Okay, after many months of banging my head against the wall, I have worked through a major issue for me. Here goes.
As I write, certain details and events are interesting and make a framework for the book, but are not essential, and therefore counterproductive, for the reader to know. To put them in the book would take the mind of the reader off the story and its characters and place them in a world of facts.
Let me put this in other words. The storyline will be show and most of the show will be from the main character’s perspective. I tell what happens, but I do not tell the reader how these happenings make the character feel. Now, the character does not know why the Saxons are invading the land nor what their motives are. He doesn’t have the history book which I have before me.

Okay, I am going to jump around all over the place, but let’s take the hurricane which hit Galveston, Texas, in 1900. The Weather Bureau's central office in Washington, D.C. sent out warnings because a tropical storm was reported north of Key West, Florida, on September 6. However, in those days, there were no hurricane tracking centers, no planes hunting for the eye, no radar or satellite pictures, no TV, and none of the other things we have today. Word of a storm at sea is received, but no one knows where the storm is headed or if it is intensifying. On September 8, the 145 mph major hurricane hit a totally surprised population.
If my main character was a survivor in a novel concerning that situation, he/she would not have the information I can find on that hurricane today. Writing from his/her perspective, I would probably show the events in the main character’s life on that fateful day and how she/he responded as a result of these events. Perhaps the character was involved in getting people to some kind of shelter which surely was washed away. Maybe he ended up hanging on an uprooted tree which was riding the waves.
Now, in order to tell the events, I, as the author, can look to the actual charts and speculations to project what the main character would experience, but I really cannot tell the reader these facts because it would be like a big “tell” or narrative section with the voice of “God” telling it.

Getting back to my novel, “Where Jackals Hide”, my history of Britain books will tell me about the Roman occupation of England and about the Romans abandoning England in about 400 A.D. History even allows the possibility of King Arthur because of the mention of a Briton warrior with a similar name who won a battle against the Saxons in the Southwestern area of England. Of course, the historians would not have the knowledge my character would have of King Arthur because history can only report the facts it knows while my character, though made up, would have been there. Yeah, I can make up history to fill in the gaps, not for scholars, but for my storyline.
So, I can write my “fill in the gaps” historical fiction by writing down what historians do know and then fill in my fictitious history to give my characters a framework.
First, I can write down a composite history of the kingdom and the king. Then, I can write down the history of the Duke under which my character fought and gained his knighthood. I can write a composite history (real plus my “fill in the gaps fictitious history) of the Saxons and the particular army of Saxons who were going to go into battle against the Duke and my main character. I can tell of their encounters and write this entire framework to work out of.
I am building a world for my character to act within.
My knight encounters a maiden in distress, so I can give the history of her and her people. I can write why she was in the position in which my knight finds her.
I can write the history of the dragon and how this dragon came to occupy this particular valley.
The reader does not have to see all this history or even know it. But, it gives me a framework from which I can faithfully plot my main character’s moves and from which I can place him in dialogue and events.
I am reminded of my public speaking course. I needed to use certain knowledge and rules to make my speech, but they are the “pots and pans”, the supporting information.
“Just as a cook places his delights on fancy plates, so you should lay forth your speech”, instructed my teacher. Then, he added, “Never serve your speech in the pots and pans.”
In other words, I should not tell them how I determined to give my points. I should just give my points.
All that history is the pots and pans of the story. I write the story in the view of the main character who has no inkling of much of the history going on around him. I should give his “worm’s eye view” and not give the “voice from the air” “bird’s eye view”.
So, I intend, over the next few weeks, to write the “pots and pans” of my storyline here in this blog. Then, I will use these events to write my chapters and thus rewrite my first novel.

 

I have a blog for objective writing, a blog for subjective writing, and a blog for spiritual writing. But perhaps I need a blog for personal moments in the life of a writer.

Well, here's the thing. The only thing I want to tell people on line in a blog or elsewhere (even Face Book) is stuff about why I am not "coming out to play with you". In other words, why do I appear to be anti-social at the moment?

I am even more careful not to put information about my beliefs or opinions which could counter popular opinion. Even though we have freedom of speech, we do not have freedom from being fired if... Oh, my word! I have expressed myself in a dangerous way while on line! This may be as close as I get, but this is dangerously close. If I am arrested, I will let you know... If I get close to a computer after I am tracked down!

But, I do want to share with those who care about such, that I believe the first thing I want to teach my new grandson, after he gets here... any day now... is how to drive a nail. Okay, I have a long time to wait on that. Children learn big motor skills before they learn small motor skills. So, once he is able to walk, maybe it will be time to introduce the hammer.

I will have to sneak by his parents. They may not understand why a baby needs a hammer.

The importance of being able to drive a nail.

Driving a nail requires eye sensor contact with the head of the nail and coordinating that to the movement of body muscles and skeleton. It will be the building block of pitching baseballs, catching baseballs, hitting baseballs, hitting golf balls with long clubs, kicking footballs, catching footballs, throwing footballs, and every job, skill, game, or sport that requires tying the body's sensors to the body's appendages. Yes, even writing and coloring within the lines.

The beginning of the nail driving experience is being able to put the hammer head on the nail head. After awhile, speed is build, but the quality comes first. Then, when the speed of putting the hammer head on the nail head becomes solid, the motion of lifting the hammer away from the nail head and then putting it back becomes critical. Once this milestone is reached, then the hammer head can be brought down with driving force, a tap at first, but soon, good solid hammer head strikes. Soon, the kid will be able to hit the nail with enough force to penetrate the board an eighth of an inch. When he gets to be a teenager, he will be striving to drive a three and a half inch 10d nail into a fir wood two by four in four hits. By the time he is twenty, he should be able to drive that same nail with a 20 ounce hammer in two hits and move on to the next one.

