Guest Post - Learning Lessons - by Roberto Calas

This week, I'm very pleased to have author Roberto Calas back for an utterly fascinating guest post on the history and state of writing and publishing. As the saying goes, 'History repeats itself', and Roberto is going to show us how much our modern age has in common with the 15th century. He is no stranger to the late Middle Ages, and so, without further adieu, take it away Roberto!

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Learning Lessons

"Nobody can understand the greatness of the thirteenth century, who does not realize that is was a great growth of new things produced by a living thing."

-- G.K. Chesterton

Never build your sand castle near the water line.

Sand Castle - Creative Commons

I think most of us learned that lesson when we were very young. The tide is relentless and it doesn’t give a crap about the things you have built. I’m a bit thick, so it took a lot of mini-tsunamis and crumbled castles for me to internalize that particular lesson. But I learned.

So, in 1998, I decided to leave my career as a magazine editor to go to art school. I loved writing then, as I do now, but I could see the rising tide approaching. The castles built by magazine and newspaper publishers were too close to the water line.

To use another water-based analogy, the vast lakes of magazines, newspapers and books were evaporating, like watering holes in the African savannah. Three of the magazines I had worked for were sold out from under me – acquired by dreadnought holding companies that stripped them of staff and resources and filled them with fluff that complemented the ads that were sold. Magazine distributors thinned, from hundreds to dozens. Writing and editing jobs started paying less than marketing internships. It seemed that no one wanted to read anymore. It was all about television and online video. About photos and images.

So I went back to school. Art has always been my second love, so I decided to try making a living of it. And for fifteen years, I did.

But a new tide is rolling in. The electronic revolution is reaching far up onto the shore, destroying even the staunchest of sand castles and making room for new ones. Writing jobs are more prevalent, and they pay more again. Editors are valued once more. It is a Renaissance. A Golden Age of the written word, and it reminds me of another time in history when writing spurred a rebirth.

Back as late as the 14^th century, monks were the publishers. And like traditional publishers of the modern age, they controlled what was printed and what was not.

A Gutenberg Press in action

But in 1450, Johannes Gutenberg used a few hand-molds and some oil-based ink to break the monk stranglehold. His mechanical press ushered in a golden age of writing. It’s no coincidence that the Renaissance began shortly after he invented modern printing.

But like all technologies, the mechanical press was seen by many as a bad thing. Scribes went on strike, afraid they would lose their jobs to the printing machines. The lay people were, at first, terrified by the presses. Every copy was identical, which of course meant that the devil was involved. Gutenberg’s friend and partner, Johannes Faust, was arrested and charged with witchcraft. Fortunately, Faust escaped death and the mechanical press churned on.

We are on the cusp of another golden age now and, as in the 15^th century, there is resistance. Computers are the new Gutenberg press, and once again there is a witch hunt.

The traditional publishers, the very same companies that drove independent bookstores and magazine distributors out of business, are asking for help as they, themselves are driven out of business. But who was there for the independent bookstores? Who was there for the mom-and-pop magazine distributors? No one. And no one will be there for the publishers. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and the new galactic overlord of the Milky Way, said that “Complaining is not a strategy.” And he’s right. Traditional publishers had the chance to jump on new technology and lead the way to the second Golden Age of Writing. They had a chance to move their sand castles back as the water rolled in, but they chose to fight the new technology, instead.

Electronic publishing is as revolutionary today as Gutenberg’s press was in his day. Traditional publishers can no more fight this technology than the monks and luddites of the 15^th century could stop the wild spread of the printed word. And in this brave new world of easy publication, lots of things have changed.

The author has become the publisher. Novelists can release their works themselves, delivering precisely the product that they want, and they can connect with their readers directly, in ways they could never do before.

Serial story-telling, one episode at a time, is popular again.

Novelists are getting feedback directly from readers, as soon as their novel is published.

And those novels are being published far more quickly, because novelists no longer need to rely on the lumbering machinery of the rusted publishing companies. No, the writer becomes the head of his kingdom, contracting out editors and cover designers and doing what he or she can for publicity. Voices that were always filtered and steered by dreadnought holding companies are no longer fettered. Ten million songs, each unique and unaltered, ring out across the Web.

And while the great castles of sand built by traditional publishers slowly erode, the new castles are being built in our homes, far from the sea.

Because even a child understands that you can’t fight the tide.

Roberto Calas is a published (and self-published) author and lover of history. His serial trilogy (The Scourge) is about a 14^th century knight fighting his way through a demon-infested England to reunite with the woman he loves. And every bit of it is true except for the made up parts. Roberto is taking advantage of the new publishing tide to ask readers for help in publishing the third novel in his Scourge trilogy. Please have a look at his Kickstarter campaign for more details.

