So now the hunt is on…for English folk songs that would have been sung during the first half of the C17th… if you know any, please do comment. NB: they must be English, Welsh, Cornish or Scottish (in English of course). This is a very English story so I doubt lyrics from the New World would have made it over (I am not going to debate that point, this is how I’m limiting my search).
This is for Ambrose of course. He has changed, this character. Originally an ambiguous (is he or isn’t he a witch?) secondary character in my Civil War book, he now gets a mention in the title which is: “The Lost Son of Ambrose Garfield.” I don’t really know why I keep calling it my Civil War book either; the book opens in 1633 and then jumps to 1653 (this is the English Civil War in case you’re wondering. Yep, that’s right folks, we cut off the head of our king first!) While the central narrative of the story will focus on Valentine Garfield, the eponymous “lost son”, and his return to some type of health, there will be passages from or rather about the twenty years in which Ambrose wandered England in search of him. So, this will take in the English Civil War, early modern life on the roads (laws of vagabondage, anyone?) as well as hints about what happened on that fateful night (for we simply must have one of those) and Ambrose’s trade as a healer.
It is all terribly exciting but, at the moment, I am having trouble getting Val out of bed. The thing is this, before I threw myself wholeheartedly into “And I Shall Be Healed” (the WW1 book which will be published next year, even if I have to do it myself) I had written about 50k of this Civil War book. Now, the story has changed considerably but the basic plot hasn’t. The temptation to cut and paste is overwhelming. Cutting and pasting is ok, but it must skip along hand in hand with FIERCE proof-reading to make sure everything fits. So far it needs tailoring but I reckon if I just push on through I can sort out the hems and seams later on, once I have cut my cloth.
So it’s not really a problem yet. I have, however, abandoned the version of the story I was writing immediately before Nice following an insomniac night when I came to the conclusion that the plot doesn’t work! Gah! So uncertain am I at present (and mindful of the fact that the plot I’ve just thrown out had formed the bulk of the synopsis I had sent to my potential publisher) that I almost reinstated the thing on Monday. However, I shall hold firm for I know that what lies ahead is going to be worth the work. Casting on is always difficult.
Talking about casting on, it’s almost time for me to cast off, on the bike tonight (push, not motor) so I wish you well and bid you adieu for now.
Anon, good friends!
Pen Poised 