Your Questions

Q

Dear Bernard What I cannot figure out is if you are in a battle and if you are physically fighting and the battles goes on for hours - You may be able to fight for 10, 15, 20 minutes but somewhere along the line you are going to get exhausted. What usually happened? Say for instance a medievil battle. What did they do pretend to fight each other but not putting any heart in it? Or pretend you're dead. People could not fight for long periods of time. This covers different battle periods. Which makes me think there most have been a lot of people who were not bloodthirsty and did not really want to hurt anybody unless no choice. I just wondered. Bill Edgar

Submitted July 26, 2006

A

Two questions here, really. Yes, there must have been men who didn't want to get stuck in, and I'm sure they did their best to be in the rearmost ranks, and if they had the misfortune to be in the front then they probably ended up dead pretty quickly. And yes, they did get exhausted, which is why the battles tend to have natural 'breaks' while units are reformed. I wrote about Crecy in Harlequin and the battle did have episodes, mostly dictated by the French attacks, but in between those attacks (imagine ten minutes off frenzy) there were quite long periods when the two sides disengage and wait for the next move. Similarly, in The Pale Horseman, the clashes of the shield wall are relatively brief (again, about ten minutes of frenzy) and, if neither side has an advantage, they withdraw and regroup.

Q

hi bernard, just a quick note to say how much i am enjoying reading your books, i started in spain and have ended up in wessex, although i've just started the saxon books i love the humour ... i've laughed out loud a few times. the reason for my note is due to your corrospondent who has just finished her novel and was asking about editors etc. I too am attempting my first book and came across a site called http://publishamerica.com and wondered if you had heard of them? they seem to be actively encouraging the little guy / gal. tony

Submitted July 26, 2006

A

Good for them! But I confess I haven't heard of them or know anything about them. I've just looked at their website, but nothing there would change my usual advice which is, that if you write a book, get an agent. Agents are skilled at finding publishers, authors usually are not.

Q

Hello Mr Cornwell, I love your books and have just finished readng the Lords of the North, I loved your Arthur books and the best read ever was Stonehenge and would love you to please please write another story like it. but your Saxon books were so close to me as I live in East Kennett in Wiltshire and look out on the countryside next to my house which you have written about in these novels and would love to know if you have been here and walked here to get your inspiration, if not you will always be welcome to our village and can sit in my field in East Kennett. which to the left has a view of west kennett long barrow and silbury hill, with the Avebury avenue in front and the santury to the left, while my house backs on to the East Kennett long barrow, you have brought me many hours of great pleasure reading your fabulous books.

I have one last question, have you ever thorght of writing about the ring of brodgar in orkney and how it got their and its viking back ground as I think that would make a great read. yours with loads of thenks Mrs Nicky Boon

Submitted July 26, 2006

A

How very kind - and what an invitation! I've walked the area frequently - I suspect that I've visited the Long Barrow at least twenty times, and Avebury even more often. I think I only made one pilgrimage to Silbury Hill, despite being in the area so often, mainly because I find it impossible to understand the hill's function, so it leaves me somewhat cold. The last time I drove past the hill there was a stark naked man doing sun salutations on the summit. I imagine you get a lot of that!

My suspicion is that the ring predates the Vikings? Uhtred could well get to the Orkneys and meet the Norse who live there. In which case I'm sure he'll find the ring.

Q

Hi Bernard, I've been a fan of yours for the past 3 years, ever since I read Heretic in one sitting at the local bookstore over tea (I bought it afterward). Since then I've read the GQ trilogy, both Saxons and 15 of the Sharpe books. A question about the movies. I've been recording them each week (love them), and was wondering if you knew the circumstances why David Troughton only played Wellington in two of them. Not knocking Hugh Fraser, he's good, but I thought Troughton captured the image and character of Wellington better. Thanks, and good luck on your next book.
Charles Curtis

Submitted July 26, 2006

A

I have a lithograph of Wellington in his prime and he looks exactly like Hugh Fraser! But David Troughton did a superb job, I thought, and wonderfully captured Wellington's anti-social side. He stopped playing the part solely because of illness, which was a pity. I gather he's fine now, but Hugh had already stepped into his boots.

Q

Hi, just started reading Lords of the North and something occurred to me - Apologies if you've already been asked this a thousand times before, but I've noticed that in the Saxon Stories, Uhtred, being fluent in Danish, seems to be one of the few Saxons who can speak with the Northmen. But I had always thought that Danish (Norse) and Old English were mutually intelligible in those days anyway. Or is that a myth? Anyway, I'm loving the series and hope there will be plenty more to come. Regards, Sam.

