NEW BOOK RELEASE!

A New Release is Coming!

I am very excited to announce a new publication, connected to my 'Wolf Spear Saga' series.

With an official release date of 1st August 2020, I shall soon be able to share more details with you.

I've seen the final cover proof and I love it - it encompasses all the ideas I wanted, linking it to 'Wulfsuna - Wolf Spear Saga 1' in terms of colours and key symbols.

Visit my website for blurb and cover reveals, as well as a forthcoming pre-order link and subscribe for regular updates - be the first to know!

Tackling Diversity in Historical Fiction

Following on from 'Autism Awareness Week' I thought it apt to discuss a plot element in my forthcoming second ‘Wolf Spear Saga’. Some time ago I was involved in a discussion online about diversity in historical fiction. You can read the blog post I wrote about it here.

https://elainemoxon.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/diversity-in-historical-fiction.html

photo: visualhunt.com

Today, however, I want to focus on one factor from that discussion, which has become entwined in my second saga. When drafting book two, the conversation I had had with other authors about diversity lingered in my mind. I wanted to challenge many historical novels I had read in the past that ignored conditions that have modern names, but would have existed in the past nevertheless. I needed a strategy that would bring such a condition into my novel in a way that would be acceptable to modern readers, but also credible in a 5^th Century setting. My portrayal of this character would have to be true to my genre and my contemporary audience.

“Invisible disabilities we experience today, such as elements of the autistic spectrum, would have no name in the 5th Century…”

In choosing to have a character on the Autistic spectrum, I knew I would be unable to label this condition with terms and phrases we use today and that those around the character would also lack this knowledge and vocabulary to describe him and his behaviour. I knew at the outset this would present me with some steep challenges and I was ever conscious of creating something too stereotypical and offensive. I knew other characters in the story would be governed by their spiritual beliefs and fear of things they could not explain or that seemed to be evil or magical. My character began as a complicated being with some undesirable and inherited personality traits, even before I decided he would be autistic. I had to consider these traits carefully and calculate how his autism would effect or enhance these parts of his personality.

“Public responses to these conditions would be ruled by culture and spirituality.”

I drew on experiences from my own life and enrolled the help of someone with daily, personal knowledge to also assist me. After some deep discussions with this individual I began embellishing my character and those around him who would be there to assist or abuse him, because of his outward behaviours and responses. I wanted to provide him with a very small circle who understood him and were there for him. I also wanted to explore those who were scared by him or deemed him dangerous and those who would exploit his behaviour for their own ends. Once I had completed my first draft, I had the specific scenes featuring the character proof-read to ensure the content was acceptable to a modern audience, but that it also contained authentic references and behaviours.

photo: visualhunt.com

 Here is a description by his older brother:

‘His brother was ruled by the Dark Mother. She held sway over the tides of his inner ocean, tossing him on wave after wave and drowning him in his own emotion. Their Queen had been his steer board; …adrift on an unrelenting, storm-ridden voyage, [he] heard no one else, for they were mere morsels of windswept words. Wulfsieg realised he would be wasting his breath. Like land-locked onlookers crying out from the shore through wind and rain, [his brother] would never hear him from his lonely one-man vessel.’

While language used to describe this character is embedded in the 5^th Century, as I wrote I became more aware that attitudes to Autism continue to challenge wider society; that there exists even today, those who misunderstand the struggles of being on the spectrum. I found myself writing provocative scenes, displaying others abusing the vulnerability of my autistic character and contrasting, deeply emotional scenes revealing the extreme fragility of my character, despite his roguish outward persona.

I hope my readers will find reading about him as interesting as I found it to create him on the page.

And I hope others will be encouraged to be diverse in their fiction.

Have you tackled a difficult subject in your writing?

How did you decide to include it in your writing?

What were some of the challenges you faced?

Using Fact in Fiction

When writing historical fiction it is hard to escape the facts in history. Whole novels are penned on factual historical characters or factual events such as well-known battles. What I find personally enjoyable is when you can take a small fact and weave it into your fictional setting. I did this with my first novel 'WULFSUNA', where I used the name of a documented Saxon tribe of the 'Hwicce' as the basis of a fictional Romano-British settlement within the Welsh borders.

Historical documentation for the tribe of the Hwicce, which covered what is now parts of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, does not give much information prior to the 7th Century. Even the name has caused some contention that divides historians. There are some who believe the 'cc' to be pronounced hard like a 'k' while others continue to lean toward it being soft as the Italian 'cc' in cappuccino. For 'WULFSUNA' I chose an anglicised spelling that, at the time, best resembled the commonly held version of correct pronunciation (the soft sound). I added an 's' to the end and hence the 'Hwychas' of Prenhwychas were born.

