up to them. And how well they do so is part of each of their stories.
One more thing: with the rise and fall of the characters in relation to the throne of England, what they do with power once they have it is as much a part of their story as anything else. Which characters try to improve their kingdom, and which ones use their authority to remove their enemies and secure their position? With so many POV characters over the narrative, you get a lot of different answers to this theme.
Misogyny
I’ve read books with female characters before. The Honor Harrington series has a strong female protagonist. But these series take place in societies of equality: Honor Harrington is a military officer who only faces sexism on one backwards planet, and ends up changing that planet’s society instead of succumbing to it.
This series has misogyny front and center, and that’s not really a surprise. Late Medical and Early Renaissance England, despite the female monarch who reigned for a good chunk of that time, was not known for its progressive gender views.
Throughout this series, we see the women experience the prejudice and bigotry of their society. They are brides to be married off for political power, or wombs to bear the next heir to the throne. They are sent to seduce lords and kings to advance the family interest, and if they fail (by their own fault or not) they are forgotten and discarded. All too often, parents treated their children as pawns in the political game around the throne, while their children — the characters — either understood or pushed back.
They were several instances where I got angry at what the characters were experiencing. But that’s what the time period was like, and I appreciate that Philippa Gregory doesn’t shy away from showing that.
Historical Fiction
As historical fiction, this series touches upon real events. Following the throne of England, many of these events have great consequences, often for the characters we’re reading with. Also, it was a period I didn’t know much about, so there was a bit of a learning curve while reading. And I do like learning.
But the main thing to remember when it comes to historical fiction is: it’s historical. You can do all the research you want, but you’re still writing a fictional narrative. As a reader, you cannot accept this as historical fact. Sure, you can learn the dates of the important events, but that’s about it. Everything else is suspect.
It Took How Long?
One thing I learned from this series was how long things took to happen. History books may mention dates, but that usually gets lost in the shuttle. For example, you read, ‘Queen Elizabeth captured Mary Queen of Scots, and after some time executed her for plotting against the throne,’ and think it was a period of months or a year.
Nope, 19 years. 1568-1587.
This kind of long-term planning and execution feels so alien, but it’s a part of their world and the characters don’t expect anything else. On the other hand, after getting used to how long it takes for a decision to be made and implemented, it makes some of the quick, impulsive decisions that much more jarring for the characters and readers to experience.
Historical Mysteries
When you’re writing historical fiction, there are always events that you don’t have a historical answer to. Some of these are small questions that weren’t important enough to records answers to Others are big, great mysteries that living historians debate to this day. There are two solutions to this: to ignore or side-step the mystery, or to craft an answer that fits your narrative. Philippa Gregory does both.
As a good example of side-stepping, there’s the Princes in the Tower. The deposed King Edward V and his brother Richard of Shrewsbury, being held in the the Tower of London, disappear without a trace. It’s one of the biggest mysteries of English history. In this series, Gregory never gives an answer. The mystery occurs or is referenced in several books, and each character has their own belief about what happened. But the truth — even the fictional truth — is never revealed.
On the other hand, there’s the death of Amy Robsart, wife of Queen Elizabeth’s lover Robert Dudley. The historical figure was found dead, and her true cause of death was never confirmed one way or the other. But Philippa Gregory provides an answer that works well within the plot of her story. I won’t tell you what it is, but it works well.
From a writer’s perspective, it’s good to see how the same problem can be corrected differently, depending on the needs of the story. If and when I get around to writing historical fiction, I’ll be approaching things like this. I’ll have to.
The Red Queen
If you’ve kept up with my posts on the series, then you know how much I came to hate the Red Queen, the fictional version of Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII, who appears in six of the fifteen books.
I won’t go through a whole biography of the character or her historical counterpart, but I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge how great this character is. Yes, I hate her, but I appreciate the character.
In the first half of her book, I came to to sympathize with her so much. She was a young girl — only thirteen — when she was widowed while pregnant with the future king. And her entire value to society is as a womb capable of bearing future monarchs. Her own mother tells the doctors to sacrifice Margaret for her child if a problem arises. She survives, only to have her son whisked away for his safety. I had so much pity for her.
And then she became a character I absolutely detested. The lengths she went to get her son on the throne, and how she influenced his court once he was there, were terrible. I understand her reasoning, but I hate bullies and tyrants, and she works up to be a great and powerful one, who terrorizes the characters of five more books.
Yes, I appreciate the character, as much as I hate her. I hope to write a character who evokes a quarter of that response.
Conclusion
There are many reasons I appreciate this series. I learned about an era of history I didn’t know much about. I got to experience a multi-generational epic that spans more than a century. And I got to see the stories through lenses that I’ve never really looked through before. Not only did I enjoy it, but I feel I’ve learned a lot as a writer.
Now, this isn’t the end of my experience with Philippa Gregory. There’s at least one more book in the series coming out. And there are a number of movies and TV shows based of her works that I will watch at some point. I’ll add them to my ever-lengthening list of ‘to watch’ titles.
If you’re interested in reading some of these books but don’t want to check them all out, please feel free to check out my blog posts on the series, or ask for recommendations. Always glad to introduce people to new books.
April was a full and busy month, with the new book coming out, finishing the supplements, processing backer rewards, attending a convention, and ramping up my next projects. That’s one of the reasons this post is being sent a week later than usual. The other is because I wanted to wait for the details of my launch party before I posted.
Projects
I’ve been winding down Champion Impact, though a lot of the final steps are taking longer than expected. There’s a good chance I will be done with everything by the end of this month, as long as I don’t get distracted.
I’m ramping up the next projects. The primary project is The Colonel Lieutenant, Book 3 of the Renaissance Army series that people keep asking about. I’m hoping to have that done by Easter of next year, but I’ll have to keep focused.
There are other projects I’m working on, but nothing major to report or confirm. The two bigger ones are Champion Impact, the sequel to Champion Bold, and Orcfyre, my fantasy novel I’m eager to finish.
May Goals
Complete draft of The Colonel Lieutenant
Get Champion Impact forms out to backers.
Finish Orcfyre re-plotting and start writing
Knock 10 items off Project To-Do List
Books
Image courtesy of Goodreads
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Non-Fiction)
Homemade Sourdough: Mastering the Art and Science (Non Fiction)
Armageddon’s Children (Fiction)
War and Peace (Fiction, Audiobook)
The Seven Basic Plots (Research)
Complete Idiot’s Guide to Game Theory (Research)
Without Remorse (Fiction, Re-Read)
Hell to Pay: Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan (Non-Fiction)
Actually finished two books this month, which is great. Still behind on my goal for the year, but at least I’ve knocked a couple out. The two I finished were both great reads.
