Mr. Cornwell,

 

I am currently reading the last section of The Pagan Lord in your Saxon Tales, and I am so emotionally attached to the characters, I fear to read on! Jarl Cnut is scary!

 

I am truly enjoying this series, and I am embarrassed to admit I ran into it on Netflix; it’s so much more classy to say I ran across the books first. It was your amazing story that drew me in, and then I HAD to read the books. I do hope Netflix or the BBC picks up your later books and makes more seasons of The Last Kingdom.

 

As for me, I’m writing my dissertation at the University of Texas at present, and I find writing to be dull and painful. Scientific writing takes fascinating research and makes it so terribly boring! I’ve been told by my professors that what I say should be interesting but the way I write it should be extremely dry.

 

I used to love writing, and now it feels as though someone is stabbing me in the eye with my own pen! I still love reading, as long as it’s not the painfully boring writing of academia.

 

I say that to prepare you for a couple of questions. First, is creative writing (not this boring stuff I’m doing), once you find that powerful story, truly fun? Even when you’re being edited and under pressure from fans for more?

 

Second, how do you select which story arc to use? I have so many ideas in my mind, and I find it difficult to select just one about which to write.

 

Finally, and I don’t know if you know the answer to this, but why does academia demand that their writing be so boring? One advisor told me reading my writing was like listening to NPR: too interesting. Is it simply prestige? Wouldn’t it be better to write so that everyone could understand and implement the research?

 

Thank you so much for your time and for tolerating my academic complaints. I dream of one day being able to open my imagination and paint fantastic scenes for a reader to enjoy.

 

Best,

Dana Stewart