Armistice and Updates
On November 11, 2018 by adminGreetings Scribblers,
I’ve spent the last few months toiling away at my next big project, working title Forever England. As usual, writing occurs between an ever-increasingly busy schedule of actual life, but my characters, plots, transitions, are always on my mind.
While the first book of the Shadows in Drab and Green trilogy focuses on the characters careening toward revolution in Ireland, the second book switches focus to my English characters and the traumatic experience of war. As I weave these characters into a deepening plot, I am focused on changing reader perspective. Whereas in White Dove, I pitch the argument for Irish nationalism, in Forever England, I delve into the intricacies of the relationship between England and Ireland and work to drive empathy for the horrific British experience of war. Having long been a student of the First World War, I base my plot lines as closely as possible in the actual history of the time, leaning heavily on information from non-fiction works, such as Tommy’s War, by Richard van Emden, and The Marne, 1914, by Hoger Herwig.
Just as I spent the first book luring readers into the historical viewpoint of the Irish, I devote the second to weaving a story that exposes the time period from the British point of view. If I am successful, readers will begin to see the Irish characters they came to love from White Dove in a different light, and come to understand the complex nature of the relationship between England and Ireland during this time period.
As you might guess, Book Three (yet to have a working title), again will force readers to reconsider what they thought they knew about the characters and the direction of their story.
While this trilogy has been many years in the planning and fewer in the works, I have been very cognizant of the anniversaries that have occurred while I have been trying to put my thoughts and plotlines to paper. Since I began this project, we’ve passed the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising, and now– the 100th anniversary of the armistice. Remembering this tumultuous period, the shocking loss of life–of an entire generation, the complete rearrangement of European society, and the horrific experience of the WWI soldier is vital to understanding the world we live in today. In many ways, the current world mirrors aspects of the early 20th century. The lessons that were so hard fought and so, so costly, are ones we can never afford to forget.
So, on this 100th anniversary of the Armistice, I encourage you to pause and to remember. As each book in this series is/will be named after a WWI poem, I’ll leave you with a few lines from For the Fallen, a poem by Robert Binyon that is often recited at WWI memorials all across Europe:
“…They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We shall remember them…”