In addition to The Scourge series, Roberto has written The Beast of Maug Maurai (fantasy), and Kingdom of Glass (historical fiction in the Foreworld universe).

Roberto lives in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, with his two children, and visits the United Kingdom on a monthly basis to be with his fiancée, Annabelle. Sometimes he fights demons to get to her.

You can learn more about Roberto on his website: http://robertocalas.com.  

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I want to thank Roberto for taking the time to ‘stop by’ the blog, and for his thought-provoking words. Who would have thought – Gutenberg as an indie-champion! We do indeed live in exciting times of creativity, and Roberto is one of those fighting the good fight and giving us some great storytelling. If you haven’t read The Scourge or The Beast of Maug Maurai books, I highly recommend them. I’ve also just finished his short story, The Wages of Sin, and it’s a great read!

Be sure to check out Roberto’s Kickstarter link too. It’s a chance to help the story continue, and any measure of support will help this warrior of the written word to continue his campaign.

Cheers, and thanks for reading!

History Empowering Fantasy

I love to read historical fantasy and am always on the lookout for a good read. Whether it’s a story about knights vs. zombies, Romans vs. Celts with mystical powers, or werewolves in the age of Charlemagne, there are ways to weave ancient beliefs into historical fiction while remaining accurate.

But what about the flip side?

I really enjoy fantasy too and am in constant awe of the world-building skills of fantasy writers.

If you are a fantasy reader like me, you will no doubt have noticed that a lot of historical elements creep in to inform those worlds. However, for it to be done right, and with skill, is no small task.

One book I have been reading of late is Lunula, by author, Alyssa Auch. Lunula has won two titles as part of the Blogger Book Fair Readers’ Choice Awards, and last month was named a winner by IndieBookoftheDay.com. I can see why. I’m really enjoying the book and have been really drawn into the world of Lunula.

I’m thrilled to have Alyssa as a guest today on Writing the Past to talk about how she has woven elements from many historical periods into her wonderful novel.

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Thank you, Adam, for inviting me to guest post on your blog! I am no historian, but I cannot deny that I love to incorporate it into my writing, even when it is in a fantasy world!

Lunula was written in the fictional setting of Irador, a medieval style kingdom with much of Fantasy’s well-loved elements added to it. It is one of three kingdoms featured, and each of the kingdoms had their own historical “flavor” you could say. For Irador, I channeled Camelot and bits of Renaissance England. My mother read one of my first drafts, and she mentioned that she felt she was reading a historical piece at first—I definitely took that as a compliment.

But I wanted to branch out from just the usual medieval style fantasy, and so I added some of my favorite pieces of history to the other two kingdoms. Dristol, the “barbaric,” untamed brother kingdom to Irador was (very loosely) modeled after the Vikings. The soldiers are large and intimidating, wearing fur vests and carrying two-handed weapons with ease. They exude a kind of harshness I hoped would represent that culture. However, the politics of their land were taken from Britain’s tumultuous early history. Gethin, the king of that land, alludes to how difficult it has been for him to keep their lords in check. They raid their neighboring lands, and they often refuse to acknowledge the crown of Dristol. 

Much of Gethin’s young adulthood was spent putting unruly land owners back into place.

 And finally, the elven lands, which were the most distinct of the two. I mashed Greek and Roman history together to create a polished and refined, but ancient world. Makynae, the capitol of the elven realm, is the name of an ancient city in Greece (called Mycenae). Their dress was taken from the late B.C. era, around 180 or so, with loosely draped cloth, pallas for the women, and soft-soled sandals. I admit that I looked to the movie “Gladiator” for visual inspiration. Their city is built with marble columns and arches from that time period’s architecture, and they appear to have made several advancements over their human neighbors. Aqueducts and running water, for example. I’ll never understand why they let that advancement slip away from them after Rome was destroyed!

Lunula is actually a Roman necklace. In my book it is a magical artifact, but historically, the lunula was worn by young, unmarried girls. It symbolized their youth, and once they married, it was taken off. It was usually a crescent-shaped locket, and that is exactly how I described the lunula in my book.

The main thing I strove for in weaving history into fantasy was giving my book a feel of authenticity. I believe it makes it more tangible to the reader when they recognize time periods and places, and in a world where anything goes, that kind of tether can be crucial.

So on that note, I hope you give Lunula a try, and find that the little tidbits of history make it all the more enjoyable!

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I’d like to thank Alyssa for taking the time out of her unbelievably busy schedule to tell us a bit about how history inspired aspects of her work.

Alyssa’s writing style is smooth and beautiful and will draw you in. So, if you like fantasy and history, you should definitely check out Lunula.

