I’m so jealous of people who can just sit down and write. Back in the day, when I wrote books and reports for business, I could churn out words faster than most, but not a lot of imagination was required. Writing fiction, I find much harder work.
These blog posts fall somewhere between the two. They’re not as mechanical as much business prose but, although I am sometimes reminded that people will judge me on the quality of my writing, I’m not as worried about style as I am in my novels. Even so, they take a little while to write, especially if they have any historical information in them because I’ve learned that over the years that is always best to check details rather than rely on memory.
At the moment, I’m working on the next James Burke book, provisionally, if unimaginatively, called Burke and the War of 1812. I’m finding it more than usually challenging. Whilst by now I know enough about the Napoleonic wars not to have to keep checking every detail, the War of 1812 is new territory to me.
Not that long ago, I had no idea what the War of 1812 was. If that’s you too, it was a silly little scrap between Britain and the young United States of America notable, in this country at least, for the British burning down the White House. Most people in Britain tend to overlook it because there were other things going on in Europe at the time: Napoleon invading Russia for one.
Because it was quite a small war, there were few great strategic clashes of armies. Instead there was a fight here, a clash there, a naval engagement somewhere else. Pulling it all together into something that can be made a coherent adventure for one person has proved a challenge. In fact, it has proved impossible, so for much of the time James Burke and his trusty sidekick William Brown are operating independently from each other. This brings its own problems in writing as keeping track of them and having them meet up at crucial moments is not that straightforward. Which is why this week’s post is a short cri de coeur about the struggles of a historical novelist before I dive back into a world of Shawnee warriors, heroic colonials and (sorry American readers) dreadful Yankees.
At the current rate of progress, Burke and the War of 1812 should see the light of day early in 2025.
Featured photo: The Battle of Queenston Heights, 13 October 1812. Library and Archives Canada, 2895485