Sapiens was in a similar vein to Guns, Germs and Steel, only without being as preachy. It provide a good, well-structures history of human development and how progress is not always beneficial. It also gave me some ideas of how to work out issues with some of the histories I’m working on for my own projects.
And the book on sourdough was about answering some questions on sourdough, and some fun recipes to try.
According to Goodreads, I currently have nine active books, including the audiobook, I’m working through. That’s a lot. Some of them are in niche places (my patio read book, my Kindle ebook, the audiobook). The rest are just books I need to sit down and pull notes from.
Which is all a long way of of saying I need to read more.
May Goals
Finish Game Theory Book
Finish Two Fiction Books
Finish One Non-Fiction Book
Movies and Shows
Scrapped Princess (Re-Watch)
Rurouni Kenshin Reboot (Season 1)
Andor (Season 2)
Last Kingdom (Re-Watch)
Marco Polo
The Last of Us (Season 2)
Image courtesy of Industrial Light and Magic website
This last month my roommate put Crunchyroll and Max on the main TV, so now I’ve got even more options to watch.
I watched two season of anime off Crunchyroll. I re-watched Scrapped Princess, which I haven’t seen in 20 years. I’d forgotten enough that it was almost like watching it for the first time. Almost. I still remembered bits here and there.
Then I watched the first season of the Rurouni Kenshin reboot. This is my favorite anime series, and to see it redone was pretty fun. The story-telling is tighter and the animation cleaner. That being said, it’s not perfect. One of my three favorite fights occurred at the end of the season, and though it was visually stunning, it wasn’t as exciting as the original fight.
The two big shows from April and early May are Andor and The Last of Us, both in their second season. Andor continues to be a fantastic show, with excellent writing that isn’t dependent on huge action sequences and space battles. There’s one more trio of episodes to go; expect a bigger write up in June.
The Last of Us was a show I really enjoyed, based off a pair of games that I also really liked. I even did a whole post about the first season; the second has yet to disappoint. They are making a lot of changes to the story on so many levels, I can’t really get into it here. I will have to see how it ends to really see how the changes work out.
May Goals
Watch One Best Picture Winner (Three remaining)
Watch One Fix-It title (Four remaining)
Finish One Started TV Show
Start One New TV Show
Games
Space Marine 2
Madden 2025
Not much in the gaming department. I’m working through Space Marine 2, and playing some Madden 2025 with my roommate. Also revisited Stellaris some more, but that’s nothing special.
RPG wise, the game I run, Atonement, has advanced to the next chapter. The party is now in the high mountains, preparing to fight trolls and undead. I’m excited for this chapter; it’ll be much more straight forward than the pseudo-politics of the great city of Erasmus. Simple fights leading to moderate puzzles. Good, old-fashioned role-playing game.
May Goals
Finish Space Marine 2
Start new PC Game
Continue a game in progress
What’s Next
I have a launch party set for June 8th at Inbound BrewCo. Here’s a link to the Facebook Event Page, and an image below with the appropriate info.
This post will cover building and outlining organizations. By organization, I mean any distinct group that is assembled with a specific purpose. This could be a military unit, a branch of government, or a church. It could be as large as a nation, or as small as a clubhouse.
Any organization that will have a noticeable impact on the story in one way or another should appear on my list and receive at least some sort of prep work. How much prep work and to what level of detail will depend on what I need the organization to do.
Why build organizations?
Because organizations of various sizes have so much influence on our lives on so many levels. Think about how many organizations you interact with on a daily basis: law enforcement, insurance agencies, restaurants, etc. Even if the experience is smooth, you’ve still interacted with them.
Within a story, organizations can influence the choices of a character (antagonist, protagonist, or other) as they experience the narrative. They can restrict or assist characters. Some organizations may act as characters in and of themselves, if they’re central enough to the story.
Broadly speaking, there are three ways I expect an organization can influence the story.
Availability of resources
An organization has access to resources. By planning ahead, I know what those resources are and how the characters can access them. An army brigade has so many tanks and machine guns. A corporation has so much money and so many facilities. And so on.
When writing, I then have an idea of what the character who is part of this organization has access to. How many guns can they bring? How much money can they withdraw? It helps define things ahead of time, so a character doesn’t suddenly have access to resources beyond their means; or if they do, they’re going to draw attention.
Powers and Limitations
Characters who are part of organizations operate within the rules of that organization. The organization gives them certain powers, but also impresses upon them certain limitation. Think about law enforcement agencies. Officers of the agencies have powers and authorities while conducting their duties, but also work within the law and limitations of their culture. And different agencies will have different powers and restrictions.
For characters in the story, an organization can be the source of conflict, by restricting a character in one way or another. Having some idea of how these restrictions work, and the punishment for ignoring the restrictions, helps inform the decision-making process of that character.
Knowledge and Ethos
Organizations are not just about people and equipment, but also about knowledge. What does the organization know and what can it teach (or has it taught) the character? Deep secrets, professional knowledge, client information: organizations come with an array of bits that characters can know to come to learn.
Related is an organization’s ethos: the character and spirit of the organization. This ethos can influence the character and/or their interactions with the organization. A character from a military unit that prides itself on always completing the mission would react strongly to even the idea of failing. Another character from a secretive religious order would find spycraft to be second nature.
What to build?
Start with some basics. Names of the organization, a brief history. Some ideas of what its scope is and what its powers are. Much of this might seem pretty obvious, but I’ve found it helps to write it down.
Tables of organization
A table of organization is a great way to lay out how different parts of a group interact with each other. The one I’m most familiar with is the TOE (Table of Organization and Equipment) used in military histories to explain how sides of battles are organized, but the concept is the same for non-military or non-historical organizations. Boxes represent parts; lines represent relationships.
Tables are a great visual reference to explain organizational relationships without getting into paragraphs of explanation and exposition. They’re also helpful if I need to game out battle or campaign scenarios, as the units on the table can translate to units on the tabletop.
The Table of Organization and Equipment for a Royal Army Corps from the Renaissance Army series. A table like this allows me to quickly know unit names, sizes, and what equipment is available at each level.
Lists of Resources
A list of the resources available (and I’m including knowledge and secrets in this list) can be a helpful bit to keep on hand. It could lead to a new story idea of fun conversation within a scene. Plus, I’ve found that having a list of the resources centralized in one location makes it easier to reference during writing.
