SOME EXCITING NEWS ABOUT 'SHADOW OF THE LION'

 

Yesterday I got a wonderful surprise when my publisher MediaAria-CDM posted an announcement on Facebook about the forthcoming publication of my novel 'SHADOW OF THE LION'.  It is due to be published this year in two parts. The first part subtitled 'BLOOD ON THE MOON' will be released in August 2014.  The second part subtitled 'THE FIELDS OF HADES' will be out in 2016.

They have sent the promotional information to their publicists and you can view it on the links below. You can also link to the blog I have for SHADOW on which I am posting various stories about the research, the characters and other interesting aspects of the novel
http://shadowofthelion.com

As well, you can download the publisher's ezine and see an article I wrote for them about how I  became inspired and researched the book.

 

SHADOW OF THE LION - W. Ruth Kozak’s forthcoming debut historical novel, SHADOW OF THE LION, is due out this SUMMER 2014 and MEDIAARIA CDM are very pleased to announce that this epic work will be released in two parts. To read the Press Release and learn more, visit: https://www.prbuzz.com/books-publishing-literature/197472-shadow-of-the-lion-books-i-and-ii-titles-announced.html.

 

 

In addition, someone posted a very interesting article about how an archaeologist is investigating the cause of Alexander's death and attributes it to having been a poisonous plant added to his wine. This is exactly the theory I have pursued in the novel - that a potion was made of a poison plant and added to his wine while he was on a binge. His enemy, Kassandros, is allegedly suspected of doing this.

I found this fascinating and it also adds to the interest of the novel.

 

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11184474

 

I'll be posting more information on the progress of the publishing as the months go by. This is a very exciting time for me and I want to share every moment with you, my faithful blog followers.

 

The Celts and the Greeks: Connecting the Dots

In researching my work-in-progress novel 'DRAGONS IN THE SKY'  I have tried to connect the Celtic people with the Greeks.  In the story, Olwen an acolyte of the Druids, is snatched from her village by a renegade chieftain after she witnesses him murder his brother. He takes her on a ship across the Narrow Sea using her as his talisman as he makes his was eastward across Europe and south toward Macedonia where he hears a king is recruiting an army.  Near the boarder of Macedonia she is rescued by a young hunter who is Alexander.  But how much connection was there between the people of southern Europe and the northern Celtic tribes?

Pytheas of Massalia

In the 4th century BC, a Greek geographer and explorer from the Greek colony of Massalia (modern day Marseilles) made a voyage of exploration to northwestern Europe. In this voyage he travelled around and visited a considerable part of Britain. He's the first person on record to describe the 'midnight sun". The existence of an area where the nights are very short in summer and the sun does not set at the summer solstice was already known. Reports from this country of the Hyperboreans had been reaching the Mediterranean for some centuries, but Pytheas is the first known scientific visitor to report the arctic polar ice and information of the Germanic tribes. His account of the tides is the earliest relating them to the moon.



(this book is available on Amazon)

Pytheas was a Greek geographer. He wrote a book about his voyage but it has not survived. All we have are references in the works of later classic writers.  Where he started his voyage is a mystery because in those days the Carthaginians had closed the Straits of Gibraltar for all ships from other nations. He may have travelled overland or sailed only at night. He travelled to Cornwall, w hich was then the source of tin, and there he studied and wrote about the production and procession of tin. He circumnavigated Britain, sailing north to an island called "Thule". It may have been part of the Norwegian coast although Iceland, the Shetlands and the Faeroes have also been identified by historians. He noted that Thule was an agricultural country that produced honey. It was the place where the sun went to sleep and  the congealed sea began.  He spoke of the waters around Thule being like a 'marine lung' which actually means jellyfish. Modern scientists believe that he tried to describe ice cakes that are formed at the edge of drift ice. He noted that the inhabitants of Thule ate fruits and drank milk and made a drink out of grain and honey (mead.)

After completely his survey of Britain (called Albion then), he travelled to the continental North Sea coast. He may have also visited the Baltic.  And he visited an island which was the source of amber (probably Helgoland).

He wrote a book about his voyage but that has not survived. We only have the remarks of others, among them Strabo who (unjustly) called Pytheas a liar.

