Getting a start on a fictionalized WWI story?

[LewisS]

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[Chock]

The trouble with any historical novel is that you have tricky choices to make. If you go totally authentic, then you would risk it being boring. For example, we tend to think of fighter pilots in terms of victorious fights, but the truth is that there would be many fights where nobody scored, and many patrols where nothing happened, and even many days where it wasn't possible to take off because of crappy weather. If you put all that in, it would certainly be authentic, but it wouldn't make for a page-turner, unless you had some other intrigue or especially brilliant characters or dialogue. It's not impossible to do, much of the classic Winged Victory novel is centered on discussions in the mess between the characters, rather than spectacular dogfights, but of course the author could pull that off because a lot of the book was actually a thinly disguised autobiography, so he had a fund of interesting cameos upon which he could draw.

You have to consider your target market. The guys (and girls) on this forum, probably would read a WW1 novel which favoured authenticity, but that means you'd be lucky to sell 200 copies, and you'd probably have to self-publish it, as no major publisher would touch something like that, and especially not from a newcomer. That means some hard stylistic decisions have to be made, and it seems you are at least aware of this problem, in that you have sidestepped the typical and hackneyed 'tragic loss of youth' or 'star pilot hacking his way to success' thematic cliches that are often the foundation of some WW1 stories (those two cliches also happen to be the basis for the two most well known WW1 aviation movies, i.e The Blue Max and Aces High). which means that has all been done before. But you should also be aware that going other routes is bound to risk stepping on the literary toes of WE Johns, since he had to explore pretty much every possibility when banging out nearly 100 novels on this genre.

Having said that, just because something has been done before, does not mean it cannot be done again, but what will make something of that nature stand or fall is the quality of the writing and the characterisation, since you want the reader to actually give a toss whether your protagonist makes it. This is especially true if you have a series of books in mind and the first one is successful. Even WE Johns cocked up on that matter; the first Biggles book (The Camels are Coming) ends with the Armistice and his hero being shot down, which meant Johns had to backtrack like crazy with subsequent WW1 adventures for Biggles when he realised he had struck literary gold. It might seem a tad optimistic to hope for a series of books, but as they say: if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.

Thus I would also say that the big thing to concentrate on is quality characterisation, as decent characters who are believable can make a mundane tale into a good one, so long as they go on an expositional journey of some kind. This is an interesting notion for WW1 too, since it is apparently the case that one of the most popular novels in WW1 was John Bunyan's classic, The Pilgrim's Progress. I'm sure you know that The Pilgrim's Progress is an Christian allegorical tale of a journey full of perils, which makes it understandable why so many men serving in WW1 found that they could associate with it, as it mirrors much of their experience.

So it is probably important to consider a similar thematic journey in your book if it is to have meaning beyond simply being a Boy's Own tale in the vein of the Biggles novels, which could of course get away with that since they were essentially aimed at a juvenile market. By that, I mean you could perhaps explore the possibility of it being a metaphor for a currently important theme, such as a covert war in Afghanistan, or the current credit crisis or whatever, I'm sure you can think of something. If you could pull that off well, success would be assured.

If you want a good example of a modern allegorical tale which is a bit less heavy going than The Pilgrim's Progress, then I would recommend The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break, by Steven Sherrill, which alludes to the isolation someone can experience in the modern world when they feel they do not fit in. It is so beautifully written that it will make you cry, and if you want to write about something like war, then you should want to make the reader cry. But more importantly, it will spur you on to greater efforts too, as almost every page is a goddam masterpiece on its own, and it shows that you can write a nice character that doesn't even have any dialogue.

If you are worried about whether your characters and story are believable, then I would recommend reading the following: Characters and Viewpoint, by Orson Scott Card, The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes, by Jack M Bickham, and Make a Scene, by Jordan E Rosenfeld. All of these are excellent books on the craft of writing and much better than the many 'how to write a novel' books which you can find, which are almost without exception utter crap, and if they worked, then the authors would be guys you would have heard of, in the top ten books list, and the dustjackets would not be shy in proclaiming it. And yes, I have personally had works of both fact and fiction published, and I run a professional writing course in the UK, so I do know what I'm talking about LOL. If you are in the UK and want to know more about that writing course incidentally, contact these guys, who broker my course for me (spot the cheeky promo):

http://www.crypticpeach.co.uk/

Oh, and for god's sake spell 'hangar' properly. There is nothing more likely to have a WW1 buff throw your book through a window, than if you spell it with an E on page one!

