Writing Like Crazy
With my fiance having spent the better part of a week House-sitting for her mum, I`ve been tapping away like a man possessed, working on my long running Zama project. For those who may not have picked up on the concept of the Zama series, it`s inspired by the works of Colleen McCulloch. Particularly her "Masters of Rome" series.
This series essentially tracks the history and major development of the Late Roman Republic through to the Early Roman Empire as told through the eyes of such pivitol figures as Marius, Sulla, Rufus, Pompei, Brutus and Ceaser. The Zama series is similar in scope, mood and intent, telling the story of a fictional society (combining cultural and military elements from diverse real world civilsations such as Troy, Carthage and Phoenecia) as it endures a gradual descent from supremacy, through stagnation and, finally, dramatic extinction in the wake of a growing external evil and it's own internal corruption.
Its a story I`ve been working on since I first envisioned the culture in question ( in a very rough form) in my earliest short stories (well, paragraphs really) at the age of eight. Finally, now, some twenty years later, I feel I have the emotional and literary maturity to begin telling this tale in earnest. And the words are flowing so swiftly I simply can`t stop. In fact, I should be going to bed. I should be waking up in a minute!
Anyway, as a result of this torrent I haven`t posted anywhere, either here or on the sci-fi writers community, for going-on a month now. That will be rectified shortly with a short essay on leadership theory and practice. Most authors seem more than capable of instinctively grasping exactly what it is that make men follow a charismatic leader into near-certain death. But this coming essay will outline the theory behind leadership (as taught at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst), and explain why not all the worlds great leaders, military or otherwise, led through (or even possessed) charisma.
On the other hand, I have been writing a great deal of ancients "Sword and Sandals" era military fiction recently. Perhaps a basic essay on late bronze/early iron tactics would be more appropriate? Time will tell.
This series essentially tracks the history and major development of the Late Roman Republic through to the Early Roman Empire as told through the eyes of such pivitol figures as Marius, Sulla, Rufus, Pompei, Brutus and Ceaser. The Zama series is similar in scope, mood and intent, telling the story of a fictional society (combining cultural and military elements from diverse real world civilsations such as Troy, Carthage and Phoenecia) as it endures a gradual descent from supremacy, through stagnation and, finally, dramatic extinction in the wake of a growing external evil and it's own internal corruption.
Its a story I`ve been working on since I first envisioned the culture in question ( in a very rough form) in my earliest short stories (well, paragraphs really) at the age of eight. Finally, now, some twenty years later, I feel I have the emotional and literary maturity to begin telling this tale in earnest. And the words are flowing so swiftly I simply can`t stop. In fact, I should be going to bed. I should be waking up in a minute!
Anyway, as a result of this torrent I haven`t posted anywhere, either here or on the sci-fi writers community, for going-on a month now. That will be rectified shortly with a short essay on leadership theory and practice. Most authors seem more than capable of instinctively grasping exactly what it is that make men follow a charismatic leader into near-certain death. But this coming essay will outline the theory behind leadership (as taught at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst), and explain why not all the worlds great leaders, military or otherwise, led through (or even possessed) charisma.
On the other hand, I have been writing a great deal of ancients "Sword and Sandals" era military fiction recently. Perhaps a basic essay on late bronze/early iron tactics would be more appropriate? Time will tell.