THE IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH

 

Writing historical fiction can mean that a lot of time is spent doing research.  I try to limit this time for myself (because I love researching!) by making sure exactly what I want and need to find out.
There's lots of info available on-line now but it is still a good idea to visit  your library and find some of the books written on the subjects you want to know about.

Not everyone has been as lucky as I have in actually being able to visit some of the places that I am writing about. Even though some are now just archaeological ruins, you can still get the idea of the way things might have been, along with visits to the local museums and all the book research you've done. Certain things can't be 'fictionalized' and you need to be as correct as possible when describing habits, customs and locations of the places in your novels.

For my novel "Dragons in the Sky" I really lucked out when I discovered the Iron Age Celtic village at St. Fagan's Heritage Park near Cardiff Wales. Not only did I see first-hand what the houses were like people lived in back in the days I was writing about, but you could go inside the houses as well. There were people in period costume demonstrating what went on inside the houses as well as some of the materials and possessions Iron Age people would have.

I also visited the site where my story first takes place, Old Sarum on the Salisbury Plain in the south of England, and the remains of the hill fort which gave me some idea of what the terrain was like where my fictional village of Caer Gwyn was located.

But there were still lots of details I needed to know about the life of the Brythonic Celts.  So I went back to the books and spent a couple of weeks jotting down bits of trivia (eating and drinking habits, warriors customs such as the chopping off of enemy's heads and keeping them for trophies. And I had to learn as much as I could about the healing arts, potions and spells so I could add these details to the story. Now I must go back over what I previously had written and add these little tidbits of information which is going to make Olwen's story even more realistic and visual.

Although I am writing a strictly fiction account of this young Celtic priestess's abduction and journey across Europe to Macedonia, I still have to get certain facts straight. I have learned the names of all the tribes and some interesting facts about them. I figured out travel times (by horse) and was able to scope some of the terrain on the google maps. It's been an interesting journey so far. And I want to make it as realistic as possible so that the people come alive and are believable.

It bothers me sometimes when historical fiction writers just second-guess at details and don't take time to make sure that what they have written is logical or truthful. Yes, it is 'fiction', but if you are including historical facts, those details must be correct. As for your interpretation of the characters you have a lot of leeway and, as the saying goes "The historical fiction writer can take as many liberties as they wish in making it a better story".  When I wrote "Shadow of the Lion", I was writing from a historically recorded plot-line so much of the novel had to be correct. Luckily I had some Classical Scholar friends in Greece who helped me with some small details like the way sacrifices and offerings were made etc, what they wore, what they ate. And I was able to interpret my characters according to what research I had done about them. I was also fortunate to be able to visit many of the locations in my story, to study flora and fauna and the lay of the land. It helped me describe things in a very realistic way so that the reader can imagine being there.

"Dragons in the Sky" is not written from a historical plot-line but at some point in the story when Olwen meets Alexander, there are certain events that must be recorded accurately. I can fictionalize her view-point of these events, but historians would have objections if I had things happening with Alexander that were not possible. So I have returned to my big box of research notes that I have kept from "Shadow", and this has really been helpful to me in plotting out the next part of "Dragons."

Remember, when you write historical fiction, you must do the work. Otherwise you are bound to have readers who throw the book down saying 'this is all nonsense'. Make your fiction as realistic as you can get it, make the characters live and breath, laugh and cry. That's what makes a great story!

RED-PENCILLING MY WAY THROUGH: Another Part of a Long Journey

PELLA

My journey through Alexander's world didn't end when I came to the final chapter of the novel. Now I'm retracing my steps, red pencil in hand, this time not as a writer, but as the editor.

I've actually been making good progress.  The first two parts went quickly with not many notes or edits.  Then from Chapter 18 on it began to bog down somewhat and I was marking more parts with 'OMIT'
There are places in Part 3 where I did a lot of research and wanted to use the information which I found very interesting.  Of course now I see where it was not necessary and although I had fun writing it and developing the characters further, it did not move the plot forward and in fact slowed down the pace.

I knew from the start I'd have to cut lots of the novel as it is much to long to be acceptable, so I am able to be more critical and wield that pen like a sword cutting, cutting, cutting, slashing my way through clunky prose, bits of dialogue and internal thought that are too mature for a child's mind, entertaining passages like the Persians celebrating their New Years, which was fun to write but does nothing to increase the tension.  I'm trying to be tough as a warrior here, mowing down all those unwanted passages.