Positions, Ranks and Characters
Organizations are filled with people, who have titles, responsibilities, and possibly a role within the narrative. Much of this may feel thematic, but it is important to get it right. It doesn’t make sense for a European-style organization to use Japanese titles, unless there’s a very good reason for it.
Once the organization charts are built, figuring out the titles, names and even biographies of important decision makers ahead of time will help with the flow of the story. I don’t need to necessarily prepare the name of every single character in the organization, but having them ready can be great when I’m writing the scenes.
Paying Attention to What I Need
At various points while building organizations, I need to take a step back and ensure I’m building what I need for the story. I could go through an entire military organization and label every officer and unit name, but does the story need that? Do I need to work out the titles for every officer in a church leadership, or not? I need to pay attention to what work I need to focus on.
In Practice: The General of the Pen
So, we’ve gone over why I build organizations, and what I try to build for an organization when I build them. Let’s move onto the final part and put it into practice for our test project, the General of the Pen.
I’m going to build four organizations for this project:
The Campilesian church: the cultural glue that holds the local communities together.
The Campilesian independence movement: the political force that is driving the rebellion.
Alonso’s Army: the force that is being assembled in Valle de Cielo for the story.
The Sur-Marais army: the force that will serve as the antagonist for the story.
Don’t worry. I’m only going to give myself three paragraphs per organization. The first paragraph I will give the expectations I have for the organization within the world. The second, I will give an overview of the organization I’ve built. Third, how it will appear in the story.
The Campilesian Church
The Campilesian Church is a religious organization that has influence across the borders and strata of Campilesian society. I need it to be a culturally unifying force for a people who do not have a political unifying force, while they built a governing body. But I don’t want it to necessarily step in and try to rule in its own right.
The organization I envision is hierarchical, but broad. Local priests report to a bishop of a region or an archbishop of a city, all of whom report to a cardinal. The various cardinals make up a ruling council that decide ecumenical and spiritual matters after vigorous debat.e
In the book, I expect the bishop to be a character who will appear several times (so I add him to the list). Local priests will appear to lead their parishioners into the new era; some may actually become military officers.
Story Idea: The more religious Campilesian’s are willing to accept religious leaders as military leaders; Gerhard, from a nation which practices more separation between spiritual and military, looks at this with distrust.
The Campilesian Independence Movement
The Campilesian Independence Movement is the driving force behind the story; they’re taking advantage of the opportunity to drive for independence. But it’s not a controlling body; it’s not even a particulalry organized body. It’s more a loose collection of social clubs, poliitcal socities and local parties that is stepping up.
This organization is building to nationhood, but has some ways to go. Right now, it’s a very provisional organization. It has a central directing body, and several developing government organs, but nothing is set in stone. Much of the authority of the movement is held in local and regional organizations, which are trusting in the central body to figure it out.
For the course of the story, the Independence Movement is a driving force, but will be largely absent from the narrative. They have called for raising regiments, given Alonso his position as a general, and are sending him what supplies and units they can. But if any agent of the government does show up, it won’t be a large player.
Alonso’s Army of the Valle de Cielo
The Army of Independent Campilesia is a growing army, made up of small regiments of social clubs and emergency volunteers who are assembling into the larger formations in response to the current crisis. It should represent a chaotic and uncontrolled expansion. It should also show off that each regiment assembled is an expression of local customs and heraldry.
The building block of the army is the regimente, a formation of various companies assembled under a command staff. Each regiment has a common uniform for themselves, but these are not standard across the army. Regiments bear the name of the city or region they are raised in. They are sent to regions to fight in, where they are assigned to generals as needed.
Corps of Observation (700 at arms)
Middle Brigade (1,800 at arms)
East Brigade (2,600 at arms)
Santa Natalie Mounted Squadron (300 at arms)
Santa Margarita Regiment (400 at arms)
San Martin Regiment (1,000 at arms)
Valley Volunteer Mounted Squadron (160 at arms)
Santa Isabella Regiment (600 at arms)
Santa Angelica Regiment (600 at arms)
Valley Foot Scouts (200 at arms)
San Miguel Regiment (600 at arms)
San Roberto Regiment (800 at arms)
Ricardo’s Battery of Artillery
Garcia’s Battery of Artillery
The initial Army of the Valley and its regiments, including their size. Not shown are the command staff, civilian wagons pressed into service carrying goods, and the numerous camp followers.
In the General of the Pen, there are a number of regiments that form or are sent into the valley, from the well-equipped and uniform looking San Martin Regiment to the hastily raised and rough looking Santa Angelica Regiment. They currently service in the valley, under General Alonso, who has divided his army into the western Corps of Observation, and two fighting brigades. These formations will form the basic army that the characters operate in during the events of the story. More units could come in later, when it’s most dramatic.
Aside: In the Independence Army, most soldiers and officers are dedicated to their regimente, which are expressions of local support. They know each other. General officers and staff work for the central government, which is not the same thing. There is still a lot of distrust going around.
The Sur-Marais Army
This is a large, established army. Their unit histories go back centuries. They have standard uniforms, weapons and training. And they have an entire nation’s industry and economy behind them. The force that comes into the story is small enough to be defeated because they have confidence in their arms to win the day.
I build two charts for this army. One is a chart of the high organization, the top generals and their offices, to explain the inner workings of the army and how it responds to a crisis. The second is a TOE of a single army corps, a formation large enough to operate on its own.
A simple TOE for a Sur-Marais Army Corps. I haven’t worked out naming conventions or exact numbers per unit, but something of this size should work out to about 15,000 at arms.
During the course of the novel, the army corps will advance into the valley and engage the independence movement. Using the TOE, I can track the units and numbers of men involved, and track casualties as events unfold.
Conclusion
This was a quick overview of how I go about preparing organizations for a story. For major projects, I have whole spreadsheets counting down unit sizes to the man, and tables of organization to look back on and reference. It’s not meant to be perfect; it’s meant to answer the big questions before I start writing, so I stay consistent.
Next post I will do a quick overview of creating setting specific systems for Magic, Mythology and Science. Expect a lot of math, and a lot of ‘the characters don’t know how it works, but this is what they think.’
I just finished up three days at Minicon 58 in the Twin Cities. Set up my table, laid out my books, sat on some panels, and talked with other authors. Made some sales. Had some conversations.
Overall, it was a great weekend. Longer thoughts to follow.
