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| Imperial War Museum |
Spent some time over the weekend going through the old "chapters" of the original book and the 1st Prequel (right now we're in the 2nd Prequel). After laboriously noting names and what units they belonged to, I realized something. I don't need to record the "one off" characters, you know, the guys who show up briefly then get killed. Nope just the main characters who stick around for a few posts.
That's four hours of my life gone, but at least I learned something. That's how problem solving goes sometimes, you eliminate the stuff that doesn't work, keep the stuff that does.
At one point in Almost A Lifetime I mention that Bill Brandt and Jack Wilson were in Sicily with the Big Red One. I need to go back and change that, these two guys landed as green privates on D-Day and went on from there. As they were both pretty good soldiers and caught on fast, they would not have been in Sicily. If they had been, they probably would NOT have been privates on the 6th of June 1944.
In Almost A Lifetime the character Billy Wallace made his first appearance. He was in the 1st Prequel as well. I chose his unit based on the unit my Great-Uncle Robert had been in during the Great War. (He died of his wounds in the Middle East and is buried at a Commonwealth Military Cemetery in Gaza.) The Royal Scots Fusiliers has a very good unit diary online, which is what I used to track that unit's movements and actions in Almost A Lifetime. The battalion which Wallace served in was also in France in 1940.
Apparently that battalion spent 1940 to 1944 in the UK, which is why Billy Wallace hasn't made an appearance in a while. (In case you were wondering, if you remembered him at all.)
I also need to catch up with our Polish friend, Jan Kołodziej. He was last heard of being with a German unit on the Eastern Front. We need to catch up with him, and soon.
There are a lot of characters in my scribblings, each of them chosen to illustrate certain aspects of the war. I've touched upon the Battle of Britain, North Africa, Malta, the Eastern Front, even Greece and Crete (briefly).
Norway was covered (I have a bunch of Norwegian commandoes I need to get back to) and then there are the French partisans, still active, somewhere in France.
We'll get there. But ...
The paying gig, while remunerative and enjoyable, does take up a lot of time.
So bear¹ with me.
¹ Yes, that's your cue, a bear.
Names. lots of names. a spreadsheet worth of names.
ReplyDeleteMany, many names.
DeleteYou may find it useful to track locations, too, to find again (and to avoid), and dates. I've never really thought about story-telling; it's interesting.
DeleteI am doing that via the unit. Each character has a unit he belongs to, track the unit and it's campaigns and you know where more than one character is. Campaigns give you a range of dates. The data is all there, it's just gathering it.
DeleteSpeaking of annoying comments, Sarge, the data are all there. (For the younger among us, the singular is datum.)
DeleteI was blessed (cursed?) by my freshman English teacher, who on asking which was correct and answered "Because it sounds right" said I will accept that answer today only. After this, I want case and reason."
I miss the country I grew up in (and you write so well about).
I know, I know. I tend to intermix the two. But yes, datum is the singular.
DeleteThe country I grew up in, the Air Force I retired from, they are long gone. I miss them.
Could it be we meet corporal wojtec?
ReplyDeleteDennis the librarian shusher
The original bear!
DeleteHe was a remarkable bear, by any standard. With all the things he was supposed to be able to do, you could have Kowalski drive past a gun emplacement, and notice a bear unloading ammunition.
DeleteExcept that the bear wasn't in the east (Italy I believe) which is where Jan is. He doesn't rejoin the Allies until after being captured at D-Day. Too many moving parts as it is. Trying to work that in and I'd probably go barking mad.
DeleteTakes guts to write historical fiction. No matter how much you think you may know about a topic, no matter how much research you do, there's always some (ahem) asshole who knows more and is not shy about it.
ReplyDeleteI've been lucky so far, knock on wood. (Tapping myself on the head as I say that ...)
DeleteKamerad: you can find yourself writing about a semi-fictional skirmish seen through Allied eyes when some anal pore reading it writes you a little note saying, "My Dad's brother was at --- in one of the German platoons and he told me the story about that farmhouse wipeout - at least it sounds very much like the same one."
