Tuesday, July 26, 2011

List of my Crusader Historians

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                        Philip Steele
                                                                        Helen Nicholson
                                                                        David Nicolle
                                                                        Thomas Asbridge
                                                                        Thomas F.Madden
                                                                        J.Riley Smith
                                                                        Jonathan Webb
                                                                        Peter W.Edbury
                                                                        Norman F.Cantor
                                                                        James Reston Jr.
                                                                        The letters by Richard the Lionheart
                                                                        The letters by Taqi al Din
                                                                        The letters by Imad ad Din
                                                                        The letters by Beh ad Din
                                                                        William of Tyre

Monday, July 25, 2011

How To Write a Book

                                                     Writing Action/War/Adventure


When writing about war or adventure, if it is to be historical, you don't want to write a story of history that provides the same stuff that you read in high school that many students hate. Instead, you want to give a good historical story that is not fully well known. For example, how many Americans know that many men from their nation fought in North Africa and the Atlantic, not just Europe and the Pacific? How many Americans know that the allies landed on the beaches of  Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, Sword, and not just Omaha Beach during the battle of  Normandy? When you come down to it, you realize that most Americans don't know much about history.When a lot of people go to a historical site, they are not always appreciative to the fact that they can walk where thousands of people walked before them. Too often, they are thinking about how they want to get back to the hotel and watch a sports game.

Try to write a historical story in a fictional way, but without twisting history. I would advise your story having no more than four men or women that have an important role in your story, in most books you write.When writing a good war story, I think it is often good to take a few people from one or more armies so that both forces have a voice of their own.You don't usually want all your characters to do the same thing; you want your people to be the commanders, who make the decisions, and the infantry soldiers on the field confronting the enemy and experiencing the action.You also want your people that you write about to be real and to get an idea of how you think they are by reading letters that were written by them. If they were religious, let them be so; if they were weak, let them be so. If they were cruel, let them be so. Keep your characters very accurate to how you feel they were, and don't make them a certain way just because Hollywood turned them out to be that way; bring them back to life in your interpretation of them. If you keep your story historical, don't worry about accepting criticism for it. If people don't like your story, it may just be that they don't like the history you write about, not how you write. Unless you twist history---which I don't like---never expect your book to leap to the New York Times Bestseller list.

Michael Shaara worked on The Killer Angels for seven years since he was so inspired to write about the three day battle of Gettysburg; however, nothing he wrote, including his seventy short stories, did well in his life-time. Dr.Seuss wrote four hundred books in two years, and would write a thousand page book, only to keep sixty pages of it. It took J.R.R.Tolkien sixteen years to write The Lord of  the Rings.Tolkien also wrote seventeen volumes to the history of  Middle Earth, and made up his own languages. A possible new theory is that C.S.Lewis had a code behind his Narnia books, and that each book of The Chronicles of Narnia symbolized a different planet in the solar system. As you can see, some writers really get into their work and re-word and plan out everything carefully to make it a good book. I also think it is often good when writing historical fiction not to throw out your personal views on every character in the book, but let the reader make some choices for himself or herself.



                                                        Writing Science Fiction


When writing about space in science fiction, you don't want to write something without human life, but you still  want to make it very different.What's very strange to me is that this was one of the first subjects I ever wrote about. I don't enjoy writing science fiction much anymore, and when I write it I think I'm often in a strange mood.When writing this subject, I would suggest studying the universe first and trying to think deeply and about things that perhaps only your imagination has covered, but you feel that you must write down. I'm sorry, I don't think I can help you out much with this subject.


                                                             Writing Fantasy


 This was actually one of  the first subjects I ever wrote about. Like Science Fiction, I don't write it much anymore, but, like many of my old stories that I don't mention much anymore, I am still proud of them because without them there would be no such thing as Kings and Crusaders.I hadn't read many stories and my first story,originally called The Fast Car, was only three pages long. The only books I had read befere this were probably only no longer than a hundred pages. I continued on in The Burnwheel Stories,as they were called, and then The Fight For Life, The Stories of Kabok, and some other works including some that have been thrown away; by 2008, through some advice from Seth and Samuel Shipley, I wrote The Robbit, which was sort of my first book.The Stories of Kabok and The Robbit, along with The Lord of the Cornbreads were all fantasy and are perhaps my best known old works.I think it is good to study history and to sort of tie it together with your fantasy work. I also think that in fantasy it is good to put a Christian-underlying message behind it; otherwise, it is a waste of time.


                                                         Writing Anything Non-Fiction


In the past and now, I write theology, church history, and military history.When writing non-fiction, to make a good book, you want to definitely know what you are writing about, and to get your information from not just one source.You want to back up your feelings with historical evidence.One of my books, .When writing non-fiction, you might want to first take notes of what you're writing about, and then write them in a good way, as you put it in your book.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Christianity and Islam

 These have been called sister religions, even though they are very different from one another.The Christian God wants all to be obedient, even though He knows all cannot and will not be. He created man to serve Him, and when man turned away, God sent His Son to die for all who trusted in Him, although His Son resurrected, and will some day return. The Christian God will have those who are wicked to be cast in the Lake of Fire, but those who do serve Him will live eternally with Him in Heaven. Many Christians who serve Him are persecuted for their beliefs. However, those who serve Him will be rewarded a place in Heaven.There are now 2,000,000,000 people in the world who claim to be Christians. It is the fastest growing religion in the world.

