Where Ideas Come From - Knight's Bridge

Early in my attempt at writing, I sent out a lot of short stories to anthologies. I even had a couple published. I can still remember the editor who twice rejected submissions to collections with the comment that my stories sounded like they should be novels. I prefer writing the longer length.

From an idle somewhere I came up with a scene of a knight abandoning a losing battle on a strategic bridge and fleeing. I may have been reading a book or watching a TV show that triggered the idea. Based on that brief image I wrote a short story, in the first person present tense, about the knight. He comes across a fleeing woman and her children and turns aside from his own flight to guide them to safety. I fully intended to stop there.

But before I sent the short story out I became interested in what happens next. This turned into a novella in four parts. The next part was the tale told from the point of view of the warlord leading an army across the river in an attempt to attack the defenders of the bridge from the rear. He reaches the town where the woman is sheltering.

The third section dealt with a newly created knight moving toward the bridge as part of a relief force sent to hold the line. Told from his POV it deals with his fears and uncertainty.

The fourth and final section, told by the woman, brings it all together. All sections were told in the present tense. My publisher accepted the novella as written, but told me not to write in the first person present tense again. I agreed. It gave me a slight headache.

Next time I take a look at how some of my tales became trilogies or series.