G'day Bernard, do you intend to write more Sharpe books & if so does he fight at Corunna? Cheers Adrian
Sharpe never went to Corunna, but joined the part of the army that went to Vigo.
Mr. Cornwell, Hello Again, I just wanted to drop a line to tell you that I read "Tank!" by Ken Tout upon your recommendation and was blown away by it- thanks ! It reminded me a little of C.S. Forester's novel "The Ship" in it's close attention to time and battle maneuvers in a confined setting. May I further recommend the book "White Jacket" by Melville? if you haven't read it already, it seems like it could be a predecessor to the two books above.
I wanted to ask when a bit of your Azincourt book will be excerpted on this site? the Harper Collins site already has a brief synopsis and what looks like a jacket design posted. How difficult is the writing of this book compared to your past efforts? about how long will the finished book be? is it more like a Sharpe book in length or longer like Stonehenge? Regardless, Ill be first in line...thanks again..take care R. Kulb
Thanks! And I'm glad you enjoyed Tout's book.
Very soon . . . . . . how long will the book be? I don't know, because it isn't finished, but it keeps getting longer, so I suspect it will be longer than most of my books . . . maybe around 150,000 words? That's what it feels like now. So it will be longer than the Sharpe books, but shorter than Stonehenge.
Mr. Cornwell, I am trying to find some information on the Battle of Castillon (France 1453) that ended the Hundred Years War. Not so much details of the battle itself but conditions of the battlefield and, if possible, a plan or chart of the battlefield. Can you help? Thanks, Gil Gorman
I honestly don't know too much about it, except that what distinguishes the battle was the use by the French of massed artillery. The English attacked the French camp that was protected by earth ramparts and cannons, and the guns blew them away. I would think you'd find a good general description in Jonathan Sumption's second volume on the Hundred Years War, and his bibliography will surely point you to more detailed sources. I did once visit the battlefield, but it was a hurried visit and I didn't have time to really study the ground.
I have been eagerly awaiting Sword Song for a while now, but am disappointed to see that Tom Sellwood is not the narrator of the audio version. I think Tom Sellwood is one of the finest audio book narrators around, and have grown to love the characters in his voice. Are you releasing a version with him later on? That is, should I wait? Or should I go ahead and try the Jamie Glover or Gerard Doyle versions? Thank you. Sincerely, J. M. Jacob
The word from my agent's office is that there will be an unabridged audio version of Sword Song narrated by Tom Sellwood available in October of this year.
Having gotten my family hooked on your Sharpe novels . . . my daughter and I were discussing who Sharpe's father might be. You'd said on this website before that one day you'd reveal who fathered Sharpe. So . . . our wager is that it might be a then 17 year old Richard Wellesley, the Duke's eldest brother. Are we CLOSE? D Holliday, Maryland
No, you're way way off course! But that was a really good try, so you get today's star prize. Not sure what that is, but you get it anyway.
Mr. Cornwell Thank you so much for such riveting books. It is hard to establish a favourite, but I must say the Arthur Books are right up there as a favourite as are the Saxon stories. I find myself googling all the historic sites and literally spending hours reading further information. What's the chance of a visit to Australia, the antipodes, for a book signing or two :) Keep up the great work Cheers Andrew
I have been to Australia and would love to go again, so who knows? Thanks for your message!
Dear Mr Cornwell. I am a senior in high school. I need to write a research paper about a career and I chose writing. I was wondering if you could answer some questions.
1.how do you start researching a novel 2.what role do publishers play in writing 3.how long have you been an author 4. advantages, disadvantages of being an author.
Please respond. I look forward to the next chapter in the Saxon chronicles.
Matthew LaRoche
You start researching a novel when you begin to read. That isn't a crazy answer. I became interested in the Napoleonic Wars when I was a child, and I have been reading about them ever since. Research is a lifelong occupation, but obviously, for any specific book, you begin dedicated reading and research a few months before. So, I've spent a lifetime reading about mediaeval warfare, but the detailed research for Agincourt (the book I'm writing now) probably began about a year before I started writing. And the research goes on . . . right now I'm writing the last chapters of the book and have eight other books open on the desk.