Behold….my books!
My Table
My set up is pretty decent, as you can see from the picture. The table banner looks a lot better than that rolled up poster I used to have. I think putting the free pictures under the plastic sheet really helps keep them from moving around, and putting the business cards in card holders instead of spreading them out just keeps the table clear. It just looks more orderly than previous tables.
Talking with visitors is getting better. My elevator pitch for the two Renaissance Army books is okay, or at least I feel comfortable with it. I had to work through a few iterations of the Champion Bold pitch before I found one that felt right. I’ll probably practice some more before the next event.
There are a few things I’ll want to do in the future. for starters, I’m going to need to get something vertical to hold my books up, since I’m already going to have several more books once the supplements come in, and I’m going to be adding more titles in the future. Another idea I want to do is get some reviews off Amazon and Goodreads and put them up for people to read.
And, maybe, get some cool sci-fi videos for my picture display.
The Panels
I was on three panels at Minicon: Procrastination or Preparation, A Sense of Wonder in Sci-Fi, and Dealing with Writer’s Block.
I’m not going to bore you with details about each panel. They went well. I participated in discussions, responded to questions. I still felt like the junior member of the panels, but by most standards I probably am. It’s not like imposter syndrome is going to go away just because I want it to.
If I was to acknowledge one critique, I need to work on ending my response. More than once, I would say my bit, then sort of babble for a bit. What I need to do is say my thing, and the be done.
Readings
I was scheduled for one reading, I did two.
My individual reading was Friday afternoon, and no one came. Unfortunately, it was left off the schedule by accident, one of about half a dozen events that faced such a challenge. I don’t take it personally; it happens. I ended up sitting in my room reading my eBook for half an hour.
Later Friday night, I was approached by another author. he had assembled an Indie Author Reading Buffet; a handful of authors, reading for ten to fifteen minutes, but several of the authors had dropped out, and he was looking for readers. I had a copy of Champion Bold on the cloud, so I read as part of the group. Got at least one sale out of it.
From what I gather, this may be something we see more of in the future. Groups of authors reading in panels, rather than individuals sitting in rooms. I’m hoping that will mean more chances to read: a fantasy panel, a scifi panel, etc. We’ll see how they set it up next year.
Conclusion
Was it worth it? Absolutely. I made some sales of the new book, and had a lot of people ask about Book 3, which has to be my primary project for the rest of the year. I made some contacts and opened up some opportunities over the next few months that I want to take advantage of. There may be more announcements coming in the near future.
For now, I’m recovering from the con and prepping for the next projects. Looking forward to having at least one new title for next year.
The last book in Philippa Gregory’s historical fiction series covering the Wars of the Roses and the Tudors, the Other Queen is about the imprisonment of Mary, Queen of Scotts, between fall of 1568 and summer of 1572. It follows three characters: Mary and her two captors, George Talbot, the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, and his wife, Bess of Hardwick. Each character is experiencing personal hardship in this story, watching their world fall apart in their own way.
Did I like this book? Hard to say. For most of it, yes. I liked that each character provided a unique view of the events. I felt compassion for each of them, though only one of them I felt came out (mostly) untainted at the end. But then it ended in a way that just killed my enjoyment: I’ll explain at the end of the post after a spoiler’s tag.
First, I want to discuss the characters.
Mary, Queen of Scotts
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Mary, Queen of Scotts, is a prisoner of the English Crown. She has the claim to several thrones — including England’s — and is married or engaged to several suitors. She is eager to head back to Scotland and reclaim her birthright.
The character of Mary is a frustrating one. On the one hand, you understand her position completely. She does not believe she deserves to be there. Afterall, she is a crowned queen away from her throne, a mother away from her child. She believes she is divinely chosen to rule, and her confinement and the restrictions placed upon her are an insult. All that comes through.
But with that strong belief comes the conviction that she can lie and scheme to get what she wants without consequence. From her perspective, every action is warranted. So, the book is her plotting her escape and her revenge, or bemoaning the failure of whatever plot almost worked.
Mary gains sympathy because she’s a woman denied her right as a queen and her freedoms as a person. But she squanders it by arrogantly plotting. At the same time, what else can she do? She’s helpless, and fighting against being helpless, which brings us right back to sympathetic.
George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
George Talbot is the nobleman selected by the English crown to hold Mary Queen of Scotts for a time. He is eager to do his duty to Queen Elizabeth, but as the story progresses, begins to find himself drawn more and more to Mary’s cause.
George is the second most frustrating character of the three.
He is an honorable man. When he was a judge as Queen Mary’s trial (before the start of the book) he judged her not guilty because the evidence was not sufficient, despite pressure to find her guilty just to be rid of her. He tries to do the right thing in a court where the right thing often changes as the whims of Queen Elizabeth and her senior advisor, William Cecil.
But when Mary comes into his household, he falls for her. As an honorable man, this tears as his soul. He wants to serve her, but he has a queen; he wants to love her, but he has a wife. George wants to believe the best of her, despite constant evidence that she plots and schemes.
This is where George fails. He’s an honorable man, but he refuses to navigate the world he lives in. Not that he can’t: he refuses.
George constantly hopes that the world will right itself and come into focus the way he wants it to. But he knows it won’t. He could take steps to protect Mary or Bess, but he doesn’t. He keeps hoping for a solution, but refuses to do anything to bring one about, because any solution he can bring about won’t be what he wants. in the end, he does one thing to mitigate the consequences of his action; I’ll discuss that in the next section.
Rich and politically powerful, but emotionally powerless.
Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Bess, wife of George, is the third character, and the only one who doesn’t lose me by the end of the book.
A lady of some means, Bess is on her fourth marriage, and has amassed a sizable amount of wealth in land and items to pass along to her children. She is a competent manager, balancing income and expenses in account books that she proudly knows back and forth. Bess has the character and confidence of a self-made woman.
When Mary is sent to their household. Bess sees the danger. As a queen, Mary expects a certain lifestyle that the hosts must pay for. The monthly allowance from Queen Elizabeth’s government is not nearly enough, nor is it consistently paid. Instead, they must drain their accounts and mortgage their lands to pay for the queen’s mini-court. All of which endangers the wealth Bess wants to leave to her children.
Bess is the opposite of George: she is realistic where he is idealistic. She does not expect to be paid. She is also an agent of William Cecil, Elizabeth’s most trusted advisor, and informs on Mary’s activities to the crown.
