A Network of Roots

Well, I'm completing Year 65 of military history today. Might get a year or two more in. It's still a slow process, despite the improvements I have made in procedure. The improvements make it easier to correct mistakes, which I just found another for Year 64 and 63. Will have the corrections made in ten minutes with complete assurance no further errors remain for those years.

Have not returned to Prophecies of Madatar to edit the word count down. My Swords of Fire time is being taken up with the military history.

Have managed to write a couple other things, though. My Panthera story on the Legion Of On-Line Super Heroes blog is tooling along. And I've started another hero story, which will post tomorrow. Also, on Thursday, Stacy has a new edition to her Ana: Maiden Elf Warrior. All good stuff. Well worth the read.

It still strikes me as almost funny that, in order to know the real names of the warriors mentioned in Tavaar's Backstory I am working 352-years of military history. Does it really matter who was there? Was it Nayvahl who became Tavaar's second in command? Or was it someone else? And regarding the inquiry, was Sampka really a General? And Seratahn and Muflin Commanders? I suppose not really. But it's just that if I've got those names wrong, then what else is wrong? Maybe the story doesn't make sense after all.

I realize that, for the most part, today's audience doesn't give a d*mn about continuity. They don't care that characters traverse great distances in short amounts of time. They don't care about background history. Whenever a name is needed, just pull one out and use it. And should a writer wish to invest the time in such matters they are told to "knock it off" and just get on with the story. What they don't understand is - that is the story.

Trees and shrubs are only able to stand in proportion to their root systems, and how firmly they are entrenched in the ground. If either the ground or the roots is unstable the plant is likley to topple. We don't see the roots. (Unless we've got a silver maple growing in the yard.) the roots don't matter to us. We walk the ground above them and don't care.

So, too, with a story. An epic one anyway. The bigger the story the more extensive the root system required. Sometimes, what's below the surface exceeds what can be seen. It's important. It gives the the story its strength: credibility.

And so the work goes on. The story above ground is extensive. I hope and pray that one day the world will get to read it. Meanwhile, the roots continue to develop.