DeleteDo you just ignore it? Do you write the person to say thank you, but this is just a fictional story? Do you write another chapter about the farmhouse as seen from the other side? Do you write several more chapters about the same action as reported to the HQs by the officer REMFs who were nowhere near the particular action?
You see what I mean.
Hasn't happened yet, not sure how I'd handle it. Depends on the tone of the comment I suppose.
Delete"Paying gigs - the curse of the writing class".
ReplyDeleteI wonder how someone like Tolstoy did this with War And Peace, where it was potentially the same scope of characters and events (e.g., war). I know that with 1914 - even though it effectively dealt with a month of history - I found the characters emerging and disappearing confusing.
"Paying gigs - the curse of the writing class". - Oh yeah, too true!
DeleteI have attempted War and Peace a couple of times, I always run out of gas when Tolstoy starts ranting about Napoléon. But I have a hard time getting through any Russian novel. They all seem so muddled and confused. Solzhenitsyn is an exception, guy always seemed more focused than other Russian writers. At least as I recall ...
I feel better now, I too have never plowed all the way through War and Peace. Solzhenitsyn writes very well but is such a bummer to read.
DeleteOne of my favorite quotes:
“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956
Although I personally wonder about that last part about the bridgehead with some of the folks I've met up with.
I feel better now as well, worried it was just me.
DeleteAs to the bridgehead, there are folks who may have had that at some point, then they let evil overrun the bridgehead of good.
Sarge,
ReplyDeleteDon't sweat the small stuff. I learned a lot about life in flight debriefs. Those debriefs are kinda like comments here. There were several levels in a debrief. One, the Lead could be full of BS, therefore none of their comments were worth listening to, much less incorporating into your skill set. Two, Lead could be spot on, even if the tone of the comment was infuriating. Three, it could be something to consider and judge the pro's and con's of the comment. Maybe there could be a situation where the comment would be the appropriate action, maybe not.
I think writing might be a bit like that. I like your book(s) so far and think when they're done...Well, maybe you won't reach a Solzhenitsyn or Tolstoy level, but who cares? I think they'll do well and am looking forward to reading them.
In long reading sessions and several chapters at a time of course. ;-)
juvat
😁
DeleteI have received annoying comments in the past, well, annoying to me at any rate. Go off topic and I might get snippy with ya, but generally our readers/commenters (the Chanters as I like to call them) are really good and not annoying at all.
I'm a visual person, it helps if I can see it.. I picture a 2' wide by 12' long piece of paper (can hang on the wall in this room)) with a time line along the top of the paper, say 1930 to 1960 (or '69 & the moon landing). Under that you have the characters labeled as to when they show up in your story..
ReplyDeleteI'm not a writer and I'm not sure why I feel the need to add my two cents to what you are doing. You ARE doing a great job of telling this story!! Please continue ...
I forgot to check the Notify Me box... that is an important part of my day! (No humor, I like reading the comments).
DeleteRob #1 - That long bit of paper is how it looks in my head. Transferring that to physical reality would probably (definitely) cause a bit of domestic strife. It's not a bad idea, just impractical for my current situation.
DeleteRob #2 - I think the only reason I really blog is that I love reading the comments. So yeah, I get it.
DeleteRoll it up when you're not using it but when you want to "see" the history you're writing pull it out, even roll it out on the floor and it's right there.
DeleteWhen the wife isn't home, I could do that.
DeleteHey Sarge, don't forget your longest and best allies, the Aussies!!
ReplyDeleteThey should be showing up in North Africa one of these daya. I haven't forgotten!
DeleteGood to hear! My uncle was a pioneer in the 9th Division at the seige of Tobruk, then he was rushed home to fight the Japanese New Guinea and he finally ended up as part of the Australian Occupation Force in Japan.
DeleteIf I don't get them in soon, they'll all be back in New Guinea fighting the Japanese! (We're close to starting the second battle of Tobruk.)
Delete