Getting the Facts Straight (Not to Mention the Dates.)

I’m busy writing the third novel in my The Lost King series.  I have written the first few chapters.

At the same time I am busy sorting out the plot.  I am doing this by listing all the known events which took place in the years 1070 to 1076 when the novel is set.  I then put next to this what I imagine my hero Edgar Atheling would be doing in relation to these events.  Some, of course, are noted in the Anglo-Saxon chronicle and other sources.  Others I have to surmise from allusion.

The interesting and challenging part of this is trying to sort out dates to firmly tie the historical and fictional events together.  I have learnt this afternoon when the following events occurred: the Nones of June , Easter Day, Lent and the mass-day of Saint Grimbald.  (If you don’t know it, and I didn’t, Saint Grimbald was a big friend of King Alfred the Great.)  For the purposes of the novel and because I could not find out otherwise I have assumed that his mass-day was the same as his feast day.  (If anyone knows different please get in touch.)

I then like to look at conflict points and link these with the merged historical and fictional events. Finally, just to keep an eye on the overall flow, I see if the story accords in any way to Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey.  Interestingly, it does, although with several repetitions and loops which is fine by me.

Now I’d better get back to writing it.