Hi! My name is Lew, and just finished the first draft of a rather massive piece of 1st Century historical fiction, in which three Romans take off on journey by sea on a diplomatic mission to China. Nothing goes according to plan, and they find themselves coming back overland, after having chosen honor over expediency in the court of China and being condemned to death. It is set between two historical events that actually did happen: the Gan Ying expedition to Rome in 97AD and a Roman presence in the Chinese court in 166AD. I suspect the first Roman mission, lost to history, might well have gone like this. The adventures crosses all six great empires of the age. So I am in the process of editing this, which will either have to be two books, or put it on a serious word diet. But it has been fun. I am now starting to network with real writers, since I am an engineer by trade, neither a writer nor a historian. I think the lesson learned is: getting it finished is the hard part!
Welcome and congratulations on your first draft! Sounds like a fascinating story. I don't think anybody on the forum is an author for a living. If you want to eat, you have to have a day job as well. So in my eyes you're already a "real writer"!
Hi Lew! Welcome to WF. Your manuscript sounds really interesting. Good luck with the editing process! Here's our New Member Quick Start to get you started. See you around. -Kat
Thanks for the encouragement. And no, I don't depend on writing for my daily bread. At least not fiction. I am an engineer with the navy, though I am one of those rare entities... an engineer that can actually write readable text, fast and in high volume. I do a lot of writing in this job - system descriptions, training, operating procedures, etc., to be used by 19 year old high school graduates and junior officers fresh out of college. Emphasis is on clarity and logical development. The idea for this book began 20 years ago when in the course of one of my hobbies (ancient history) I learned that the Romans were very active in the Indian Ocean, with trading stations as far away as Vietnam. It was then that I learned they had a presence in China at about that time. That started me thinking about what that first trip to China would have been like for them. Two world powers, both believing themselves the most advanced civilization in the world, the center of their respective universes, and very different cultures. Why would they want to do this? How would they do it? What people would they encounter? Loves, adventures, changes.
Hey! I joined Wednesday too! I really like this forum. I think you will too. This forum = encouragement, inspiration, and fun.
