Steven’s Comments (group member since Jun 20, 2008)

Steven’s comments from the Q&A with Steven Pressfield group.

Dear Sean and Erin,

Somehow your posts got mashed together on my discussion posting board so forgive me if I answer them together, or rather one after the other. First Sean:

I was just "grabbed" by the story of the Long Range Desert Group, the British special forces outfit that fought against Rommel's Afrika Korps behind the lines in the North African campaign. I loved their old Chevy truck and "rat patrol" jeeps; I loved the "muddling through" aspect of the English soldier (and New Zealanders, which many of them were); and I loved the chivalry of that campaign, where machine gunners of both sides held their fire when crews bailed out of disabled tanks and wounded men of both Axis and Allies were routinely treated side-by-side in dressing stations and hospitals of both sides, in a campaign that Rommel called "Krieg Ohne Hass," War Without Hate. My next book (I hope I won't disapoint you) is even farther from the ancient world, it's set a few years into the future.

Erin, as for your questions about research, it takes of ton of the stuff. The number of hours is into the thousands. Basically, I do it the old-fashioned way. I read books. I take copious notes, mark the hell out of the books themselves; I keep dozens of files on such topics as Slang, Weapons, Geography, Weather, Vehicles, Quotes. Every detail I find, I write it down somewhere and try to work the best ones in where they'll bring the story to life. A book takes me two to two and a half years. In a way, each one is like a Ph.D. I know I've researched a topic enough when I'm reading a book on the subject and I start seeing mistakes in it. When I find myself saying, "That's wrong, it didn't happen like that," then I know I know more than the writer of that particular book. It's total immersion. It's fun!

Here's something else about research, Erin, if you're thinking of tackling a historical subject yourself: don't let doing research stop you from writing. Don't use it as an excuse. Plunge in, shape the story ... you can always alter it if the facts contradict (which they rarely do.) In a writing day, I'll often take the first hour for research-related stuff, like transcribing into files whatever I've been dog-earing in a book I've been studying. After that hour, I stop and get into the actual work. I use the hour to kind of "warm up," before getting down to the really hard part -- the blank page. It works.

I'm not sure what you mean by anachronisms, Matt. The thing about the Spartans is that they were so secretive (as I'm sure you know, we have no actual texts written by a real Spartan, except a few poems and part of their one-paragraph constitution) that we know practically nothing about them. The fiction writer can only travel back on wings of imagination. Who is to say that the actual Spartans didn't train their young men very much as contemporary Marines train their recruits? Who's to say that training for war is any different among the Romans or the Macedonians that it is today with the SAS or the Special Forces? My goal in "Gates of Fire" was to bring back the Spartans exactly as I imagined they must have been, given the fact of course that the book was written for contemporary readers. I never intentionally introduced anachronisms. As for "Rommel," I went to great pains to make everything as accurate as possible, which was a helluva job given that the book is narrated in the first person by a young English officer, so the British English had to be right too, down to period slang, military acronyms and a host of other details. I enlisted the help of a bunch of people, Brits mostly, but unfortunately plenty of inaccuracies slipped through (as I'm finding out now, getting e-mails for living vets and other experts) but for sure I never meant them to. I meant the book to be absolutely accurate and anachronism-free.

Alan, I love all of Mary Renault, particularly "Fire From Heaven" and "The Persian Boy" and I wrote a foreword once for Wallace Breem's "Eagle in the Snow," also a terrific book. Alas, I'm not as well-read in that era as I should be. For some reason, I'm not that interested in historical fiction, even though I write it myself. I much prefer the actual books written at that time. I love Thucydides, Plato, Herodotus, Xenophon, Plutarch. That's the fun of it for me. I could read those books over and over -- and I do.

I've thought of it, Hotspur, but the timing has never been right. Also I don't feel as congenial with Rome as I do with Greece. Maybe it has to do with previous lives. You are obviously a smart and well-read guy. Maybe YOU should take a shot at one of those topics. I'm serious.

Good questions, Richard. If you want to know everything about my internal process for writing, pick up my book "The War of Art." It tells everything I know (almost.) As for the Muses, I'm a total believer. There were nine sisters, as you know, so there's more than enough of them to go around. And yes, sometimes a book or character starts asserting itself/himself/herself and take the story where it wants to go. I always let it. Those turn out often to be the best parts.

Hotspur, I never pick a topic because it's safe (what writer does?) and I'm more than a little pissed off that you would even suggest that. Tell me, what's so daring about replacing Rommel with Guderian or Von Runstedt or Manstein in a novel? They were all basically strategic generals, behind the lines in staff postings, except Guderian who was out of action after France -- unlike Rommel who was in the forefront of every action. What kind of a story would we get out of going after a staff general? Are you a frustrated writer, Hotspur? Please don't take it out on me.

Welcome, everyone who's interested. Please feel free to open any topic relating to "Killing Rommel" or any other book of mine (or anyone else's.) Ask anything except "When will there be a movie of 'Gates of Fire?'" Not soon, I'm afraid, thanks to "300!" (Oh, and don't ask what I thought of "300.")

Talk to you soon ...
Steven Pressfield