Your Questions

Q

hello Mr, Cornwell I just love your books, especially the war lord chronicles. I am currently using one of these books for a project I am doing in school. I had just one question, what inspired you to write it? you see, I have to write a introduction, containing your career and inspiration for the books. Could you help me with this? because I can't find it anywhere else. thank you, Ane

Submitted April 5, 2011

A

Well, I grew up in England and, like any child interested in history, soon encountered the mythical figure of King Arthur and so became interested in him.

Q

Hi my name is Marcus and I'm 14. I've already read the saxon stories series twice because I can't wait for the next one. I was wondering if there is going to be a excerpt or preview of the next book in the saxon stories? I would be really happy if there is going to be, because I can hardly wait to read the next book. -Marcus

Submitted April 5, 2011

A

Hi Marcus! Yes I will put an excerpt of the next Saxon story on the website as soon as I've finished the book. Hopefully that will be soon!

Q

Love all your books - but any chance of continuing the Starbuck chronicles - isn't it about time that Nathaniel marched again?

John Sparkes

As it appears Sharpe is in for retirement, how about not to sound cheesy or anything but perhaps we could have (and I stress perhaps)have a book or a series on books on how Patrick Lassan son of Sharpe ends up involved in the American Civil War and his various adventures thus bringing you full circle back to the Starbuck Chronicles and maybe allowing for a further Starbuck novel? Joshua Selig

Dear Bernard, In respect to Nathaniel Starbuck, it is true that the books' structure is somewhat similar to that of the Sharpe series, however the historical background is fascinatingly different and the atmosphere and times of the American Civil War breathtakingly described. One fully understands that enough is enough, and the Civil War as subject matter seems to have that effect on people (for instance, the abandoned third film of the Gods & Generals and Gettysburg trilogy). This being said, may I join the gathering of Philistines to exhort my favourite author to contemplate once more a sequel in the Starbuck Chronicles? With much appreciation, Robert Wood

Submitted April 4, 2011

A

I'm not planning on a series for Lassan; although I do hope to get back to Starbuck - and there will be more Sharpe!

Q

Hi Bernard, I have just read the Starbuck Chronicles’ back to back, and just wanted to say well done. I know this means nothing from a 30 something UK based surveyor, but the books were great, and I sincerely mean it, well done. I went to your web page to find the title of book 5 for my kindle but I saw on your FAQ page that time is the problem with revisiting the Starbuck books. If I may, poor Nate has a bullet hole in his cheek, he is spitting blood, and retreating from Antietam, surely you cannot leave him there! Many moons ago, General Studies A Level saw me memorise several things in the hope of a question relating to them, and a battle was one, I learnt Gettysburg! Nate still has to attack the round tops or be involved in Picketts Charge! Let alone everything that happened in 1864 and early 1865. As a History graduate I never really had the chance to look at US history, but this has fired up my enthusiasm for this period of US history, any chance of Nate and Truslow reappearing and more importantly getting even with Billy? Regards, Adrian

Submitted April 4, 2011

A

I think there's a good chance...

Q

Have you ever decided to put the Uhtred stories onto screen just like the Sharpe stories? John

Submitted April 4, 2011

A

There are no plans for it at the moment.

Q

Dear Mr Cornwell, i am 19 and reading you Arthur chronicles for the second time! Loving every page but what i don't understand is what makes Nimue turn vengeful and so hateful towards Merlin? i know he did not finish the rites to bring back the Gods but it confused me to think why she should turn so nasty towards him?

And how does Derfel and Ceinwyn's tale end? Again i know Derfel goes to a monastery but he doesn't mention how his beloved died. Sorry if there is a lot of questions but would love to know! Thank you so much!

Lucy Partner

Submitted April 1, 2011

A

Maybe she was just a vengeful person? She's a monomaniac, a single-issue fanatic, and if she doesn't get things her own way she turns vituperative!

I imagine Ceinwyn dies of natural causes? I never wrote it, so I didn't have to decide, but I think Derfel becomes a widower sometime after the books end. Poor Derfel.

Q

Mr. Cornwell, It's really hard for me, a 40 year old cop, not to gush when I correspond with someone such as yourself. Suffice it to say, I have read with great satisfaction most of your novels, especially the Grail Quest series. I must also say that Azincourt was an incredible novel. The characters and personalities depicted in your work are vivid, colorful and easily imagined. My eyes ache in a jealous way when I think of the hours of research you must do to add detail and authenticity. I spent two weeks at a traditional blade-smithing school in Arkansas. We had coal fired forges, hammers, anvil and steel to bang about into what hopefully resembled knife blades. One of the instructors was an English gentleman named Jim Jackson. Mr. Jackson had recently retired as the Armorer to the Queen of England after forty or so years, and was an amazing artisan. Loving all things medieval (excepting the plagues, disease, and violent death aspects of the age), we spent many an hour talking about armor manufacture, etc. We talked very specifically about shield construction. Unfortunately, Mr. Jackson had little to do with those at the museum. I've searched high and low for a treatise or book about this equipment and have come up luckless. I did see an episode of Weapons that Made Britain starring Mike Loades featuring nothing but shield design and construction. Could you recommend a book or reference about this? Any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated. And, as a side note, my son gets his first longbow on his 4th birthday. Thank you for sharing your talent, and please keep writing. Sincerely and Respectfully, Jeffery Rackliff

Submitted April 1, 2011

A

I wish I could. I know very little about late medieval shields, mainly because by the era I'm writing about plate armour had made shields redundant. In the Saxon period the shields are of linden wood, or willow, but I can't tell you much more than that - I would think a Viking Re-enactment website might help? That's where I'd look.