The Muslim, false god, according to the false religious beliefs, hates those who worship Christ, since He is only considered a prophet.What is very interesting is that it has been proven through historical evidence that Christ existed. There is no proof that Allah was real. There are about 1-1.5 billion Muslims in the world now. It is the fastest growing religion in the United States of America.

Something else very interesting is that Mohammed made it where a Muslim could only have five wives even though he had eighteen, including a nine year old.What's very sad is that he probably had very little experience in knowing many Christians, and he probably thought he saw things a lot more than he did. He wrote the Koran in two days while the Bible was written by many different men throughout hundreds of years. I  rather believe the many men it took to write the Bible and their beliefs rather than just one man who came hundreds of years later.

 In the religion of Islam, Muslims are told to kill anybody who is not a Christian, and that is why Muslim and Jihad warriors killed thousands of innocent citazens in the Twin Towers on September 11,2001. More Americans died in those towers than the amount of Americans on D-Day.Wanting to protect the freedom of Americans, President George W.Bush led America in a war against modern day saracens. For his incredible wisdom given by God, he was accused of acting like Richard the Lionheart.

Christians believe in loving their enemies.This love does not mean agreeing with somebody or not fighting in war against them if need be, but it means to care for their souls, and not wanting to kill them just because you believe differently than them, which is very unlike the Muslims.Why do Christians care for someone's soul?Are the Christians better than anybody else? The Christians care for someone's soul because Christ cared for theirs.Christians aren't perfect,and they are no better than anybody else,except the fact that Christ is in their lives, and has changed them and forgiven them. The crusaders are good examples of those who protected their faith, even for those who might not fully agree with them on everything they did in the crusades.

Every Christian is a threat to evil, but there are some Christians that especially deserve the title ''The Last Alliance.'' I do not throw out this title to anyone I meet, and when I use it, I mean it sincerely. I feel ''The Last Alliance'' are a group of Christians that have been rejected by many heathens that claim to be ''Christians,'' but many have already come together and some are on their way. This brilliant and remarkable force is not perfect, but no one is. This alliance is not one particular person, community, or congregation I have been to. Rather, it is all the Christians I have met throughout the years. But, a great part of it is based upon a certain church I have been to that inspired me to form this title. I believe this "last alliance" will be often far outnumbered in the last years of this world and worse things may happen to it by the infidels before the Returning King Jesus takes His Bride home .I'm sorry if you are not a Christian, and you want me to give you a fairy tale ending, but I would be lying if I told you that you are also going to have a good eternal future. I only do hope that you will turn to Christ and understand the underlying message I have put behind this. I feel there is nothing else I can say.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Interviews with Joshua Dotson (part 1)

The Gift of Christ

 Perhaps everybody in the world has somebody that loves them, whether it is by marriage, family, friends, or just pure passion for someone that you might have almost nothing in common with. You want what is best for them even though they may not love you back---and that is probably the rarest of examples.The last of these loves I would say is the most like what Christ has for us; He gave His life for us, even though many of us will not trust Him, and even though none of us deserve Him. Those who put their faith in Him and try to live for Him should recognize that they can never show back the love for Him that He gave to us. However, we should be willing to walk 2,000 miles for our faith just as the crusaders did on the First Crusade. Everybody is at least good at one thing, for everyone has some kind of talent, whether it is speaking, singing, playing musical instruments,or, as in my case, writing books.All these gifts can be used to glorify God, and each is no better than the other. Everyone should be fully committed to Christ, and no one should force a way of worshiping Christ upon anyone else, for each person should glorify Christ in the tasks he or she has been given.We are to worship Christ in every way, even if we are not good at it. Interestingly enough, I do feel the gifts that Christ have given us are the ones that we should use all the time and use mostly. Otherwise, I do not understand why some of us would be created to do some things better than others.Whatever the case, we should all try to serve Christ since He is our Creator, Savior, and Returning King. We should not force how we worship Christ upon anybody else although, with what we have been given, we should all serve Christ to the same extent with our gifts.

The Storming Rage

 This is the sequel to Kings and Crusaders. Like Kings and Crusaders, this book will be a novel of the Third Crusade. . It will include almost all of the characters from the previous book. However, unlike Kings and Crusaders, The Storming Rage will concentrate almost completely on war, and not on the men's relationships with their families. This story is about  the Siege of  Darum and the advance towards Egypt. I thank crusader historians: Helen Nicholson, David Nicolle, Thomas Asbridge, and Thomas F. Madden for the excellent research they have provided for me for my crusader saga. I look forward to writing this book. This book will be finished by it's sequel, The Final Journey.




Saturday, July 16, 2011

Future Appearances

 There are no other places at which I will be speaking right now. If I am asked, I will gladly speak almost anywhere.  Thank you, East County Homeschool group, for knowing the word of God, for knowing history, and for being a joy to my life.God bless you all!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Kings and Crusaders

 This book will hopefully be finished in December 2012. This date may be very accurate still. However, at the same time, I have been busy with other writings, so Kings and Crusaders may be finished later on than this date.Whatever the case, I deeply appreciate all the reviews and comments from my readers. Eventually, I would like to list all those who have come to my humble site. My fictional editor, Philip Anderson, isn't exactly crazy about all the scenes in my first daft to the first book, so I  will have a lot to go over. But he does love my books and stories and is proud of them, as am I.

Last English Class Done

  I recently finished my last English class, which covered Biblical literature. I also have completed two creative writing classes this seme...