Then I got to the Interlude for Part 3 and again the action picked right up.  I thought that interlude might be too long but it is packed full of action and violence ramping up the tension full-force.  And the last scene of that interlude, with the dying Regent sets up very clearly all the conflict that is about to happen in the last half of the story.

So progress is good and I'm enjoying the process, distancing myself from it as a writer but still having fun on the journey.  And because I haven't read much of it for some time, there are always surprises, and little trips down memory lane remembering when I visited places like Samothraki, Amphipolis and Pella, and I see how my research notes for setting details etc shine through and breathe life into those ancient places.

Once I finish the red pencilling I'll start working on the computer again.  And then there's things like checking name spellings, correct terminology for the Macedonian army officers etc.  It will take me awhile yet, but I can see that it is going well and that is encouraging.

Meanwhile, I'm not doing much other writing except for some travel stories.  And one of these days when I feel it's time, I'll dig the old manuscript of Dragons in the Sky out of the box and start retyping it.
Til then, I'll enjoy my journey through Alexander's world.  I miss my old friends there!

REVISITING ALEXANDER'S WORLD

Alexander the Great



It's not always easy to go back to a place you left a long time ago because sometimes, when you do, you find things just aren't the same as you remembered and it is often a disappointment.  On the other hand, 'going home again' can also resurrect a lot of nostalgic feelings,  good ones as well as perhaps some unhappy memories.  When I returned to my little mountain village in Evvia, Greece, two summers ago I was very upset to find it so deserted, so changed!  Houses were shuttered.  People were gone.  Probably a lot of the elders had passed away.  It was an eerie experience wandering through that tiny place where I'd spent so much time -- my Garden of Eden.  I thought of returning last year but somehow couldn't bring myself to do it.  I'd rather be left with the memories of when I lived there part time and frolicked on the mountainside with the shepherd and my village friends.

This week I returned to Alexander's world,  the world I had created in my novel "Shadow of the Lion".  I'd finished writing it at the end of 2010 after many years of labour including reams of research,  traveling to sites in Greece and Turkey,  and spending some of that time living in Greece while I researched and wrote.  It seemed to take forever to write the novel.  People kept questioning me why it wasn't finished yet.  Of course, I'd had other projects that took up my time as well as during the first couple of years I worked full time.  But finally, it was finished, and I had said goodbye to my old friends in Alexander's world. 

It's a funny thing when you get to 'the end' of a novel.  It still hasn't really sunk in, partly because I had written the ending almost from the beginning, and as it was based on a historical time-line I knew how the story would unfold.  But it was my imagination and creative license that made the characters come alive, and having visited many of the places that set the scenes in the story,  I was really 'living' the story.  Perhaps I'm still not totally grasping that it's done.  For the first week afterwards the characters kept speaking to me until I had to silence them.  The writer's task is over.  Next, the editor will take over.

But to celebrate I decided (as I'd planned for some years) to have a 'wrap' party.  And that is coming up this weekend.  A celebration of the completion of the writing.  So I had to make a visit to Alexander's world again to choose what segments I would read to my guests as they have all been waiting to hear the story.

The Ishtar Gate, Babylon

It was interesting going back to read the early part of the novel that was written so long ago.  Scary, in a way, because your writing in the beginning may not be as good as the more recent writing.  However I was delightfully surprised to find that I was reading almost as a first-time reader would.  It had been written long enough ago that most of it was really 'fresh' to me.  And I some of it, as I read, even brought tears to my eyes! 

I decided to begin my reading for the reception at my home with the very opening part of the novel, which is set in Babylon at the time of Alexander's death, because this sets the scene and indicates the conflict.  Later, for the short reading I intend to do at the taverna party, I'll read some smaller parts describing the women in the story.  It took me a couple of days to choose which parts to read and to make sure they weren't too long.  I have read bits of Shadow in the past at various readings so I'm used to hearing it aloud.  In fact, when I first started writing it, I used to tape it and play it back, to hear the cadence of the prose. (This is an interesting experiment for writers to try.)

