Every generation has new literature to inspire it...every work of writing was produced by some person hidden away in a closet who composed a story that they had to tell. Literature is never dead so long as readers engage with its words and live its message. The best stories are those that most illuminate our minds about the struggles of humanity and allow the reader to live and feel like the leading protagonist.
Writing is a hard job. However, on July 18, 2023, I completed the fourth draft of the first Kings And Crusaders novel. This means that typing the novel unto my computer will be one of my next tasks. Currently, I'm unsure when I plan to begin this work as I'm tied up with other projects simultaneously.
I'm a huge fan of historical dramas. I enjoy historical fiction and always have. Sir Walter Scott, often considered the founder of this genre of literature, has been one of my foremost influences. In many ways, it was Scott's Ivanhoe that inspired Kings And Crusaders.
As I approach the end of my bachelor's in English and Writing, I have been learning more and more about the process of writing a book. Indeed, it is truly a work of art. When approaching history, historical fiction should never be written without literary beauty. Henry V by William Shakespeare and The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, as examples, concern real characters and actual historical events, but these books are also written as good literature. Sometimes, I encounter works of historical fiction that I find to lack this quality. A well-written work of historical fiction is able to balance exciting storytelling with reverence toward history.
English majors have a grasp of storytelling that others can achieve outside the college classroom, even if this is more difficult. Taking time to read poetry, to analyze drama, and to interpret prose texts allows the reader to learn from the great literature of the past. Through Creative Writing, however, a writer has the chance to learn how to best make new works---to help build a new era of literature.
Both my English and Creative Writing classes have been beneficial to the composition of Kings And Crusaders. The former has inspired me to make my own stories as successors to those great past works. The latter discipline has inspired me to delve away from all academics and write as I please---to write until my heart is satisfied by the words which lie before my eyes.
Refining Kings And Crusaders will take time still. After four drafts all written on paper, I still need to get the first novel quite where I want it to be. Thirteen years after beginning its first draft, I am ready to strengthen it as much as I can do.
One of the challenges of any successful writer is not only writing a piece of worthy quality. Writing requires revision again and again until the work satisfies the writer (if not the readers as well). We can learn from the great writers of the past, however. We can learn that patience was a virtue for both Victor Hugo and Mark Twain in composing a great work of art.
