Your Questions

Q

Dear Bernard, after noticing that you grew up in Essex and that you are writing about the Vikings would a novel on the battle of Maldon ever be in the works?????

And in regards to Sharpe. Will Sharpe get to Albuera it was the first geunine Allied victory of British/Spanish and Portugese all figthing side by side as well as the most vicious and at Albuera it's said the French used Napoleon's famed mixed order of both coloum and line. I wondered if there were any other peninsular battles that it was used???

btw I can recommend the new book 1715 on the Jacobite rebellion of that time as worth a read and wondered if you had ever considered the Jacobites at all??? All the best Geraint

Submitted November 8, 2006

A

A tale of Saxon idiocy! Yes, it tempts me because I know the site well. But when? Lord only knows!

I honestly don't know. If he does then it will be the next Sharpe book, and I won't begin writing that for at least a year, so I don't have to make the decision yet. It tempts me, it really does, but I've rather boxed myself in for time - not sure I can get him there, but we'll see. Not sure the French really mixed line and column except by accident (they were blinded by the rainstorm) - except that the column was always supposed to deploy into a line eventually - it was just that they rarely were given time.

Another tempting one! Don't know. I have the book, and enjoyed it, but though I really am tempted there's so much else to write first! Thank you

Q

Mr. Cornwell, I read your advice to new writers and found the part about dissecting three successful novels interesting. I've heard a few other published authors discuss this, but no one has ever really gone into much detail on it. Do you remember how you went about that? You described what you put into it, but I'm a little lost on the form. Did you create a chart for chapter 1 of one book, and then two charts for the other two books' chapter 1, continuing on to the end of each work? I'm not asking for a detailed analysis, just a little clarification, if you please. I greatly enjoyed reading the article as a whole, and no matter how many times I hear an author such as yourself say they used to get frustrated and wonder if their writing wasn't up to snuff, it still gives me a tiny spark. Thanks for your time and your wonderful books. I read Winter King during a particular stressful time in my life and the story helped me escape for a bit each day. Thanks, Andrew Brooks

Submitted November 7, 2006

A

No - dissected them individually! Don't think a side by side comparison of chapters would have yielded much. The idea was to see how those authors paced their books - so I used giant graph paper, so many squares per page, and marked where there was action, where background explanation, where flashback, where romance, where dialogue and so on. Used one giant chart per book. Basically it's a learning process - taking a book apart and seeing how the author did what he did. He was probably unconscious of what he did! But it still yielded all sorts of interesting ideas!

Q

would you consider writing an historical novel about Scotland from it's beginning?somehow I think you would make a great story of it,please consider it and I'll pray that you get the inspiration,thanks, a fan from Canada

Submitted November 7, 2006

A

I genuinely believe that's a job best left to a Scot! And I'd love to read it! I've never lived in Scotland, so I'd always be stretching a bit to describe what a native born writer would find easy.

Q

I am writing the first chapter of a novel for my GCSE english coursework and I have set it in saxon times, I need to know what Alfred the Great's crest/arms were. if you could tell me that would be great. Thanks, Tom

Submitted November 7, 2006

A

He's really pre-heraldry! So he won't have a coat of arms as such. The symbol of Wessex was a green wyvern (two-legged dragon) and I guess that's as close as we could come. My own bet is that he deployed a banner with Christian symbolism, but what that was, we don't know. Maybe the cross?

Q

Just finished Sharpe's Fury--thank you! Many of us have long wanted to know more about young Sharpe's upbringing, and also his first few years in the military. It seems to me that Fury is the first time some real detail was given about Sharpe's "gutter education" with quotes from some of the teachings of three of his street "mentors." Is this a hint of good things to come, with an early Sharpe book (or two) in the near future??? Jesse C. Giles, MD

Submitted November 7, 2006

A

I really don't want to take him back in time again - it throws up far too many problems of continuity, but I am tempted to deal with his early years in a series of short stories - and that might well happen.

Q

Hello Mr Cornwell, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your efforts. Since discovering your books, which I have now read in full, I have devloped an almost insatiable appetite for the genre. I now spend much more of my time with a book in my hand and have laid to rest the remote control. Although, of course, I still watch my Sharpe DVD's. Again, thank you for helping me to develop a genuine interest in reading; a passion that really does open whole new worlds, not only to me, but also within me. PS, I notice that you often link independent sentences with "and", but do not use a comma. Is this merely your style, or is there a basis for this that I am as of yet unaware? Again, the world of books is relatively new to me, so forgive my ignorance in this matter. Craig McManus

Submitted November 7, 2006

A

You're probably unaware, and so am I!! I guess it's style, though that word is probably too posh for what I do. I use the comma when I feel the sense needs it, but not otherwise, and I suspect purists would disapprove of the way I deploy it.