I'm getting quite excited about the wrap party.  A lot of people requested invitations and it's somewhat overwhelming planning how to fit everyone in, but I'm sure it will work out just fine.  And it is certainly something to celebrate!

Now I'm ready to start the final edits, which I intend to work on next month.  And when the book is finally marketed and published, there will be another grand party:  a 'launch' party!

PROGRESS REPORT 61: Sidetracked with Research and Other Tasks

THE RUINS OF AMPHIPOLIS FORTRESS

This is the fortress of Amphipolis where Roxana and Iskander are being held by Kassandros. I visited these ruins several years ago. It's high on a hill (which would have been the towns 'acropolis' hill. A river runs below, forking off around it and eventually reaches a lake. There would have been lots of marsh lands - the perfect spot for boar hunting. So I'm trying to set up a scene where Iskander, Orion and the boys with their Greek tutor go on a boar hunt.

It's been a busy week and I am falling slightly behind in my plan to complete SHADOW OF THE LION. However I have been jotting down notes (bits of dialogue and thoughts). And I had an interesting time researching for a scene I am writing when the boys go boar hunting. Rather than go through all my notes, I decided to check into You-Tube and see if there would happen to be anything about boar hunting there. It turned out, there were a lot of videos. Watching them answered all my questions, including the feasible age of boys who might indulge in such a dangerous sport. The youngest I ran across were 8 years old (including the kid in the photo and one who actually killed a boar with a knife! The kid was 8, the boar was about 200 pounds! Imagine that! So boys back in Macedon hunting with javelins, bows and arrows were not even in as close that that kid was!

By watching the films I was able to observe, make notes including the sounds of the hounds baying, the boars squealing and shrieking, the men shouting (or whispering as the stalked their prey). It was quite a visual experience and saved a lot of time looking through notes I'd made some time ago. I also googled about the Boar hunt though and jotted down a few more details, such as "dos" and "don'ts" which will be helpful when I flesh out that scene.

This week my classes started up and as it takes me a long trip there and back to each of them, eating up my time, I haven't had much time at the computer to write. Today was a 'free' day but as it was pouring rain and I needed to catch up on sleep, I didn't get up as early as usual and ran behind, but that's okay, I did achieve bits and pieces and will now spend a few hours making more notes so I can complete that last little chapter segment. Then, it will be the final chapter of the novel (part of which is written). So I am pacing myself, not rushing it. Did a bit of editing today on a previous chapter and trying to focus and get a fresh start on this next part.

A NASTY-LOOKING BEAST! VERY DANGEROUS!

PROGRESS REPORT #60: RETRACING STEPS

LOOKING BACK AT MOUNT OLYMPUS

Sometimes when you get stuck and find you are blocked by that old writer's enemy 'Resistance', just simply looking back at where you've just come from, retracing your footsteps, will help you sort out where you are headed for. I've had to do that a number of times while writing SHADOW OF THE LION, and the other day when I got stuck, that's exactly what I did. Sometimes it means reviewing your research (I did that), reading back over previous chapters (I did that, too) and rechecking your plot outline (it's definitely a help to have a road map when you're on a journey!)

In my case I have often got baffled with the complexity of the politics I am dealing with as I am not a political science student and the ancient politics with all the plots and sub-plots and twists and turns is often very confusing. So I go 'back to the drawing board' so to speak, bring out my research notes, read through them again and again, until finally I clarify just what exactly went on and when.

One problem with the last bit I'd written was that I had thought it sounded too similar to a previous chapter segment I'd written in the point-of-view of Polyperchon. However, when I read back I realized this wasn't the case. So instead of having to scrap what I'd written for my first draft I was able to keep it and proceed.

Another small problem was figuring out the dialogue between the Macedonian generals. What would they say in this particular situation? How would they react? How would Polyperchon, in particular, react when given the bad news he is about to receive. All the way through my novel this has been a challenge -- to make the voices of the Macedonians sound genuine, like the voices of rough warriors and not my own. As far as I know, I think I've nailed it, but often I have to stop and look through other novels of the same period (written by men!) to see how they handle the dialogues.

