I started on the first draft of the first novel of Kings And
Crusaders in October 2010 and finished it in February 2011. Later, I returned
to work on the novel in late 2013 and finished part of the second draft through
late 2014. However, I didn't return to much work on the first novel until 2021.
The reason that the second draft's completion was largely delayed was my simultaneous
work on the sequels to the first book. That said, I finally finished the second
draft in the middle of this year (this June to be exact). For a longtime I have
desired to do work on a third draft because of incompatible problems in the
first two with my clear vision of Kings And Crusaders.
Among the problems in the first draft that I intend to
correct include some historical inaccuracies about the culture of the Medieval
west. Likewise, I will be including a shorter historical time frame than was in
the first draft. For example, the original draft started off nine ten years
before the third crusade. I originally wrote about Saladin's very conquest of
the Latin Crusader kingdoms in the late twelfth century before the ushering of
a new crusade. However, as the years went on, I began to desire a novel more
strictly focused on the English and Anglo-Normans in the west. Therefore, the
third draft will begin only shortly before the crusade and continue with
Saladin of Syria, Richard I of England, Peter of Preaux, and William of Roches
as its key characters.
Concerning the second draft, it too had several problems
within the text that in some ways made it inferior to my original. While the
second draft improved upon more focus on several key characters rather than
multiple ones, it less succeeded to my vision in that it placed too much
thought on those in the Crusader Kingdoms in Outremer (the Holy Land), rather than
those in England France, the countries where my stories principally take place.
Furthermore, while the second draft succeeded on making the story less of a
narrative and more a drama, it lacked the authenticity of inspiration for the
cause it was written that my original draft had performed well at. Last, the
second draft was inferior to the first as I was looking too much at other
stories outside of historical fiction to inspire it.
I have had much to think about concerning the third draft of
my first novel. I have been careful to be both in the mood and to keep focus on
where the story must go. To this end then, I aspire to correct both drafts with
the text that I wanted all along. I believe the third draft will succeed.
