St. Maurice
On April 11, 2017, I was interviewed by the blog Geek Dad/Geek Mom. We talked about racism and diversity in speculative fiction, about the state of the art in historical research, and how to locate trustworthy sources when you do your own historical research when writing speculative fiction.
And of course, I recommended some books. And referenced Stargate SG-1.
You can check out the interview here.
In the words of my friend, the Australian, I shall return.
On February 6, 2017, I published the following post on Book Riot.
People of Color in the Middle Ages: A Primer to Promote Diversity in Fantasy
St. Maurice
A recurring topic of debate within the SFF community is the issue of historical accuracy in medieval fantasy fiction. Claims are repeatedly made that there were no people of color in medieval Europe. Therefore, the argument goes, medieval fantasy fiction with all white, Christian characters is historically accurate. Any inclusion of people of color or other religions is a distortion of history in the name of political correctness.
In actual fact, medieval Europe was a complex society where several different cultures, religions, and linguistic groups coexisted under the umbrella of the omnipresent Catholic Church.
As Jonathan Hsy shows in his book…
If you’d like to read the post in its entirety, please click here.
On November 18, 2016, I published the following post at Quirk Books.
Quirky History: Fantastical Beasts in Medieval Bestiaries
The fictional universe of J.K. Rowling is filled with fantastical creatures, and no other movie takes better advantage of this than Fantastical Beasts and Where to Find Them, which opens in theaters today.
When creating her magical world, Rowling is tapping into a literary tradition that goes all the way back to the Middle Ages and the literary genre of the bestiary.
Bestiaries are books of animals, both real and fantastical, accompanied by a description and a Christian parable. Even though bestiaries peaked in popularity in the 13th century, they continue to influence us today. Especially when it comes to fantasy fiction.
If you’d like to read the entire post, please click here.
In the words of my friend, the Australian, I shall return.
First Draft
On June 7, 2016, I wrote a post here on The Boomerang where I announced that I had finished the first draft of the third version of an adult fantasy novel that I started writing in 2001.
Now I can make a second announcement:
I have finished the second draft of the third version of the adult fantasy novel that I started writing in 2001.
I started revising on June 14.
I worked on the novel six days a week. Some days for only a couple of hours. Other days the whole eight hours. It all depended on the amount of changes that needed to be made as well as my own state of mind on that particular day.
I write in long-hand in a lined Barnes & Noble refill journal, using a Ballograf mechanical pencil and 0.5 HB leads.
I type my long-hand manuscript in a Word document using Courier 12 points double-spaced. This way, my digital copy also becomes yet another opportunity for revisions.
I backup all my files on a physical external hard drive .
The first draft was approximately 131,000 words long.
The second draft is approximately 98,000 words long.
I made no adjustments to the narrative. I only cut out scenes that didn’t drive the story forward.
I added a new beginning to the novel’s second part.
It took me approximately six weeks to finish the second draft. I clicked on Save for the final time on July 29.
So what am I doing right now?
I have started the querying process and I’m trying to master the art of the synopsis.
In the words of my friend, the Australian, I shall return.
In November 2001 I started writing an epic fantasy novel for adults. I spent the following years writing this tome on and off. I even sent it out to professional freelance editors. I participated in public readings. After revising the story I shopped it around to different publishers and in my naive and uneducated fervor I broke every rule there is when you submit a manuscript.
Of course the book didn’t get picked up. Partly because I didn’t understand the publishing industry, mostly because it just wasn’t any good. However, one of the rejection letters stated that even though they didn’t publish exactly this kind of fantasy, the world I had created was a compelling one, in particular the names of the characters appealed to them. (Probably because it was a fantasy novel with not an apostrophe in sight…)
This letter stayed with me when I put the novel to the side and instead focused on writing a dissertation in medieval history. The years as a graduate student are some of the toughest in my life. It literally was five years of blood, sweat, and tears.
Would I do it again? Hell no.
Would I have those years undone? Hell no to that too.
Why? Because those years gave me thicker skin, they taught me how to write, they taught me how to get published, they taught me how to research a book, and they taught me how to bring a book project to completion within a reasonable amount of time no matter what came at me while I was writing.
And as I neared the end of my graduate studies and as the defense of the dissertation was behind me, this fantasy epic reared its head again. I remember sitting in an office at a university where I was filling in for another teacher and I had a couple of hours to kill before I had to leave for the train.
The office was quiet. It was as if sound had ceased to exist.
And I began to write.
And I didn’t stop until I had finished a completely new version, using the first novel I wrote all those years ago as backstory.
This time around I was able to determine on my own that this wasn’t any good. I didn’t need to hire a professional editor or insult publishers to understand that I still wasn’t ready.
So I put it aside again. I worked on getting some kind of traction in the new place to where I had moved. I started freelance writing, I published research articles, I started teaching college history part time, I started tweeting, blogging, and I started to write short stories to hone my craft. I shopped those stories around. I got rejected but I also got enough encouragement from editors to know that, just like with my very first novel, I was on to something.
And then one day–in July 2015–the novel came back to me. And again, I wrote a completely new version, this time based on the second novel as well as the first novel.
I started working on this version in earnest in October 2015.
On May 23, 2016, I finished the first draft of the third version of the epic fantasy novel for adults that I began writing in November 2001. Two days ago I printed it.
First Draft. Large font, double-spaced, 20k words too many.
So, will anyone want to publish it? I don’t know. What matters to me at this stage is that I finished it and it works.
However, when the time comes to shop this novel around, I think I might stand a better chance if I let this be the title:
The Girl Who Went in Search of Her Dad.
Even though the girl is actually a 25-year-old woman and the search for her father is only part of the story.
In the words of my friend, the Australian, I shall return.
Erik Kwakkel blogging about medieval manuscripts
Understand history, understand the world. The blog of historian and writer E.H. Kern.
Understand history, understand the world. The blog of historian and writer E.H. Kern.
A Passion For The Past
research education, academic writing, public engagement, funding, other eccentricities.
Extreme metal, critical thinking, shameless navel-gazing.
Serving Up Recommendations Every Week