Another thing that often stalls me is figuring out the time-lines of events and trying to be as true as possible. I've run into this before and decided that as this is not a history book it isn't really necessary to be 10o% accurate because what is really 'accurate' according to those ancient time-lines considering that the histories were written several hundreds of years after the fact and the calanders of measuring time then is different than now. I still like referring to the line I read by another author in the National Post
"A historical fiction writer can take any number of liberties with the facts." Since running into criticism earlier on about this. I have now adopted this as my mantra.

So, with all these steps taken, I looked forward to see where I am going, and I found it really easy to complete the chapter segment that had stalled me on the road to THE END. Now I am ready to proceed with the journey. I even found myself jotting down random notes last night so I have a clear start for the next scene There's one more chapter segment to write and then one more complete chapter to finish. Then a bit of work on the Prologue and Epilogue. (Some of this has already been written.) So I'm that much closer to the end of my journey.

(NOTE: Some of the characters, such as Polyperchon, continued on long after the end of my particular story so their future activities will be mentioned in the Afterword so readers will know what became of them. Some died or were murdered. Some faded into oblivion. Some went on to become successful and famous. Amazingly a lot of the generals lived to very old ages. They were indeed a hardy lot of characters!)

MOUNT OLYMPUS

"WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS THE STORY": Questions & Answers with author Steven Pressfield

I have been a fan of Steven Pressfield's writing for a number of years now, especially the books he has written about ancient Greece: "Gates of Fire", "The Virtues of War" "Tides of War" and "The Afghan Campaigns" to name a few.

Steve has been generous in his encouragement for me in my own work. He's also been a great mentor to many other writer's. His "The War of Art" Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles" is a popular book with techniques on writing (available on http://www.amazon.com/)

Recently I was privileged to be asked to contribute three questions to Mr. Pressfield about writing, and he would reply to them. Here's the questions I posed:

1) RE: FACTS vs FICTION and RESEARCH.
How close to the historical facts do you stick? Aside from the initial research before starting a story, how much do you do while the writing is in progress? (I know even the historians have conflicting information and I sometimes have found this really inhibiting when trying to be as accurate as possible.)

STEVE: Ruth, I'm not trying to be lazy but here's a blog piece from the site that's right on this subject. Look for Writing Wednesday #4 "A Single Sheet of Fool's Cap" It tells you all I know.

http://blog.stevenpressfield.com/category/writing-wednesdays/page/2/

This link takes you to Writing Wednesday #9 so scroll back to see page Writing Wedensday #4

Read this page. It is full of helpful suggestions and advice. "The more research you do, the less writing you do" and "The answer is 'As little as possible!". "WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS THE STORY!"

2) WRITER'S BLOCK: I find that chapter beginnings and transitions between scenes can often slow me down. When you find yourself up against the wall what is your technique for overcoming 'writer's block'.

STEVE: I never mention that term. It's dangerous to even think about it. I banish it from my mind. Just keep writing. If you're stuck in one part of the story, work on another. Momentum, I've found, is a big help. If you can get rolling in one part of the story, when you come back to a 'sticking point'[, sometimes that mementum will carry you through it. Another trick is to give yourself only so long to lick the problem. Ten minutes. One hour. Something short so you don't get hung up driving yourself crazy. "We're gonna lick this between now and lunch!"

3) THE FINAL DRAFT: I'm almost finished my novel and already know it's far too long. How do you decide what to cut? Do you do the cuts and rewrites and then do the line editing (spell check, etc) as the final touch up?:

STEVE: This is tough. Sometimes you have to split yourself in two: the boss and the worker. The boss says, "Ruth, I want you to get 10% out of this sucker!" This gives you something to shoot for. But there's no substitute for skill and work. I was just working on a screenplay with Randall Wallace, who wrote "Braveheart". He is much better than I am. On the final day, he went through 'my' pages and whacked out massive amounts. To my amazement, everything got better. A lot better. I have yet to try that on my own stuff, without help, but it sure taught me that being ruthless can really work.

I am very grateful for this opportunity to pose these questions to Mr. Pressfield. And I know you will get as much as I do out of following his "Writing Wednesday" blogs. You can read more about him on his website http://home.stevenpressfield.com/ and order his book, "War of Art" from there as well as from Amazon.com.
http://home.stevenpressfield.com/books/war_art.asp