Why is Bess the only character who doesn’t lose me by the end of the book? Probably because she’s the only one who’s story isn’t dominated by their character flaw. Mary loses me because she’s too self-centered; George because he’s too idealistic and naive. But Bess knows she’s in danger and does her best, hoping to endure until she can survive or thrive.
She does survive, but only because George takes a step to separate their fortunes. This is what I alluded to last section; the one thing George does to mitigate the consequences of his actions, and it’s for Bess, not for himself. He gives her back the lands and fortunes she had at the time of their marriage, in exchange for her forgiving the debts he owes her. She comes out none the richer for her marriage, but she still retains everything she wanted to pass along to her children.
Not perfect, but the better of the three characters.
Spoiler – My Annoyance
Now we get to the spoiler ending bit. If you don’t want to know, don’t read beyond this.
Now.
Okay.
For real this time.
Here we go.
The book is primarily set between Autumn 1568 and June 1572. Within that nearly four-year period, Mary sees her rises and falls, George falls in love and falls out of favor, and Bess has to divorce her husband in her mind if not by law. Sounds good, right?
The last chapter is set fifteen years later. Bess hears about the execution of Mary, and spends several pages considering the last fifteen years. how Mary entrapped and involved those around her in her schemes and how many of them paid with her. How her husband became so attached to Mary that he wept at her execution. And how Bess worked hard to distance herself from both and protect herself.
Makes sense, doesn’t it? Why not? What better way is there to cover fifteen years of events? I agree.
So why does it bother me?
Because it is set up as just another chapter. As a reader, I found it jarring to go from weekly or monthly advances to more than a decade without warning. It pulled me from the flow of reading to sit back and figure out what was happening.
Now, it is true that the chapters all start with dates on them. And yes, if I was paying more attention to the dates maybe I wouldn’t have found it all the more jarring. But perfect readers are rare, and I can’t fathom why you wouldn’t label this last chapter the epilogue, or put a break page with a ‘fifteen years later’ announcement. Anything to keep the reader informed.
Completely jarring.
Conclusion
I’m glad I read this book. The characters were well written. Their flaws are front and center and truly debilitating, even fatal, to their well being. The end was jarring, but not enough to put me off or re-reading it.
What’s truly memorable is that this is the last book in the series. I’m now done with it. I’ll probably do a reflection blog post on the series at some point. But for now, I’ll just appreciate finishing the series.
March was a good month. I finished the Champion Bold revisions. The paperbacks are sitting at home. The hardcovers are on their way. The supplement second round of proofs are sitting on my table waiting for revisions. I had my first event of the year, getting people interested in my new book and having people ask about book 3 of Sasha’s series.
It was a good month.
Projects
Finishing Champion Bold has been big. Not only do I feel better about getting a project done, but I’m ready and eager to tackle the next ones. and with the BPRG system, I believe I can get them done quicker and to the table faster than the last few books.
I still have to finish the supplements. The books have a number of minor adjustments to make to some images and formatting, but they do need to be done before I can say ‘complete!’ So, I’ll get them done.
Oncethis project is done, then I’ll focus on the next two projects: Book 3 of Sasha’s story (The Colonel Lieutenant) and the sequel to Champion Bold (titled Champion Impact). There are other projects I have in development that I’m not giving up on, but those are the two big ones.
April goals
Sasha 3: Re-game and re-write the big campaign
ChamImp: Finish plotting process
ChamImp: Get forms out to backers
Other projects: Knock 10 things off to-do list
Books
Angel Fire East (eBook; Fiction)
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Non-Fiction)
Idiot’s Guide to Game Theory (Research)
War and Peace (Audiobook; Fiction)
Image courtesy of Amazon
To my frustration, I did not finish any books this month. I made good progress in both Angel Fire East and Sapiens. Also, I re-started Game Theory at my new reading desk station in my new place. War and Peace is my new free audiobook/podcast at work. the 10-15 minute runtime per chapter work for those short time periods just before lunch.
What’s really bad is this puts me at four books read for the year so far. My goal is 36, so I should be at nine. I’m five books behind schedule. I’ll need to pick up the pace a bit.
Oh, darn. I need to read more. How terrible. (End sarcasm.)
April Goals
Finish Angel Fire East
Finish Sapiens
Finish Idiot’s Guide to Game Theory
Start and finish one fiction book.
Start and finish one non-fiction book.
Movies and Shows
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Shazam: Fury of the Gods
Pacific Rim: Uprising
New Mutants
Marvel: What If? (Season 2)
Knocked a good number of things off my watch list this month, and yes, most of them were so I could watch them on the fixit podcast I listen to. But honestly, none of them were as bad as I thought they would be.
They weren’t great, and I see why they didn’t take off, but they weren’t terrible. This is going to be quick and short.
Shazam: Fury of the Gods had a decent underlying story. But it suffered from spending too much time with the superhero characters and not enough time with the children.
Pacific Rim: Uprising had an odd plot: it kind of made sense, but it didn’t quite feel right. The rest of it was a lot of the right parts that did not fit together well enough to make a good movie.
New Mutants was probably the closest to a good movie of the three, and the one I most wanted to be good. But there were too many ‘good idea, but they didn’t think it through’ plot holes. Which is a shame, because it wasted Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor Joy and Charlie Heaton.
Finally, Marvel: What If? Season 2. Nine episodes of alternative Marvel histories that wrap up with an overall narrative. All of the episodes were good. And I want to give a particular shout out to Episode 6, with the dialogue almost entirely in Mohawk and Spanish.
April Goals
Watch one Best Picture winner (3 left)
Watch two of four remaining Fix-It titles
Finish one started TV title
Start new TV show
Games
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Baldur’s Gate 3
Space Marine 2
Madden 25
Football Club 25
Started two new games this month. One, Football Club 25, it one I got for me and my roommate to play against each other alongside Madden 25. Football and football. What a treat.
I also started Space Marine 2. I wanted a game that was fun and didn’t require a lot of thinking and planning. Just get in, shoot and fight. And nothing says simple shoot and fight like a Warhammer 40K game.
April Goals
Advance to next chapter of BG 3
Advance to next chapter of AC Odessey
Advance to next chapter of RDR 2
What’s Coming Up
I’ve got a convention coming up Easter weekend; I’m excited because I’ll have my new books ready for it. At least, the paperback copies. The hardcover copies are on their way.
I’m also planning a book launch party in May. I don’t know dates yet, but I will post when I know.
Logical Lou and Creative Cal enjoy a leisurely morning after working hard to finish a book.