Al

[rainbase]

Nice post, Chock.

I'm not sure I agree with the idea the "If you go totally authentic, then you would risk it being boring". The author doesn't have to dwell on the more mundane non-scoring flights and washed out crappy-weather days. He controls the pacing and can simply write "Four days later..." to bring the reader to the next "good bit". Yeates of course doesn't do much of that; he drags the reader right along with the day to day grind, through the routine and through the action. In Yeate's case, the effect is almost hypnotic.

I recently read a couple of the "Bandy" novels. Fantastic! They are tremendous fun and have an awful lot going for them; strong characters, terrific action sequences, plot twists, humor, romance... all that. Author Donald Jack sits somewhere between Derek Robinson and Joseph Heller and with maybe a touch of Helmet Kirst; that exploitation of the "absurdity of war" theme with a cast of flawed, very human characters. I like it!

[Chock]

Originally Posted by rainbase

Nice post, Chock.

I'm not sure I agree with the idea the "If you go totally authentic, then you would risk it being boring". The author doesn't have to dwell on the more mundane non-scoring flights and washed out crappy-weather days. He controls the pacing and can simply write "Four days later..." to bring the reader to the next "good bit". Yeates of course doesn't do much of that; he drags the reader right along with the day to day grind, through the routine and through the action. In Yeate's case, the effect is almost hypnotic.

Oh absolutely, I agree that it can be done. One look at Conrad's The Heart of Darkness proves that: The entire book is a few guys sitting on the deck of a boat whilst someone tells them a story.

Al

[Barrett]

Considering that Duel Over Douai (by Boom, YP and moi) is in its 12th year (or so) of creativity, we've had ample opportunity to evaluate the book and the genre.

Basically, it doesn't cost much more to Do It Right as far as accuracy. Techie stuff is relatively easy. Depending on the desired depth of detail, time & effort will produce enough to satisfy most (you'll never get 'em all) serious enthusiasts. One of my segments, the Teutonic side, even has correct weather and time of day.

My coauthors have c. 70,000 hours combined flight time and several hundred combat missions. We've all flown open-cockpit aeroplanes. We know that stuff cold.

For dangsure there are no canvas-covered flying machines!

Having said all that, I heartily concur that plot takes a back seat to characterization. Unless the readers learn to care about the characters, no novel will achieve its potential. How well we've done that remains to be seen.

Nowthen...about Ursula's Towel......

[Rickitycrate]

I dearly loved reading the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. To have anything approaching his writing but rather placed in the WWI airwar theatre would be wonderful IMO. I embraced the characters and cared greatly about them. They had a friendship that pulled me in. Their world of wooden ships and espionage excited me. I laughed a great deal and I learned a lot as so much of the storylines were taken from history. 20 volumes of this wonderful writing has been the heigth of my novel reading experience. Historical Fiction can be done very well and sell to a large audience when done properly.

[LewisS]

Some good recommendations there, thanks you Chock. You'll have to excuse my original post erasure, I got a bit self conscious about the original post. Not to give my story away much.

There was a nice find in our local library, I've forgotten the name of the book, but it was about an SE5a Squadron, that was CO'd by a particularly nasty character, very loutish , drunk most of the time. His squad had a very high turn-over rate of new recruits, either killed in combat or transferring out after 2 months. It's told from the perspective of one of the old timer survivees.

What was captivating about the story was the incredibly short almost prose like conversations, well if you could call the ootbursts of the commanding officer, conversations. Pretty gritty detailing of the war, as they were but a few miles from the front, and half ways through the story they had to relocate.

The training regime this commander put his group through was almost homicidal, but it it also reflected that you there to either kill or be killed trying, otherwise you were wasting food and bunk space.

[Chock]

One of the things about the Aubrey/Maturin novels is that in addition to the detail and authenticity, the writing style is particularly notable for being unusual. If you didn't know any better, you'd think they were written a century or more ago, as the style compares to writing from that period in many respects, especially the structure.

So to pull the same thing off for WW1, you might have to write something in the literary style of Flying Fury or maybe King of Air Fighters. That's something notable about WW1 autobiographies too. Some of them have a very 'old fashioned style' about them, whereas others seem almost modern. Bill Lambert's Combat Report does not seem like it is someone talking from the same era as Flying Fury for example, although some of that might be the difference between a Brit and a North American. Of course some of it too is down to the fact that a few were written in WW1 and others were written much after, but I have certainly noticed the difference from having read many of them.

Al