Q

Dear Mr Cornwell! Permit me to present myself briefly. I'm a former french soldier (have spent eight years in the French Foreign Legion, leaved last month) and I've enjoied these years very well. I was born in 1974 in the Kirghizstan (former URSS), have finished my studies of physics, tried some jobs and finally found myself in this army. I'm reading your books, it was at first Arthur's series (which I consider as the most romantic books that I ever read and I have read many, I assure you), after what The Grail quest series, The Gallows thief and now Sharpe's series (I'm reading Sharpe's Regiment actually). What have impressed me first was the fact that you describe very precisely a soldier's psychology. It was in Arthur's books, and especially in Sharpe's. More, the Legion is similar to the British army of this period as you describe it. There are many people who are very far from be an angel, some came to escape their troubles, some to seek adventure, many for money, but they became fine soldiers. Very often, the characters in your books match real people, which I met in the Legion, good and bad. At first I thought that you've been in the army to know so much about, but now, when I've read your biography, I know that you haven't. I suppose that real artist doesn't need to do the thing to have the experience, they can imagine it, but I'm wondering always how could you find out how an army works and lives without having been in? Thank you for losing your time to read my message, I hope that it was a little pleasure to know that somewhere in the world there is one more reader who admire your books. Now I'll continue to enjoy Sharpe's Regiment, these books are never similar, each time I'm astonished by new Sharpe's adventure, really you aren't short of ideas! Good inspirations! Mr. Tchinguiz KAMTCHIBEKOV

Submitted November 7, 2006

A

Thank you! How do I find out how an army works and lives without having been in? I guess the same way a crime writer discovers about murder without killing anyone!

Q

Hello again, I am trying to write my 1st novel about the American Civil war (more importantly the Irish involvement) and was wondering if you could answer a few questions. (1) When I tell my friends Im writing a book they all want to be in it, but I dont know how to do that without changing my story dramatically any ideas?

(2) I know when you wrote Rebel you did quite a bit of research and was wondering if recommend any books on the battle of 1st Bull run, the Army of the Potomac or early training?

Lastly, in many of your books you mention a "fire step", what does mean and what was it used for? Thanks for your time and your knowledge.
Adam Azzalino

Submitted November 7, 2006

A

(1)That's easy! Leave them out! Your ideas are what will make the story work, and you can't shoehorn characters into a book just to get a free pint! And decid who you're writing for - an audience or your friends? Believe me, if you get published, they'll stay your friends! Good luck!

(2)Oh boy - so many! Too many to list here! The number of books on the civil war is extraordinary, and I'd have to spend an hour just typing titles here if I were to answer your question fully. Truly, then, the best place to start is with a good general history of the war - Shelby Foote's three decker is terrific, or Battle Cry of Freedom by James Macpherson - and work from their bibliographies! I'm sorry if that isn't really helpful, but the field is so wide that you can almost dive in anywhere and find useful material. I would also subscribe to one or two of the (many) civil war magazines; they often have terrifically useful articles on the most obscure subjects (and obscure is good for novels).

The fire step is simply the platform on which men (or women!) stand on top of a rampart. They are protected by the parapet, but the firestep is simply the walkway of a rampart.

Q

Your Sharpe's series was shown on BBCAmerica this past Spring 06. Love your series of Sharpe's Adventures. What a great cast and storyline. My husband and I are confused about the episode "Sharpe's Sword" and "Sharpe's Regement". We remember that El Mirador killed Sir Henry Simmerson in Sword but he appears again in Regement and then in further episodes. Can you explain? Thanks so much. Karen Beck

Submitted November 7, 2006

A

If I remember rightly - El Mirador just wounded Sir Henry in Sharpe's Sword. In fact I'm certain it was a wound and not, alas, a deathblow!

Q

Have been enjoying your Sharpe books for a decade, not to mention the Arthur & Grail Quest books, am just now reading "Sharpe's Fury" having just finished the first of the Saxon books. Does seem there's an "eternal hero" (Thomas the Archer is Sharpe-in-the-14th-century, Uhthred is Sharpe-in-the-9th-century) and you've caused us to love him so. Thank you for what you've given us all. Quick question though - Is the Eric Sykes, to whom you dedicated "Sharpe's Fury" the British officer, and spy, who helped "invent" modern close-quarter-combat?
Ronald Pehr

Submitted November 7, 2006

A

No. Eric Sykes is the brilliant, wonderful comedian who lit up our lives for so long and who is, thankfully, still going strong in his 80's, and who can still make me laugh extravagantly.