Right now, it is Sunday morning. I’m sitting in my normal coffee shop with a cup of coffee and a box of homemade cinnamon sugar donut holes. It’s lightly raining outside. The paperback copies of Champion Bold are sitting on my dining room table; the hardcovers are on order. The supplement proofs (round 2) are on their way. I have nothing I have to do this Sunday morning. So, I’m going to reflect.
Champion Bold will be my first book in six years. I’m hoping my next book, either The Colonel Lieutenant (Sasha book 3) or Champion Impact (the sequel to Champion Bold), or perhaps some other project, will be published next year. Maybe, more than one. But if I’m going to do that, I need to be faster and more efficient at my writing and my editing.
So, in this post, I’m going to write down some lessons I’ve learned from this process. Some of this may be obvious, and some of this may be things I’ve touched on in past blog posts. But I mean to assemble all these little bits in one post that I can reference as I’m working on future projects. This is particularly true with the graphic intensive supplement books, which were quite a new experience for me to deal with.
And now, the lessons. In no particular order:
Do the world building first
I’m already doing a whole blog series on why this is important and the PBRG process I’ve developed for projects. But working on the supplement books for Champion Bold, there were several instances where I added stuff that could have been great in the book, if I had built it before hand. But it would have been too much to shoehorn it in afterwards. Build first, write second.
Check and proof constantly
Scrivener doesn’t have a great spell and edit checking program, not like Word or other dedicated text programs. And a lot of time at the end of Champion Bold was spent spell checking and edit proofing. Processing chapters earlier through Word would have saved time at the end.
Add words to the dictionary
You can reset the dictionary of a Word editor pretty easily. This is helpful when your science fiction story includes alien names that count as over two thousand spelling errors. It’s a lot easier to catch that you mixed up reasonably and responsibility when you’re not wading through 500+ uses of the word Bendradi.
Use page breaks to control the flow
Converting a document from word to PDF really messes with the layout. Particularly in the supplement books. What looked nice in word, with two pages per section, was suddenly all over the place. Using page breaks to control the flow of the document is necessary.
Put images in front of text
I found this out almost by accident. Unless the image is surrounded by text, put it ‘in front of text’, which gives you a lot more flexibility in controlling where it goes. This is particularly helpful with full-page images; I could have the heading information in the back and covered with the image. Worked out really well.
Print color pages before proofs
The biggest surprise with the first supplement proofs was how much darker everything was on page. Wasn’t noticeable with my first printed books because the the images weren’t too important (the Renaissance Calling backer book) or were in black and white (Templar Scholar). But when you’re printing pictures of spaceships against starfields, it matters. Print in color to see how different a printed picture is against what shows up on a bright monitor.
More time for proofing PDFs
One thing I did well this round that I learned from earlier books was to spend time proofing the printed proofs. But I could definitely improve on spending time proofing the PDF proof that KDP offers. It might save time, or at least a round of physical printing.
Highlight the word ‘said’
I did this late in the project and it was good, but a mind-numbing process. I did a search for the word ‘said’, then clicked next. Wherever I found sequences of the word appearing many times in a short amount of time, I fixed it. I chose different words, or removed or changed dialogue so it didn’t need a word. It felt better afterwards. I only wish I had done it sooner, and by chapter, instead of with the entire document at once.
Put the publishing date a long ways out
When you’re setting up the publishing date in KPD or Ingram Spark, put it a long ways out, months away. Unless you have a deadline coming up (and if you do, by all means pay attention to it), there’s no reason to give yourself an artificial one.
Work on all editions of the book simultaneously
Don’t do the hardcover, then the paperback, then the eBook. If there’s one minor change between one edition an another, that can be really frustrating to let through, or to fix. Do all editions at the same time, and fix them all at the same time.
And so on…
With Champion Bold finished and the supplement either done or one short revamp away from completion, I’m ready to move onto the next project (or projects, given how my mind works). This weekend was a nice, relaxing reset from the harsh editing of the last month, and it’ll be good to get back into writing and creating. And I believe the next project will go smoother, both in the writing and the publishing, thanks to lessons learned, written down, and not forgotten.
This section covers anything where I’m building a background. This can range from a few important dates in the history of a city to a three-page biography of the main character to a ten-page report on the migrations of orcish tribes across a continent.
Why Write Histories
Writing a history provides several benefits. The first is consistency. If I know the year of a big cultural event, I can make sure it’s the same year every time it comes up. Same thing with the name of the school the characters attended, the name of the hero of centuries past, etc.
Second, characters and groups within the story will make decision, and those decision will often be influence by their histories. A nation will be wary of neighbor with a history of raiding nearby cities for plunder. A character who biography includes travel to a city will react differently than one who has never been there before.
What does the Story Need?
I start with the same question: what does this story need?
Logical Lou likes his lists
Through the PBRG process and looking at the Outline, I will have a good starting list of nations, cities, regions and people to work on. I don’t need to add every minor character or location to the list, but it should not be a small list.
Creating the list is one thing; staying focused is another. I was a history major, and I love going off on creative historical tangents while I’m world building. Do I need to work out the name of every ship in a fleet from 300 years ago? Or every monarch for a nation that’s existed for a thousand years? No, but part of me really wants to.
What does the entry need?
For each entry on the list, I think about what I need to build for it. And I don’t just mean in terms of length. I mean what topics do I need to focus on when I’m building the history or biography. Do I need to focus on political events of the city? The character’s education as they grew up? Having more info is great, but I want to ensure that I hit the important points while I’m doing my work, otherwise all it it’s for nothing.
Simple or Complicated
How simple or complicated any particular note has to be is pretty much a judgment call, based on my evaluation of the story and the topic in question. Where possible, I try to err on the side of ‘too much’ information, so that I have it and don’t need it.
Truth, Myth and Interpretation
This is something I actually have a hard time doing, because as a historian I kept researching to find the truth, so building incorrect history into the preparations can be difficult for me. But it’s something I have to incorporate into the prepared history. It could be due to the distance in the past, or because of conflicting stories, or deliberate misinformation. But not everyone has an interest in preserving the truth. And that should be reflected in the history.
Histories in Theory – Building the History
Once I have my to-do list, it’s time to get to work.
I’ve found the best way to approach histories is with a mixture of spreadsheets and word documents. The spreadsheets are great for timelines, where I can re-order and use filters to assist in the listing process. Especially when I’m doing myths, rumors and multiple interpretations, extra columns come in handy.
Writing histories: world building in 4D.