Well, it has been a couple of years since my last building project and that one was only a roof, so I may be off a bit on my sizes and such. I am past my prime and so I don't hit as hard as I once did, but I am getting better at the golf swing! The point is, hand and eye coordination can be built so that speed, accuracy, and strength take place. Quick, on target, with power! But, sometimes gentleness is preferred. My teachers used to get on my case because I pressed my pencil lead into my paper too hard when writing. The problem was that I messed up the next sheet which was under the sheet I wrote on first. When I wrote on the second sheet, I would end up with an uneven writing surface.

So, Grandpas, teach your Grand Kids the secrets of the hammer. Let your Grand Kids grow up to be carpenters, even if only self taught ones. Don’t let them learn the drill driver or nail gun before they learn the old” hands on” hammer nailing experience.

Uhmmm, son, I don’t know how that little circle got punched into your living room wall, but it won’t take a moment for me to teach Junior how to patch the drywall with some 20/20 plaster and a trusty trowel. Then I will show him how to feather in the paint job.
 

Writing the Novel

I have worked through a lot of writing references and have blogged my take on all that I have learned. I will continue in this endeavor, but it is also time to start getting my novels written.

The first novel I wrote was “Where Jackals Hide”, but after all the studying and reviews, I know it is far from being a good novel. Therefore, I will put what I have learned to work and show my steps here as I progress.

In chapter one, I began with a bang. I started out with an end of a battle scene, but did flashbacks to fill the reader in on Max’s (one of the main characters) background. Looking back at it, I want to begin before the end of the battle. If I can start the book with the battle, then I will have less to fill in and I will have established my noble knight as a brilliant strategist, statesman, and warrior.

So, let’s begin with the new chapter one.

First, I want to write the chapter’s lead in poem which I have done in other chapters throughout this book. Here are the thoughts that have intrigued me over this early British time period. (I shall weave them into a progressive format).

Perhaps first would be the Britons who are the Celts which were captured, but integrated into the Roman colony in Southern England.

I might touch upon the Picts, Scots, and other natives of the British.

Then, I want to highlight the enemy of Max and before him, of King Arthur, i.e., the Saxons.

The final thought. Every time the British peoples seem to settle and prosper, a new group of invaders came in who were only after plunder. However, from the warriors, no matter how destructive, a blend of peoples was formed which carried the genes of these vagabonds. Thus, from the rough and the unlikely, came the ones who would then blend in with the Normans to make the English people we know today.

 

Okay, a new theme! While I wanted to "push" the creative nature of this blog, the "Psychiatrist's Chair" just isn't me. However, a "Tool Shed" is right up my alley! Well, tool shed is a slang word for "Work Shop". Now, I am not talking those writing workshops; but rather, a shop like my new steel building in which I am fixing my truck, lawn mowers, and building wooden furniture.
So, anyway, I will still be doing my creative writing here, but I will use a different motif.

However, my old enemy, i.e. the raging lions of life which devour my time, is still continually stalking me and draining my day of that life sustaining fluid. Already my day is all but spoken for. My day has been snipped and I shall soon be taken away from this writing bliss.
So, before the beast snatches me away for the day, I will take some time to write. However, I will do that on my main blog.

Check this blog out from time to time, for when I get back my normal routine, I will be living one of my dreams here.

 

Okay, this poem is going to be special in that I will start an idea in the first line and that idea will become increasingly weaker.
I will start another idea at the end of the poem which will work towards the center in shades that grow weaker.
In other words, the first idea will be overcome by the second. The first will be strong at the beginning; the second will be stronger at the end.
It will be a shift.

Now, since it is Halloween and spook time, I will go with something scary.

I think I will come back to the first idea. Maybe about a person who was real to the speaker; but after leaving, becomes increasingly replaced by a memory or dream.

Maybe I will run into a Werewolf and a Vampire and wonder which one I will succumb to.

October, cold and clear. Should I be outside or in? Maybe I will begin inside but lured out. The moon has to be full and eerily bright. Woods with tree branches? Well, the leaves are still on, though hued with autumn colors, reds, oranges, and yellows.

Noises? Crickets perhaps. Maybe a possum or some furry animal scurrying in the underbrush...

Got to be howls of dogs or wolves because the Werewolf is out there somewhere.

The Werewolf has fangs, claws, and speed.

The Vampire has fangs and hypnosis of sorts. Bats flying, fluttering noises. Can the vampire work with a full moon which the werewolf needs? I will have to search On-line.

Okay, I did not find anything for or against, so I will just have to be corrected by those who are masters in such things. I should find out within a short time!

Uhmm, well, the full moon was on October 12 and will occur again on November 10. But this doesn't have to be current or even factual. I mean, how factual is a vampire or a werewolf? Depends on who you talk to.

Let me go to bed with these thoughts on my mind. I have heard that if you put a thought in your mind before you go to bed, your subconscious mind will help you work it out.

It is late, so I will resume this little project tomorrow!

See ya later,
-William
 

I have several projects I want to get started on! I want to write some of my new novel, work on some of my old novels, and do a number of reviews.

I have some other real life projects I need to look at first, so I will be back!

-William