None, really! You send them the finished book, and of course a good publisher will suggest changes (which might or might not be good suggestions). Those changes are the editorial process . . . . some editors will want vast changes (why not set the book in the 20th century instead of the 15th), but mostly they are small details (in chapter one you say it's April, in chapter 2 you say it's summertime). The biggest involvement publishers have in writing is to encourage it with money.
30 years.
The advantages: a wonderful commute, a very elastic dress-code, the joy of telling stories for a living. The disadvantages? None that I can think of! I love it!
Dear Mr Cornwell. I am a senior in high school. I need to write a research paper about a career and I chose writing. I was wondering if you could answer some questions.
1.how do you start researching a novel
2.what role do publishers play in writing
3.how long have you been an author
4. advantages, disadvantages of being an author.
Please respond. I look forward to the next chapter in the Saxon chronicles.
Matthew LaRoche
You start researching a novel when you begin to read. That isn't a crazy answer. I became interested in the Napoleonic Wars when I was a child, and I have been reading about them ever since. Research is a lifelong occupation, but obviously, for any specific book, you begin dedicated reading and research a few months before. So, I've spent a lifetime reading about mediaeval warfare, but the detailed research for Agincourt (the book I'm writing now) probably began about a year before I started writing. And the research goes on . . . right now I'm writing the last chapters of the book and have eight other books open on the desk.
None, really! You send them the finished book, and of course a good publisher will suggest changes (which might or might not be good suggestions). Those changes are the editorial process . . . . some editors will want vast changes (why not set the book in the 20th century instead of the 15th), but mostly they are small details (in chapter one you say it's April, in chapter 2 you say it's summertime). The biggest involvement publishers have in writing is to encourage it with money.
30 years.
The advantages: a wonderful commute, a very elastic dress-code, the joy of telling stories for a living. The disadvantages? None that I can think of! I love it!
My sister's questions: On average, how many days of the week and how many hours do you write? Is it 12 months out of the year? Also: Do you travel to each locale before starting a book or series? My question: Is there anyway you could double or triple your writing time? WE BARNARD CORNWELL ADDICTS GOTTA HAVE MORE OF YOUR BOOKS. Please, please, please write faster. We can hardly wait to get AZINCOURT, and we hope the saga of Utred never ends. We will, alas, wait until 2009 for Utred's next saga after Sword Song. YOU ARE THE WORLD'S BEST WRITER. You bring so much joy to readers. May you live to be 1,000, and keep writing.
Martha Scott
Thanks - although I'm not sure I'd want to live to be 1000!
I write almost every day, regular hours, in my office. I do try to take a few weeks off in the summer sailing season. Yes, I do travel to each locale.
I have never been able to pin down the exact meaning of "man-at-arms." I used to think it was the common foot soldier of the medieval period, however, in reading your book "Heretic," I sense that you mean him to be of higher rank, probably of the nobility, perhaps the minor nobility. Please clear this up for me. Also, what is a franc archer? Thanks for taking this inquiry and I will look forward to hearing from you. Gil Gorman.
A man-at-arms is what we might call a knight; think of him as a guy in full plate-armour who might fight from horseback with a lance or, more commonly, on foot. Not every man-at-arms was knighted, or nobly born, but any man, whether king or commoner, who fought in armour and possessed the weapons' training and could purchase a warhorse, was a man-at-arms. The vast majority were in the retinues of the great lords (who paid the huge costs of equipping them). Archers are not men-at-arms, though some became men-at-arms. Think of men-at-arms as the heavy infantry of their day!
A franc-archer was a French bowman. The term, I think, originates in the 1420's when Charles VII of France, desperate to evict the English from his territory, gave a tax-exemption to one man in every French parish if that man trained himself in the use of the longbow - those were the franc-archers. The scheme didn't really work - the English archer would eventually be defeated by artillery more than by enemy archers.