The word docs are for short reports or even short stories on the topics I need to expand on. Again, I want to have prepared more than I’ll need.
Historical Research
Preparing any history is going to involve some amount of research. It could be the average length of a renaissance lord’s reign, or the development of a certain technology, but I expect to take a lot of notes.
And I mean take notes. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I looked something up and incorporated it into my draft, and then couldn’t find the resource later. Oops, I hope I got it right the first time.
What I’ve started doing is having folders of screen shots, PDFs of articles or word docs of notes regarding specific things I’ve had to look up. Many of my scrivinr projects have link pages, so I can keep track of important and helpful websites, or the notes copied and pasted into the project itself.
But Michael, isn’t Research the next step? We are still in the world building phase.
Yes, but I mentioned that the steps are all intertwined. Research is part of working through each other step, as much as working through each step creates more topics to research.
Research, then record what you find, so you don’t have to research again.
Drawing on Real History
Researching historical parallels and characters is helpful, no doubt. But it’s important to remind yourself that you’re building a new thing, so it does not have to follow historical precedence exactly.
For example, if you’re building the history of an empire similar to ancient Rome, it doesn’t have to follow Rome exactly. Maybe it remained a republic, or maybe it never was. It doesn’t have to fall and splinter.
Same thing with characters. A character who is a great statesman does not have to follow the same biography of Abraham Lincoln or Winston Churchill. The research is meant to provide ideas for how life shapes the individual into who they need to be for the story.
Histories in Practice – The General of the Pen
Okay, so let’s take a look at what sort of histories I’ll prepare for the General of the Pen. I’m not going to worry about the history of the entire world. I’m going to build a timeline for the continent and the valley, and then some biographies of some of the major characters.
Overview and Influence
The nature of the story is analogous to the French Revolution in many aspects, so my focus is on cultural and political aspects. Social incidents are also common, and as I want the technological level to be further along the 19th Century, I’ll add a few notes about how long-ago trains, telegraphs and rifles artillery was invented and incorporated.
History of the Continent
This history is not going to be too detailed, otherwise I’d be recording events covering thousands of years of history, across hundreds of thousands of square miles for even a small-ish sized continent. My goal is to establish a few years of important events in the cultural and political development.
Let’s start in the stone age: there were tribes and city-states of several different cultures, whose names are unimportant. Then came the bronze age and two civilizations started to dominate on opposite ends of the continent: the Germanic peoples of the northwest (whom we’ll call the Nerweier), and the Latin peoples of the southeast (whom we’ll call the Soreran).
Ancient History
The two civilizations developed their influence, slowly dominating the people of the continent through military, political, social or economic power. By the Iron Age, certain city-states had developed into two great Empires, the Konigsen Empire of the northwest and the Ferran Empire of the southwest. The two met and clashed across the continent several times, but were unable to conquer each other due to a number of factors: terrain, size of the armies, and simple technological limitations.
And let’s not forget another important aspect of building histories: developing the calendar for the world. How do they measure days, months and years? How do they name them?
The Ferran capital was destroyed by invaders from the south, which left their provinces to act as independent nations for a time. Konigsen took advantage to secure a superior position and remained dominant for several generations, but was rent by several civil wars that kept it from conquering the entire continent.
Modern History
Several of the Ferran successor states grew to be regional powers in their own right. One of them, the southwestern power of Sur-Marais, developed into an empire. Its initial wealth came from gold mines and domination of some trade routes. Savvy political maneuvering and military decisions by the Sur-Marais leadership won it hegemony over much of the continent.
Within the last few years, something has happened that has begun to alienate the other states. Perhaps it is an internal event to Sur-Marais. Perhaps it is increased education or cultural development within the successor states. But something has happened that now, a big war is expected between the dominant power and the smaller states of the continent.
Dates
Events
~3,000 years ago
Nerweier and Soreran Cultures rise to prominence
~1,500 years ago
Empires of Konigson and Ferran form
800 years ago
Ferran capital destroyed
400 – 500 years ago
Konigson civil wars
300 – 350 years ago
Rise of Sur-Marais
History of the Valley
With the history of the continent prepared, I can focus on the valley where the story is going to take place. Here I can add start with the base timeline of the continent and then add some valley specific events.
The valley of the story (The Valley of the Sky, or Valle del Cielo) is a long valley high in the mountains of Campilesia. Campilesia was one of the earliest provinces of the Ferran Empire: it resisted for a few generations but then became ‘civilized’. Northern warriors raided several times over the centuries, but never conquered the valley.
When the Ferran Empire fractured, Campilesia came under the control of the local governor, whose family ruled as petty kings for several generations before a trio of brothers split the kingdom into even smaller states. Over another century, Campilesia existed as a disorganized series of city and regional powers, none strong enough to conquer another.
With the rise of the Sur-Marais, Campilesia fell into line, the petty nobles and monarchs succumbing to the hegemony of the rising power. They remained unorganized politically, but culturally connected. With submission came stability and prosperity, and eventually the rise of political movements who question their submission to Sur-Marais. And these groups are prepared to take advantage of the chaos.
History of the Characters
Looking back at Post 4: Planning and Plotting in Practice, we have a list of various characters that we expect to find in the story. For each character I know we’ll need, I want to prepare at least a basic background, something that include their upbringing and experiences that lead them to this point of the story.
Gerhard Van Rumm:A mid-level general, late thirties or early forties, who fought in the Konigsen armies. He is on leave and is in Campilesia for his health. I will work out his educational background and some campaign honors, and maybe some personal events that will make him inclined to help an independence movement.
Alonso de Mendoza: A man of some wealth and experience and unlimited energy. He is a friend of Gerhard, and wants his experience and expertise for the rebellion. He has led a blessed life and is the sort of charismatic leader we all love to hate. I will work out his life story, filled with adventures, close calls, multiple love interests, and a growing demand for the independence of Campilesia.
Joel Villarreal: A man of limited wealth, self-educated and determined. He does not appreciate Gerhard; he wants to Campilesia completely independent, without outside help, thank you very much. He is the sort of naive firebrand that revolutions are built on. His background will involve a lot of heartbreak and conflict with the authorities. Despite this, he does love his country.
Mara Carmen Capitan: A merchant’s daughter of wealth but not of noble blood. She is the love interest of Gerhard. She is educated, but I haven’t figured out how I want her romance with Gerhard to go. So her background will be fairly neutral at this point. A lot of events, but not much in the way of substance.
How does this change the story?
