by Roseanna White | Aug 31, 2011 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
For those of you who write historicals, you’re going to know exactly what I’m talking about in this post. And for anyone who doesn’t, you’re about to learn one of the things that most frustrates the historical fiction writer. 😉 It’s really kinda funny–that thing that is our best friend, that thing around which we shape our stories, can sometimes turn into our adversary.
I’m talking about those facts that just get in your way. While writing
Jewel of Persia I had quite a number of them–mostly the monstrosity of the man supposed to be my
hero. In my current work-in-progress, the very timeline is the problem. Okay, not a
problem, but . . . well, I’m writing a story with a lot of suspense. But you know, it’s hard to sustain the suspense through 11 months of story. But that’s when things happened in history, so . . .
I mentioned this to my agent in Oregon, and she said, “Luckily, it’s fiction. You can bend things where needed.”
Well, those of us who are die-hard historical lovers don’t like to bend it too much, lest die-hard history lovers throw our books against a wall, LOL. To my agent I laughed and said, “Some of the little things that no one else knows, sure–but my next big event is the defection of Benedict Arnold. Can’t really mess with the timing of that.” (Which she readily granted, of course.)
For me, I have rules about what I’ll let myself change and what I won’t. Motivation I usually don’t mind messing with–it’s rarely recorded anyway, just speculated on. And when it is recorded, who’s to say it’s totally honest? 😉 So motivation I will change at will for the purposes of my stories.
Historical facts are a different story. Obviously the big things I’m not going to mess with. So even though it would have been much more convenient for Arnold to defect in July, it happened in late September in my book, just like it did for real. Similarly with most of the small things–if it’s recorded, I honor it. Now, with some obscure historical figures whose actions are only recorded in one source, I take some liberties when it comes to when letters are sent, etc. But only where absolutely necessary, and I try not to contradict much.
The fun, of course, comes in filling in the blanks. The frustration, of course, comes when there are blanks that you wish weren’t blanks, or times you wish it were blank and it’s not. 😉 For instance, I can’t always discover where a particular major was at a particular juncture, because the lives of majors aren’t generally recorded day by day in sources available outside private collections. I’m willing to dig to get my facts–but I’m still on a time schedule myself here, so can only dig so long. So if I have you in New York when you were in Philly, Major, I’m really sorry! 😉
I think it’s a matter of engendering trust with my readers, so I’ll work hard to stick to fact wherever I can. But there are sometimes when I really, really wish I could revise history a bit. How rude of it not to have happened exactly how I need it to for my novels! LOL
Hope everyone’s having a happy Wednesday!
by Roseanna White | Aug 30, 2011 | Uncategorized
A couple weeks ago I gave y’all a sneak peek of Sandi Rog’s upcoming release, Yahshua’s Bridge. I finished reading it while in Oregon, so now you get a full review. =) I’ll start by giving you the back cover copy.
An amethyst stone draws him to his past. An elusive maiden draws him to his future.
Alexander is born into slavery under an abusive master: a master of his own flesh and blood . . . a man he will never call father. Determined to break away from his master’s hold, Alexander devises a plan to purchase his freedom. but what’s he to do when he finds himself shipped off in shackles to Egypt, disappearing from the of lives of everyone he knows and loves?
My official endorsement:
“Stupefying, stunning, and stirring–Yahshua’s Bridge is a tale that takes the reader from the darkest valley to the highest pinnacle of hope. For anyone yearning to go deeper, this story of hearts broken and promises kept will take you there, and leave you astounded by the beauty of our Savior.”
I don’t give words like “stupefying, stunning and stirring” lightly. It takes real skill as a writer and superb story to earn those words from me–and Sandi deserves them all. This was a story unafraid to show us the ugliness of the world, the injustices that can destroy our lives, the cruelties that might plague us. All these are written with what I can only term bravery. It would have been so much easier to tell a story with simpler conflict and a happily-ever-after for everyone involved–but as Sandi said to me, that would have been unfair to all the early Christians and what they went through for their faith.
But she did a truly amazing thing with this story–she showed all that ugliness and depravity, made me growl and cry at what befell her characters . . . and then used it to direct both the characters and the reader to the awe-inspiring glory of God. For every point of pain, there is one of hope. For every stroke of ugliness, there is eclipsing beauty.
Alexander and Elianna have a story of losing all you have at the hands of the world . . . and finding all you need through the provision of the Lord. In this breathtaking sequel to The Master’s Wall you will learn how great is the power of forgiveness, how over-reaching is the hand of our Lord, how unshakable is the bond of true love, and how magnificent are the arms of our Savior.
Weeks after I’ve finished reading, this is the thing that sticks with me most: that whatever happens to me here, my ultimate goal is to cross over that beautiful bridge of light, to escape the shackles of my earthly bondage, and to finally glimpse the face that has twisted in agony for me, to finally put my hand in the ones pierced for my sake.