Q

hello I'm a fourteen year old boy and i have read everyone of your books and personally i think your saxon tales are the best, of course that's just my opinion. i enjoy all of your books very much. Anyway i have been wondering this for quite awhile how do you devise such deep and thought-provoking plots? i understand that you are busy so, feel free to reply when you have the time, thanks. -Jonathon

Submitted April 1, 2011

A

I don't! Honest! I just write. I never could work out a plot beforehand so I write to discover what happens, and really the whole process is unplanned. The great E.L. Doctorow said that writing a book is like driving at night down an unfamiliar country road with dim headlamps, and you can only see as far ahead as those feeble lights allow. Eventually you get to the end and find out what the whole journey was about! Some writers (lucky devils) know right from the start, but I'm one of those who just muddles through.

Q

Dear Bernard, I grew up on your Sharpe books & you have been one of my favourite authors ever since. My favourite books of yours are the Warlord chronicles. I just love the fantastic characters you created & have carried an obsession for the King Arthur myth ever since I was given an Enid Blyton rendition of Le Morte d'Arthur as a young boy. It is so refreshing to read an Arthur story with characters so real you feel you were almost there. I especially love the portrayal of Lancelot as a coward- a stroke of genius. I am now 28 and one day I hope to be a writer too. If I may however I would like to ask you for some advice. I do try and write but I have two major problems- 1) I have several ideas for stories I would like to write, but can't seem to decide which one to write first. Do you have the same problem? I am constantly deciding one idea is better than the other and then moving on to another one.

How much do you plan your stories before you start writing? Some I have only a basic concept, but some I have gone as far as mapping out the entire plot, sometimes if I do this in too much detail however I seem to lose some enthusiasm for this story. Help!

2) Anything I write or have written I scrutinise every word. Sometimes I write something and I am happy with it, then when I return to it I hate every word! Other times it takes me hours to write a single sentence because I repeatedly change the words used or the sentence completely. How do you avoid this? I think sometimes I just need to try and tell the story in the plainest language I can, but I think this is one of the easiest things to say, but the hardest things to do! Thanks Bernard for inspiring me & providing me with half a lifetime of fantastic historical fiction so far. I heard a rumour that Azincourt may be adapted into a film? I wish that would come true, as well as the Warlord chronicles of course, but I say that with trepidation as I would be devastated if the film didn't live up to the books (which let's face it, they rarely do!) Thanks again, Andrew Weaver

Submitted April 1, 2011

A

I confess I don't have that problem, but nor do I think it should be a problem! I suspect it's an avoidance strategy? After all, if an idea excites you and you start writing it then the appeal of it should grow . . . my advice is to choose the one which most appeals and ignore the others!

I have a very broad idea of where I want the book to go, then just let the characters sort it out amongst themselves. I'm not saying this is the right way to do it - some writers plot very carefully, and their books are great, but others, like me, leave it to instinct.

I think this is very common, and it's also very debilitating. I remember feeling exactly the same when I wrote my first book - I thought the style was terrible and no one would ever accept it. What I did (and I recommend this) was to copy out three or four pages of a published novel that I liked - I typed them (back in those days I wrote on a typewriter) so that they would look exactly like my own work. I then shoved them in a drawer for a week, then took them out and read the pages and thought, omg, this is terrible! But it was published and successful, so it taught me that I was being far too critical. Besides, that first draft is meant to be rough - it's the undercoat, not the finish coat. The first draft is for getting the story right, most of the good stuff comes later (and is much more fun to write).

Q

hi Mr Cornwell I have just finished reading your saxon stories and have been a fan of your books since a 14yr old school boy and now i am a 21yr old worker. I was just wondering if you knew the exact site in Rochester where the Danes landed/camped as I live 5 minutes from the castle and have always been a fan of ancient warfare and like you am a huge fan of the English warbow (welsh longbow).

I was also wondering if you have ever thought about a book series on the romans? I think the 9th legion could be a good background story. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Josh Wood

Submitted April 1, 2011

A

I'm sure your local historical society would know, but I would imagine that the castle was the burh and the Danes landed just downriver from it? The castle is almost certainly built where the Romans had their camp. I'd ask your local historians who are usually wonderfully helpful and amazingly knowledgeable.

I'm not planning anything on the Romans.