Building the history of the world and the biographies of the characters influences the story. Don’t believe me? Let’s consider General of the Pen.
Creative Cal considers the consequences
Before this post, Gerhard Van Rumm was just a foreign officer who was in the area and became part of the rebellion. Now he’s from a military tradition whose lineage goes back centuries if not millennia. His friend is now a nobleman — or close to it — who does things that are rarely if ever unsuccessful. His detractor is a man who works for the people: we as readers will question is he’s as altruistic as he claims, or if he has ulterior motives. And his love interest has a name and a bit of a background, though much of her story is being left alone for now.
And their world now has names and histories attached. The local people have a strong cultural cohesion but not a political one; they’ll have to build that themselves. Similar stories are playing out in other regions, as the upper political turmoil of the greater empire is being removed and the nations are forced to fend for themselves.
Questioning the story
And now, this beings me to something that happens often during world building: when an idea forms that could make the story better, but changes it drastically.
In the original idea for General of the Pen, the southern empire (Sur-Marais) was the big bad, and over the course of the series would be the threat that the protagonists must fight. As the Campilesians form their politics and their armies and fight back, Sur-Marais sends bigger and bigger armies to reinforce their rule. The Campilesia and other former provinces of Sur-Marais combine to oppose the empire in a coalition.
But what if that wasn’t the case? What if we followed a different story?
What if the former provinces face off against each other? Campilesia doesn’t have to worry about Sur-Marais, but about their neighbors to every other direction. Why would they trust their neighbors anymore than they would trust their former overlords? Wouldn’t it make sense for Campilesia to seize that important city or strategic pass and then send diplomatic representatives? Realpolitics come first, right?
Or, I could mix the two. Sur-Marais is the threat, and the Coalition is forming. But the Coalition is rocky, and realpolitics is making things difficult.
The fact is that I don’t have to make a choice right now. I can plot a few options and prepare some possibilities, but we’re still world building. I’ve got time to consider options. I’ll make a decision at some point. But not now.
Conclusion
Building the histories of the places, groups and people of a story creates consistency. It also fleshes out those places, groups and people by giving them more background, which gives their decisions and actions greater context.
Both of these benefits assist me as a writer. Being consistent in the first draft simplifies the revision process. And knowing backgrounds for decision making can assist in getting through writer’s block or plot decisions.
Hopefully, I’ve managed to explain my history world building thoughts without losing too many of you. Can you see where I could easily be distracted with fun story ideas and tangents?
Next up is the post on building Institutions and Organizations and how — and why — I need to do that ahead of time. Until next time.
February was filled with proofing the novel and filling out the supplements, and relaxing where I could with shows and movies.
Projects
For starters, I’ve got all five proof copies ordered and on their way: the hardcover and paperback editions for Champion Bold, and the three paperback supplements: Catalogue of Aliens, Encyclopedia Galactica, and Ship Recognition Guide.
When I wasn’t proofing and editing, I was working on other projects. Sasha’s Book 3, The Colonel Lieutenant, is the next big project, currently undergoing a major re-write. Other ones I want to focus on are the Champion Bold sequel, Champion Impact, and the fantasy novel, Orcfyre. Some minor projects I’m picking at are my American Civil War novelette series and some other science fiction and fantasy ideas I’m kicking around.
March Goals
Approve the proofs for publishing
Sasha Book 3: Finish Current Act Re-write
Sasha Book 3: Big End-Battle 2nd Wargame
Orcfyre: Act Re-distribution and outline
Other: Knock 10 things off my to-do lists.
Publish two blog posts.
Books
The Other Queen (Fiction)
The Best School in the World: West Point 1833-1866 (Non-Fiction)
Angel Fire East (eBook; Fiction)
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Non-Fiction)
Image courtesy of Amazon
I actually managed to finish a pair of books this month, putting me only two books behind where I want to be right now. Not bad progress.
The first book was The Other Queen, the fifteen and last of Philippa Gregory’s historical fiction series. This one follows a period of time in Mary, Queen of Scott’s, life under incarceration, with her and her jailers as the characters. I’m working on the book report now, so I don’t want to say too much. Except that now with that done, I can do one of my other big reading projects.
I also finished The Best School in the World: West Point 1833-1866, a non-fiction book on West Point prior to and during the American Civil War. This one was research for several different projects of mine; I wanted to know what sort of curriculum West Point cadets went through, and how it differed from other contemporary European schools. I got a lot of good information from this book.
March Goals
Finish two fiction title
Finish one non-fiction title
Finish one research titles
Movies and Shows
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Skeleton Crew
Oppenheimer
Shazam!
I made an effort to make time for movies and shows this month, and I knocked three titles off my list.
First, Oppenheimer, the biopic about the doctor who helped develop the a-bomb and then fell to post-war politics. I really likes this one, from the casting to the politics to the explanation of the physics. At no point did I feel like the movie was talking down to me, and that’s the least you can ask for when a movie is getting into atomic physics and red-scare politics.
Then there was Shazam, the superhero movie. I’ll be honest, the only reason I chose this one was because the sequel is on my fixit podcast and I want to see that before I listen to the podcast. But I actually really liked this one. It was funny, and exciting. Just adult enough to appreciate, without being too adult to not believe there are children involved. I’m glad I watched this one.
I also finished Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. I had a rough start to this one because I had to warm up to the children, but halfway through I came to appreciate them (and they had grown enough for me to like them). My final grade was going to depend on how the show wrapped up, and it ended really well. The kid’s space adventure gave them the skills and experience needed to win. Huzzah! Good show.
March Goals
Finish one started show
Start one new show
Watch one Best Picture Winner
Watch one other movie
Games
Baldur’s Gate 3
Madden 2025
Nothing much to say on the gaming front. I’m enjoying Baldur’s Gate 3 when I have time to play it. Haven’t touched any of my other games in a long time. My RPG characters are all still alive. The game I run is still going strong.
March Goals
Advance to next chapter of Baldur’s Gate 3
Advance story of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Advance story of Red Dead Redemption 2
What’s Next
I have two events on the books.
First is the Literary Libations event on Saturday, March 22nd, at noon. I’ll be there with a number of other local authors, selling my books and trying not to buy more. I’ll also be doing a reading of some sort. See details here.
Image from the event Facebook page.
I also have a table at Minicon 58, April 18 – 20, 2025, at the Doubletree Hilton in Bloomington. I’ll be there all three days with a table. I applied to be on some panels; we’ll see what I get assigned. Details here.