Wow, this makes it sound like the story is all message, LOL. The message is there, delivered in a masterful way–through a compelling story. The places Alexander and Elianna take us . . . the fun they have, the adventure they find, the direction their lives take . . . WOW. It’s a journey you don’t want to miss. A book you don’t want to miss.
Yahshua’s Bridge releases is a couple months, and as soon as I notice it’s available either for pre-order or order, I’ll be giving a link. Because seriously–you don’t want to miss it!!
by Roseanna White | Aug 29, 2011 | Word of the Week
I know, I know–you probably see my word of the week and wonder, “Why in the world is she talking about shacks?” Well see . . . um . . . LOL. Mostly because I needed to describe some ramshackle dwellings in my book a few weeks ago and was surprised to learn how very new the word shack is. And upon looking a little further, the newness gets even more interesting.
What
www.etymonline.com knows is that the word “shack” appeared in American and Canadian English in 1878. But its origins are mysterious. One quoted possibility is that it’s an Americanization of the Mexican-Spanish
jacal, from Nahuatl
xacall. But that’s pretty much just a guess. Another possibility is that it’s one of those fun back-formations, either of “shackly” (shaky, rickety-1843) or of “ramshackle,” which is from 1830.
I’m always intrigued by words that are back-formations. So often language starts with the words for things, with nouns, and then adjectives come of them. I love finding words that began as adjectives and then got turned into nouns.
And for reference, the only word accurate to 1780 I could find for the idea of “shack” is hovel. Which got a little redundant when describing a whole village of them, LOL. So if anyone knows of any words of similar meaning, let me know! 😉
by Roseanna White | Aug 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
Today for my My Friend Friday feature, I want to draw your attention to a serviceman in desperate need of your prayers. This case was brought to my attention by one of my nearest-by writing friends, the lovely Rita Gerlach. Rita’s niece is the wife of Derrick Miller, a brave Army Guardsman who has been unfairly made an example of by the government.
I’m not usually an anti-government person, and I take pride in our military. Which is why when Rita first told me about the situation her nephew-in-law was in, I had full faith that justice would be served. Unfortunately, recent judgment has disappointed us all. Rather than trying to sum up the situation and getting it wrong, I’m pasting below from www.DefendDerrick.blogspot.com. Please read through what this courageous young man is going through and spend a few minutes in prayer for him and his family, and that the appeal is successful. At the very bottom, you’ll find my usual instructions for the giveaway, but I don’t want to take away from this story by posting it here.
***
Army Guardsman, Sergeant Derrick Miller has been sentenced to life in prison with the chance of parole by the United States Military.
During a combat mission in a hostile area an Afghan man was walking inside their defense perimeter and was brought to Derrick’s attention. He was recognized by several men of being the driver of a truck the day before that was taking insurgents to a nearby village. Intel confirmed the convoy but told US soldiers to let them pass.
Derrick detained the man to ask questions because being inside the defense perimeter he knew this man had reconed the whole area. Testimony and evidence established in the trial that the man, in fact, had walked the entire perimeter according to eye witnesses.
Derrick felt an attack was imminent and detained him for questioning. During the questioning the man reached out and grabbed Derrick’s weapon..there was a struggle for the weapon and then Derrick shot him in self defense.
Within an hour they were attacked on all 4 sides in an extreme complex attacked, which was also testified by many soldiers at the trial. The attack was not a result of the Afghan national being shot. The enemy knew where everything was set up inside the defense perimeter because everything was hit dead on. Where the commander was sitting and having chow moments before was hit by mortars. The only reason he had gotten up was because of the shot fired by Derrick.
Derrick having alerted the men to an imminent attack saved many US soldiers lives that day..to which many testified at the trial.
The prosecution said soldiers are overseas to “win the hearts and minds” of the Afghan people and that Derrick should never have detained the man for questions. Our government expects our soldiers to go overseas to a hostile place to just win the hearts and minds. They would have preferred Derrick allow the man to take his weapon and shoot him rather than Derrick defend himself. The military felt that self defense should not have been used because Derrick was putting his life above that man’s and did not win his heart and mind. So now he’s dishonorably discharged and serving life in prison.
There are media articles but they don’ t do any justice in telling what happened. They even name an Afghan man, and during the whole entire trial he was never mentioned. The trial was held in July, 2011.
MORE:
From the article ‘Eating Our Own’ by Dianna West
http://bigpeace.com/dwest/2011/08/02/another-soldier-convicted-for-actions-in-afghanistan-eating-our-own-some-more/
In a contested jury trial at Fort Campbell KY, SGT Miller was sentenced to life in prison with the opportunity for parole (in 10 years) for killing an Afghan civilian when the civilian grabbed his weapon during harsh questioning. The civilian was identified as a possible insurgent who had been walking through SGT Miller’s platoon defensive perimeter observing their defensive positions. After the shooting the unit was attacked in a complex attack and the ANA soldiers assigned to the platoon pulled back prior to the start of the shooting and hid behind a building.
