Advice on Novel Writing

[mrlondon]

I began writing a historical fiction book last year, of which I am still having trouble with getting into the right groove. My story centers around a Welsh family during the age of the Crusades - the three children being the main characters.

Cadell - Member of King Richerd the Lionheart's personal guard
Aidel (Still Coming up with feminine name) - A Welsh freedom fighter in conflict with the Normans
Iwan - A Knight Templar and personal friend to Reynald de Chattion

Even though I am a Christian, I want my book to appeal to all people. I don't want to offend anyone, but I still want the Message to be shown through my work. If you have any suggestions or comments, please help.

[Treskillard]

Do you have a central conflict in the book? That's really key.

Also, you might want to be careful having a lot of main characters... one of the things I have a problem with. Choose one to focus on most of the book, although you can definitely include the others.

Also, you might want to check out Jeffrey Overstreet's Books (Auralia's Colors / Cyndere's Midnight) to get an idea on how to integrate faith and writing on a more subtle level. He is published in the CBA, but his books are very appropriate for the ABA market, yet he weaves in Christian truth throughout his works.

[mrlondon]

thank you

I decided to leave out the part of the sister [wouldn't give enough justice to the Welsh fight for independence]

have a couple ideas about the central conflict... still working

[Treskillard]

And always remember---you can come back at a later time and revisit the story from a different angle. A future novel could involve the sister being the main POV character.

Keep writing! You can do it if you are persistent!

[Caledvwlch]

I highly recommend two books for research purposes if you choose to keep going with the idea, the bibliographies of which are as follows:

Regan, Geoffrey. Lionhearts: Saladin, Richard I, and the Era of the Third Crusade. New York: Walker and Company, 1998.

Reston, James. Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade. New York: Doubleday, 2001.


Both books describe the roles of Richard the Lionheart and Saladin (the Ayyubid Sultan and leader of the Arabic armies at the time) in great detail. They're not boring reads at all, but rather some of the most interesting history I've ever read.

But I second Treskillard's warning: too many main characters definitely bogs the story down. You could go with one, or my personal favorite: have two main characters, and make their relationship a central part of the story. I did that for my first novel, and it turned out surprisingly well. Of course, I was using a him and her, but I think it could work regardless. Hope the writing goes well! =)

[mrlondon]

Thank you very much for your feedback. I have now decided and have begun writing the first "real draft" of the book. Since my brother and I were seperated at birth (adopted by two different families whom we love dearly) I wanted to have a major theme in the book being the ever changing relationship of brothers despite childhood experiences. Because of this I have decided to focus on two brothers, one Welsh and the other Norman connected by a Welsh mother (my brother and I have never met our biological father but we know we share the same mother).

In reference to the books, I have them and yes they are excellent reads!! This is my favorite portion of history and even at the bare minimum it connects the past to the present world we see today, and the same themes are still prevalent in the Holy Land.

Since this is my first work I have a lot of work to do if I can even reach the level of Lawhead's "Celtic Crusades", but I will try.

Thank you very much and God Bless.

[Treskillard]

Hey, I just finished reading Orson Scott Card's "How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy" ... excellent and highly recommended for anyone in these genres, or even related genres, like ancient or middle ages historical fiction.