The real Hwicce eventually became the most important shire of Mercia, the beginning of the powerful kingdom of the Midlands ruled by Penda. It is suggested this sub-kingdom was itself fully functional as a kingdom in its own right prior to its immersion into Mercia; an ecclesiastical centre run by a small Anglian warrior elite. (It is rumoured King Offa grew up among the Hwicce.) In the AD770s sub-kings were replaced with mere Ealdormen and the kingdom of the Hwicce was absorbed by Mercia, although it continued to thrive and in the 11th Century was said to have a 'tribal hidage' of 7,000 hides.

Reading parts of the Historia Brittonum for research, there is mention of the Hwicce tribe originally being a native Brytonic settlement, which later came under the rule of an unknown Angle - a shadowy figure with no name. The document ascribes to Germanic settlers in Deira prior to AD500 and then of course, there are the Foederati and disparate Germanic mercenaries left over by the Roman Empire's withdrawal from Britain in the early to mid 5th Century. This premise seemed to perfectly match my fictional Angle tribe of 'tha Eforas' (the Boars), the formidable enemies of the Wulfsuna. An idea began to form, as historical fiction played with historical fact. Here was a hint of realism that could be interwoven with my fiction.

 

Could my fictional settlement of Prenhwychas come under the rule of one of 'tha Eforas'? Could this Angle warrior allude to be the shadowy figure mentioned in the Historia Brittonum? If so, perhaps he would change the name of the settlement more fitting with his native tongue and I could use the alternative pronunciation with the hard 'k' to show this in my second Wolf Spear Saga. After all, Prenhwychas has a majority Christian population and is swift becoming surrounded by settling Germanic pagan tribes; mercenaries abandoned and unpaid by Rome and hungry for payment or retribution. Accepting Anglian rule would keep them safe, as this new leader would know the language and tactics of these so-called barbarian neighbours.

Well, to find out whether or not this transpires you shall have to wait until Wolf Spear Saga 2 is published, so I shall leave that speculation hanging! What I will say is that these fortuitous unions of facts and fiction help to bring readers deeper into your stories, tempting them with morsels of truth. We can only wonder at the reality behind the birth of the tribe of the Hwicce and how it became a sub-kingdom of a dynasty, ruled by Saxon Ealdormen several centuries later. Even if this is conjecture by early historians with no basis in fact, I love my Hwychas tribe and their fortified hilltop settlement with ramshackle Roman villa, honey-coloured stone walls and long-horned sheep. A former 'municipium' of Rome and thriving crofter community, where each roundhouse has its own field to cultivate, it has weathered civil unrest and betrayal by its magistrates. It is as real to me as any historical fact and hopefully is as real to my readers.

Writing as ‘E S Moxon’, Elaine's debut historical fiction adventure ‘WULFSUNA’ was published January 21^st, 2015 and is the first in her Wolf Spear Saga series. She is currently writing her second novel, set once again in the Dark Ages of 5^th Century Britain, where the legendary Saga ensures a Seer and one named 'Wolf Spear' are destined to meet. You can find out more about Elaine’s novels on her website or follow her on Twitter or Facebook.

Elaine lives in the Midlands with her family and their chocolate Labrador.

~ ~ ~

Blood, betrayal and brotherhood.

An ancient saga is weaving their destiny.

A treacherous rival threatens their fate.

A Seer's magic may be all that can save them.

WULFSUNA

Writing Historical Dialogue

At a recent library book club engagement I chose to openly explore the subject of writing dialogue in historical novels. As you can imagine, this is an area of the writing process fraught with difficulties posed by which period of history you have chosen and the availability (or lack of) detail about language during that age. My audience found it fascinating, evident from their own eager input during my talk, which became more of a group discussion. (I love it when that happens, don’t you?) I decided, therefore, to expand on it and share it here.

I have found historical dialogue to be a fine balance between staying true to a period and not alienating readers. Whilst there are those whose excitement mounts at every historical term used for armour, weaponry, clothing or day-to-day utensils, not everyone is after a language lesson. The majority of readers are in search of intriguing story and larger-than-life characters. One of the ways in which we authors can move the story forward and enhance the image of our characters is through the exchange of speech. We can immediately gain a sense of character when they open their mouth.