The witnesses against SGT Miller were a soldier who originally supported SGT Miller’s version of events, but changed his story when he was threatened with being named an accessory and being placed on legal hold so he could not demobilized. The other witness was an Afghan translator who was promised US Citizenship in exchange for his testimony. He was brought to the US in January and has been living at Fort Campbell in a base hotel at $630 per month with a dedicated van to take him wherever he wants to go, and has been fed at taxpayer expense.
Basically, the two witnesses had every incentive to testify the way the Government wanted them to — consistent with guilt rather than SGT Miller’s claim of innocence. SGT Miller cooperated in every way from the date of the shooting, but his command lacked the moral courage to stand behind him.
The Afghans run that area of the country. This guy [the victim] was an insurgent but no one in the freaking military is willing to say so to the two-faced Afghans. They had a firefight that night that was designed to kill Americans — all the while the ANA soldiers were nowhere to be seen. They disappeared just before the shooting started and the fire on American positions was such that the guys targeted were sure that they [the insurgents] had recon of American positions due to this guy and his two military-aged males accompanying him reporting on the positions.
That we waste ONE American life in defense of that country is anathema. The country is completely corrupt; they are cowards unwilling to defend their own country, and we have gotten so deep in defending an indefensibly corrupt regime we cannot extricate our military in a way that allows us to maintain our honor.
***
Roseanna again–please, spare a few prayers for Derrick and his family, and leave a note of encouragement for them on the website above–I doubt they will check this one. But because I have an ongoing Friday-post giveaway, feel free to comment here as well for your entry for this package of books, or on any other Friday post in July or August.
by Roseanna White | Aug 25, 2011 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
As I wrote up the posts about the fun time I had in Oregon, picking and choosing what I ought to share and what I ought not, it got me thinking about a few things of the utmost importance to all of us–and how to balance them.
The first, as my post’s title would indicate, is encouragement. Encouragement is one of the most important parts of faith–the thing that edifies us, that builds us up. Encouragement is born of love and respect, either in a general form or a more familiar one. And I gotta say, it’s one of the biggest blessings on my life.
Writing can be a very solitary endeavor, and after years and years of it, you start to wonder about your own work. I once thought myself an amazing writer–then I learned all I’d done wrong. So I set about relearning, honing the craft, and in a lot of ways starting over. I’ve never quite been able to shake the uncertainty that came with that epiphany. Which is good–I needed a good dose of humility (more on that in a bit, LOL). But it also means that whenever I know someone is reading one of my books, I’m nervous. Wondering if they’ll love it, hate it, or give it a resounding “meh.” (Which may be the worst of the three.)
Because I’m so acutely aware of my own need for encouragement, I will always, always try to offer some to other writers, even if I don’t necessarily like their work. They still put a lot of time and effort into it, and my tastes are hardly the end-all, be-all. In Oregon, one of the ladies who had an appointment with me sat down looking totally dejected. Overwhelmed. Close to tears. So rather than just invite her to launch into her pitch, I talked to her first. Asked her some questions about her experience thus far. Then listened to her tell me about her book. And before I looked at a word she’d written, before I knew if she was the next big thing or destined to shove the manuscript in a drawer forever more, I gave her the words the Lord had placed in my heart before this conference–that He does not discourage, ever. He corrects, He reshapes, and sometimes that’s painful. But He never, ever discourages. I really, truly hope that I gave her a measure of the encouragement that I received from others last week.
And encouragement I received by the bucketful. From the other authors who had read
A Stray Drop of Blood or
Jewel of Persia and took the time to tell me how much they liked it to feedback from agents and editors who had read my work-in-progress–I was floating through much of the conference. Yet with every praise, I felt a pang of caution. It would be easy to let the good stuff go to my head, and brag about it all over creation. But I still remember where that lack-of-humility landed me.
Nowhere.
It’s a strange balance we have to strike. Encouraging others is entirely necessary, and receiving it ourselves can do the work of the Lord. But we then have to careful that we don’t use it to do our own work instead. Encouragement builds us up–but the building must belong to Him.
I think it’s important to have those moments of excitement, and to have those people we can share them with. But I never want to forget that when encouragement rests on someone’s opinion, you can bet the opposite opinion is out there too. I cling to positive feedback, and I incorporate it prayerfully into my life. But I have to incorporate the negative too.
So as we all journey from our valleys to our mountaintops and back again, let’s keep the balance in mind. Let’s find ways to pull up our brothers and sisters when they’re headed downward. And when we’re on the top, riding high, feeling great, full of encouragement, maybe that’s when we’ve got so much to spare that we ought to share it with those around us. Spill it onto them, as I’ve mentioned before.
It’ll do good for those around us, then. And also keep us from focusing too much on ourselves.
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.