On holding
your first published book
by Christine Hancock
It has been delivered.
It was
brought by a large van and arrived at my door in a cardboard box, five boxes,
in fact. The copies of my debut novel; Bright Sword.
How do I feel?
It is like giving birth. I don't
know whether to laugh or cry. I touch it carefully, stroke it's soft skin. I
check it has the right number of pages and that everything is in the right
place. How did I manage to produce this beautiful thing?
It all started a long time ago,
five years almost to the day. On a cold day in January 2013, I joined a class
at the local Adult Education Centre. I was a keen family historian with a
flourishing blog. I wanted to write about the people I had discovered -
non-fiction of course.
That Christmas I tried to write a
short story about one of them, a pirate (doesn't everyone likes a pirate?) I
found it difficult. I wondered why. I saw the class advertised: Writing
Fiction. Why not give it a go? It would be a bit of fun. Little did I know it
would change my life.
Each week we were set exercises,
learning different aspects of writing, preferably from our "Work in Progress". For
several weeks I floundered. What was my WIP? I flirted with a Victorian
painter, considered my pirate; did I know enough about ships? Then, gradually
he revealed himself. Byrhtnoth, a tenth century Anglo-Saxon warrior, famous for
a glorious death in battle. He was old, about my age, which nowadays is not
old!
I wanted to find out more. What
had turned him into this hero? I couldn't find much. He appears in history here
and there. We know his father's name, but not his mother's. We know he married
and her name. But where was a born and where did he live? Nothing. The perfect
subject for a novel. Even the period was right - midway between King Alfred and
1066, no one else seemed to be writing about it. I had found my WIP.
Together we went back to the
start. I mothered him when he was an orphaned child. I worried as he made
friends, and enemies. We had our moments of crisis, when we nearly gave up. Now
he is a man and I have fallen in love with him, and now our child has arrived,
a publisher acting as midwife.
What will happen to our child?
Will it be successful or will it fail, dying in poverty and disgrace?
I know it isn't perfect, all
books have their faults, especially a first book. Everything is new. Are you
doing things right or should you have tried something different?
I will try again. The next one
will be better.
For the story hasn't ended. My
hero thinks he has grown up, but he still has a long life before him. The book
has become a series. I am writing book three and have plans for the fourth.
After that, who knows?
But for now, I hold this, my
first book. It is a wonderful feeling. Will I feel the same about the next?
Perhaps not. For the first time is always special.
© Christine Hancock
"England in the tenth century is close to peace, but the king is still in need of warriors. At the age of seven, his mother dead, Byrhtnoth is sent to train with other boys, but suffers as he has no father's name. He is shown a sword, his father's sword, and he is told that it will be his when he proves himself a man. When the girl he loves is captured by the Vikings he is sent to rescue her. A king tragically dies and Byrhtnoth blames himself. Can he overcome his fears and discover the truth about his father? Will he live long enough to become a man and claim the sword?"
"England in the tenth century is close to peace, but the king is still in need of warriors. At the age of seven, his mother dead, Byrhtnoth is sent to train with other boys, but suffers as he has no father's name. He is shown a sword, his father's sword, and he is told that it will be his when he proves himself a man. When the girl he loves is captured by the Vikings he is sent to rescue her. A king tragically dies and Byrhtnoth blames himself. Can he overcome his fears and discover the truth about his father? Will he live long enough to become a man and claim the sword?"
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Buy the book
Congratulations, Christine. Enjoyed it very much and you must feel very proud
ReplyDeleteThank you Richard. I wrote the article so that I would remember the feeling.
ReplyDeleteMany congratulations of the birth of your newborn. May he flourish!
ReplyDeleteThanks Karen. You played your part in the process, but I don't want to press a metaphor too far.
ReplyDelete