Scribbler
just a quick note (aren't they all?)
Okay, so this is supposed to be a quick note just to let you know where I’m going with this. I don’t suppose a lot of you out there have read Sir Thomas Mallory’s LE MORTE D’ARTHU? I love it. It has a glossary in the back telling you the meaning of all those Olde English words within the text, as well as an index of all the characters. When I originally came up with the idea for this story, probably 15-20 years ago, all I had for reference was Mallory, and Tennyson—THE IDYLLS OF THE KING—the which I ‘took’ home from the school library way back in 1974’ish. I was the only one to have signed the book out.
Anyway, I digress (as they so often say about me). I liked the idea of a story about King Arthur because it hadn’t been done as I had foreseen it. And then THE MISTS OF AVALON came out. I loved it. I saw that it could be looked at from a different slant. I hadn’t bothered with Jack Whyte’s “Arthurian” books because I didn’t want to be influenced by the story he had to tell. I have my Mallory, so I have a plot line I can follow. I have certain characters I want to introduce. Bedivere, for one. Tennyson calls him the first made and last left—which I changed when I told my little dragon story with Grummer as an old man with one leg. He survived the last battle because he never fought in it. So Grummer was always going to be a major character. As was Lamorack De Gales. He’s the third best knight in the realm, after Launcelot and Tristram. And now I have Ector De Maris, the half-brother of Launcelot. And here’s the kicker. He’s not even supposed to be in the story as I first envisioned it. The story is supposed to be about Locksley. He’s a young Knight making his way to Camelot to take part in his first tournament; it’s about the politics at Court; and love.
He’s the boy that was rescued from the flames of the fort when it was attacked at the outbreak of the War of the Twelve Kings. His father and mother are killed. So, fast forward 10 years, and Arthur’s army all but stumbles onto Lot’s army. We meet Arthur for the first time, as well as King Pellinore (with two of his sons: Lamorack and Percival.) We also meet Bedivere. He is The Sword of the King. It’s through Bedivere we get to meet Sir Grummer and young Locksely, (in the tent with a whore at the moment Bedivere arrives.) Grummer calls his old friend “Beddie”. Just a little comic relief.
This is in the 2nd part of the prologue. The battle is off screen. Locksley becoming a knight, is off screen. In fact, we fast forward three years, and follow Locksley and Sir Grummer on the road to Camelot. For my point of reference, I’m using Mallory’s two books of Tristram. But I found this really cool site that says it’s a Mythological Encyclopedia. Here’s the link: Nightbringer
I can see this is going to be a long story. I want to write it as a serial novel. That’s the same way A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO TIME TRAVEL was written. I just write it to entertain myself primarily, as I try to keep the story straight in my head. When I originally started writing it, I was already telling myself that I could make it into a series of books, and follow the life of my young knight until he dies in the final battle…because hey, everybody died in the final battle, didn’t they? But there’s so much more to the story. Gawain and the Orkney knights have a blood vendetta against Pellinore, because he killed King Lot. They hate all of his kin.
The story is behind the Paywall. And it’s going to stay there. All, or any, of the books I write will go behind the Paywall. My short stories will always be FREE. “STORIES AFTER 8,” sounds like a pretty good title, because they’ll all be going out after 8 pm.
The second part of the PROLOGUE is going up tomorrow. 6:00 am, so two of my Paid for Friends can read it when they wake up. (And Lor? I sure hope you’re reading this aloud the way Bob told me it should be, all those years ago.) Murr, if you want me to read this to you, let me know, and I’ll do a reading of the next chapter. There’s only six of you, so anything you want, I’m pretty willing to do. Sonia? We can do lunch if you want to catch up with the last, what, 50 years? And I—or is that Eye?—I guess I’ll be seeing you when I pick you up at the airport? Oh yeah, and Murr? Don’t you be sharing this with your wife once it’s goes up behind the Paywall. She has to buy her way in, just like you did.
My next FREE, “Story After 8”, is something I’m a little nervous about. It’s the first thing I started writing after what happened at work (see my Scribles section Sept 7, 2021: IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, STEVE.1) I had to put it to the side because I was about to start writing my Time Travel story. When I went back to the story, I changed it, and felt good about it. The line that sticks out for me is when the Mother says: "I want to die in Florence." That's what my wife said to me when we went there, pre-Covid. She also said, "If I ever run away from you, this is where I'm going." I said: "If I come looking for you, I won't look very hard."
I knew I was going to have to change things in the story when I came back to it after writing my Time Travel story for the NaNoWriMo2. The story had around 10,000 words at the time. I changed the whole story by changing the first page—page an’ a half. I turned the entire story on its ear with the stroke of a pen—okay, keyboard--and the story almost wrote itself. (Still, so much easier than using a typewriter.) I knew I wanted to make the Uncle’s character a homosexual. I don’t know why I felt I had to do that, but I think it was because I thought I was going more for the “twisted POW survivor abuses his young nephew”, than I was: “Gay, Alcoholic Uncle, traumatized by POW survivor’s guilt…” I can’t tell you the rest, except that there are complications. (Well, there is a little sideline he has going for himself.) You’ll have to read it when it comes out this Sunday.
A lot can be said about writing without a plot when you write short stories, though. Had I plotted the story the way I thought it was supposed to go when I first came up with the idea, I would never have finished it. With the Chinese whore? Not only would the title have offended everyone and their uncle, but the story wouldn’t have worked out properly.
What I mean is, if you don’t want to get roped in to buying me a cup of coffee, even as you’re thinking: his writing’s pretty good—I should support him because I think he might have something here. I’ll give him the $5/month.
Probably the most horrific thing that could happen to anyone, it put everything in my life on the back burner, including my writing. But I had an idea for a story. The Title came first. MY FATHER’S CHINESE WHORE. Totally inappropriate I was told. The only one who agreed that it was a pretty cool title was my wife and a few friends of my generation. My daughter and her contemporaries? Not so much.
NaNoWriMo stands for: National Novel Writing Month. I takes place in November. They recommend 50,000 words. I needed more. There is no Prize. It’s a challenge to yourself. Like golf.