I’d like to start the email with something that I’m sure you’ve heard countless times: I really like your books. I’m trying to write a book too, even if it’s more a hobby (because I really enjoy doing it) than an attempt to get it published. I’m writing in norwegian, a language that I know much better than english (this is a nice way to apologize for my imperfect english). I hope I’m not pushing any of the limits that you have enlisted above, like telling you about my plot or plot twists, but I hoped you could give me some simple advice. My manuscript starts with a battle, and the outcome is crucial for the rest of the story and character development, but somebody has pointed out that starting a book with a battle is a weird thing to do, so I was wondering if you think that such a thing is possible. The other thing is about the storytelling itself. I really enjoyed reading about Uhtred from his perspective, but for my book I was thinking about having several characters telling the story, maybe by giving the main characters two or three chapters each, but I’m not sure if such a thing could work.

Once again, I hope I’m not pushing any of the limits.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Stefano Dell’Aitante