Submitted July 26, 2006

A

They were fairly intelligible (there's a passage in The Lords of the North about it), but remember that a Saxon speaker from Northumbria probably couldn't understand a Saxon speaker from Devon - or would find it hard. Language was made difficult by dialect, so yes, a Dane and a Saxon could probably get by with a fair amount of shouting and gestures, but there must have been an enormous amount of misunderstanding going on.

Q

Dear Bernard, This isn't really an idea for a book. It's just that I've really enjoyed your Starbuck Chronicles, have learnt a lot from them about the American Civil War and feel frustrated that I don't how the story develops after Antietam. You say that you've sent Starbuck on vacation because he's becoming too much like Sharpe. Fair enough but how about some more civil war books based on Swynyard or Turnlin or both? They are interesting characters and can take the place of Starbuck in finishing off the series. Best wishes, Terry Hartery

Submitted July 26, 2006

A

When I go back it will be to Starbuck! The others are 'supporting characters'. It will happen . . . one day

Q

I realise that the filming of Arthur has been done so many times and in so many ways that I suppose you have no intention of allowing the story to be retold as you have written it. However, your rewriting of the Arthur tale was simply the best I have ever read, and I would still love to see a film or tv adaptation of this fine work. I also loved the very brief mention of Arthur in the Pale Horseman. Will there be any filming of the Winter King etc?
Nic Smith

Submitted July 26, 2006

A

I'd love to see it happen but I fear it may prove too expensive.

Q

I loved The Pale Horseman. But I have a question....you introduce a Monk called Asser, of whom you describe as a problem to Uhtred for some time to come. However early on in the book he disappears and I expected him to reappear at some point, but disappointly does not. Will he be in the next book?
Nic Smith

Submitted July 26, 2006

A

I think he will. He is, so far, in the scrap that's written, but that could change. I took a liberty by introducing Asser so early to the story, because in reality he only seems to have come into Alfred life around 885, though there's no reason why they shouldn't have encountered each other earlier. I can see why you were frustrated by his non-reappearance, but when you're writing a long series then you plant some things like Asser early on to provide material for the later books. But I think he'll be around for a long time (as he was in reality).

Q

Dear Bernard, I've noticed that many readers have sought your advice about researching their novels, and I've noted your answers. But where, in your opinion, should the line between historical fact and imagination lie? What can we make up, and what should we ensure is the truth? I think, if a writer struggles to find all the information he/she needs, there is no other option but to make it up. No?

And just another little niggle of mine: Have you ever thought about who fathered Richard Sharpe? Do you think it's something Sharpe himself would ever be concerned about? Thanks! Paul, County Cork.

Submitted July 26, 2006

A

Yes. And even if the historical novelist finds the truth, he or she might need to change it, because your primary job as a novelist is to tell a story, not be an historian. On the other hand I think you have to stay true to history, by which I mean faithful to the broad flow of events and to the outcome of whatever story you're telling. I suppose it's a fine line, but, for instance, in Sharpe's Company I have Sharpe succeeding in fighting through one of the breaches of Badajoz. No one did, and it was the feint attack on the castle walls which surprisingly succeeded, but for me the drama of the night was in the breaches, and so I changed history - but not the result of the siege. And imagination will fill in LOTS of gaps, if it doesn't then you're not writing a novel.

I know exactly who fathered him and I ain't saying. Does it bother him? It hasn't yet, but it might, and if it does then I'll let him find out . . . but so far it hasn't crossed his mind.

Q

Hi Bernard. Thank you for signing my books at the Jorvik Centre in York earlier this year. It was a great pleasure to see you there and, had my husband been willing to carry more books than just the paltry six he agreed to, I would have brought them all! Anyway, I have another motive for sending this message, in that I have almost finished my first novel and have a list of agents to whom I will be sending my manuscript, but one thing still puzzles me. I have come across lots of references to Editors etc and people charging monies to copy-edit manuscript before sending them to an agent. I suppose my question is whether this is what I should do or is expected of or necessary? I have obviously been re-reading myself and getting others to also, but wasn't sure whether hiring someone to correct my errors is something that would be done before or after it has been accepted by an editor. I would be most grateful if you could enlighten me on this? Kind regards, Jane

Submitted July 21, 2006

A

NO. NO. NO, NO! Don't do it! What will persuade an editor to buy your book is not the matchless prose, but the story. If that is compelling, then the publishing house will provide all the copy-editing you need for free. And don't use an agent who charges a reading fee! I know that's easy for me to say, but it's a horrible practice . . . but for all I know it might be impossible to find an agent who doesn't charge a fee these days. What the publisher wants from you is promise. They need to see it's a terrific read. They'll cope with some stylistic horrors, but they can never cope with dullness. Write your tale, make it sparkle, and let the publisher put on the final touches of varnish if they're needed.