It’s available from Amazon, Smashwords and Barnes and Noble.

You should also check out Alyssa’s author blog and Facebook page.

Find her on Twitter @alyssa_auch

Cheers and Read on!

History or Your Story?

This week I’m very pleased to have author Roberto Calas as a guest on Writing the Past. Roberto’s recent Kindle Serial, The Scourge, has definitely made a splash in the realm of historical fiction/fantasy and to me, it is a wonderful melding of good historical research and fantasy. Oh, and it has Zombies! 14^th century England has never been so exciting and yet so terrifying. Roberto talks to us about the creation of this unique work and the choice that all historical novelists must face: History or Your Story?

Can you imagine what people eight hundred years from now would think of our civilization if all they had to judge us by was a Fox News story? Or a Huffington Post article? Or, God forbid, an article from the parody newspaper, The Onion?

I think about this sort of thing all the time as I research my stories. Because, really, we base all of our knowledge about the Middle Ages on personal accounts written by biased sources, and a tatty old tapestry in France.

How do we really know that King Harold was shot in the eye with an arrow? How do we know that Brutus stabbed Julius Caesar? How do we know that Justinian’s wife convinced him not to flee Constantinople?

How do we know that the 14^th century plague wasn’t a zombie virus?

We don’t. Not for certain.

We take other people’s written accounts of it. If history is always written by the winners, then we never get more than half the story. But this nagging knowledge should not stop us from trying to be as accurate as we can.

We are writing a story that, we hope, will move readers. We want to entertain, we want to quicken pulses and control what readers feel and when they feel it. So we have to make the reader believe what we are writing.

Okay, so I’m fairly certain that the 14^th century plague wasn’t a demonic virus. But if I want to write a novel like The Scourge, where a trio of knights travels across zombie-infested England, I need my readers to suspend their disbelief. I need to add enough realism and detail to the setting and language and props of the story so the reader can put aside his or her doubts and, for a time, believe that those plague victims staggered and ate human au jus.

How do I do that?

I have to learn as much as I can about the time period. From the clothes people wore to the political ideology of the time. I need to know common surnames in the region. If the towns and villages had different names in the 14^th century. Which churches were around and which were not. Is there chalk beneath our heroes’ feet? Or slate? Are there elms above their heads? Or Ash? What type of flower grows in the marsh? What’s that little circular thing that dangles down over a knights’ armpit called? How much did a dairy cow weigh back then? Where in London did the peasants confront King Richard II? Why are there Flemish in Sudbury?

I need to immerse myself in 14^th century England. And I need to do it from sources I know might well be flawed. Really annoying, actually. But I have to do it. Because there will be someone out there who knows the established wisdom on Richard II and the Peasant Revolt. Or what a dairy cow weighs. Someone who knows what that little dangling thing is called. Who knows exactly why the Flemish came to Sudbury.

And even after researching it, someone will still point to a fact and say (probably in a nasally voice) “Um, actually, that sort of cannon wasn’t around until 1401,” or something similar. There are too many contradictions in historical research. But you have to do the legwork. Try to visit the places you write about. Read books, don’t just search the Internet. You can find fifty great facts in a book in the time it would take you to completely research one fact on the Internet.

Okay. Now that I have said all this, I will refute every word.

After all your research is done, forget it. Write your story. The research is for the world and the details. It is the anchor that grounds your tale. When there is a conflict between history and your story – an honest to God one that you can’t possibly avoid no matter what you try – then your story should always win out. Because story is what readers really want. They just want to believe that the story you wrote could have happened. And it takes a lot of work to satisfy them. Historical fiction lets you lean on factual people, places and events, but it is merciless in your accurate portrayal of them.

Even though no one is completely certain what that accurate portrayal is.

Roberto Calas is an author of historical fiction and fantasy. He lives in Sandy Hook, Connecticut (yeah, that Sandy Hook), with a set of wonder twins. His fiancée lives in England and his closest relative lives four hundred miles away. That’s how he rolls. His most recent novel, The Scourge (47North), takes place in a demon-ravaged 14^th century England and is completely, one-hundred percent, absolutely, historically accurate. Sort of.

You can find him at his website, www.robertocalas.com, on Facebook, or on Twitter @robertocalas

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I’d like to thank Roberto Calas for taking the time out of his very busy schedule to write such an interesting post and give us a hint as to what went into the writing of The Scourge. If you haven’t read this yet, I highly recommend it. Part of me was left thinking that the Black Death was indeed a plague of zombies! As ever, historical fiction/fantasy can explore beyond the boundaries of what is known, and that always makes for an exciting read. 

To get your copy of The Scourge visit Amazon.com