Half Way

I’ve just crossed the half way mark with the first of my Dragon Orb books.  I always seem to find this the most difficult part when drafting a book.  The initial burst of enthusiasm for the story has waned and there’s still a fair way to go before the action-packed finale.  I don’t know why I struggle so much with it.  In some ways it should be the most interesting part to write, as it encompasses the meat of the story, but for some reason I never quite see it that way.

 What I will say is that I’m really pleased with how the story is developing.  I think I can safely say that this will be my best book to date.  The content, description and feel of the story has a freshness to it that I’ve never felt with my previous books.  The characters are shaping up to be most interesting and the historical aspects to the story have been fascinating to research. 

 On the research front, I’ve recently finished reading ‘Wind in the Wires’ by Duncan Grinnell-Milne.

This was an amazing autobiographical story which imparted much of the attitude and feeling of what it was like to be a pilot in both the early phase of the air war, and towards the end.  Duncan missed out on the middle part of the war, as he had been forced to land behind enemy lines due to an engine failure and had spent 3 years in various POW camps.  Numerous escape attempts later he finally made it back to the UK and eventually back to front line flying.  The machines had changed considerably from the ones he had flown in 1915, but he survived the transition.   About 3 months after he rejoined the front line the war ended.  During that short time, he had become first a flight commander and subsequently the Squadron Commander of No. 56 Sqn, one of the most prestigious squadrons of the time.  It reads almost as easily as the fictional Biggles books of Capt W.E. Johns, but has the astonishing quality of being a true life story.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book and heartily recommend it to anyone who has an interest in aviation.