Chapters Seven and Eight

According to the book, before going any farther, I should haven written up my script. However, I have other goals I need and want to accomplish before taking that step. First is to get my next book, The Trials of the Youngest Princess, polished and off to a critical reader, and hopefully published very soon. Also before actually diving into this particular script, the book itself need a facelift. I simply don't want AuthorHouse to claim any credit for the movie in any way, shape, or form. They may have gotten me my book, but they did nothing to help me thereafter, and despite the top dollar I spent on the project, I have yet to recoup my losses. I'm sure, under a new cover, and with an accompanying script, it will do much better. I have to admit, I learned things from AuthorHouse, but mostly I learned what not to do.

Even though I am not writing this script at this time, the last two chapters were just as informative and the rest of the book.

Chapter Seven is another polishing checklist. Sometimes you just can't see things until it's all written out.

1. Does the lead character actually lead? Well, in my case, no he doesn't, not until he figures out that the bad guy is actively searching for him. Only then does he take charge, but it's also part of his character arc. Will I be able to pull that off? Only time will tell. Somehow I have to make Harris likable enough to keep those who decide engaged.
2. Is the script showing or telling? Just like in writing fiction, showing is vital, maybe more so. And back-story can be the worst to deal with. NEVER have your characters tell us all about how sorry he is about breaking momma's favorite cup. You get my point, I think.
3. How bad is the bad guy? Blake says make him (or her) as bad as possible. Have you noticed how evil blond women are? Good thing my demented queen has black hair (I pictured Cher with her long black hair when I wrote her), but she's not the real bad guy.
4. How does your plot progress? Your plot needs to do more than simply progress from point A to point B, it needs to spin and intensify, rather like a dust devil that turns into a tornado.
5. How emotion-ridden is your movie? Have you ever noticed that the best movies leave you wrung out and exhausted? That's what you need to strive for. Just like in writing a book, if you can make your reader laugh or cry (cry is the hardest), you're on the right track. And if you can do that to yourself, especially if you're not really the emotional type, you're really on a roll.
6. How lively is your dialogue? You don't want your watchers to fall asleep over your what your characters say. Make sure what your character says is more than merely a place holder, or a means of taking up time until the next page. 
7. Has your characters actually made a journey through the movie? Don't get so wrapped up in reaching to the end that you forget about getting there.  Remember, all books or movies are about the journey, not what the ending will be. When I start writing a book, one thing I plan is an ending, more often than not, I don't always hit the mark. My Princess book is a good example of that. I'd planned that the book would end when she killed the man who killed her father and her brothers. Needless to say she still had to find and eliminate his army.
8. Can you tell the difference between your characters? If you were blindfolded and someone read dialogue of different characters to you (you can't cheat and remember what this or that character says), could you tell the difference between them? Does the girlfriend sound exactly like the father? There is a point in The Ghost and the Darkness where two different people say exactly the same thing. I can't remember exactly what the phrase is just now, but it was such a blatant fopah, when two people from very different backgrounds and pasts talk the same, it just blows the entire thing.
9. And of course, as throughout the rest of the book, is it primal? Primal emotions drive us all, and in a movie it has to be intense. There's just no time for subtleties.

The last piece of advice for this chapter was to take a step back. Give it a rest. Good advice for your book too. Put it away for a while

The last chapter is all about tips and pointers on how to sell your finished product, to include some resources that I'll probably get at some point. Herein is another example of how living out here in the middle of nowhere is a liability. Selling myself, whether to a producer or to an agent, is every bit as important as the script itself. This goes for selling books too. I know my books would sell much better if I could get out there and do book-signing. I can't count the number of books I've sold simply because the person met and liked me, even if only online. I can't imagine how many I could sell if I could get out among people. salesman I am not.

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Chapter Six

Now that I have a rough outline, and now that I have plotted out my scenes (I hope), chapter six is rather like a checklist to the final polish. Blake Snyder lays out a list of ironclad laws he has developed over the years.

Let me clarify:

•  Save the Cat is that moment very early on where the viewer gets to see why your main character is likable. It's that moment where, no matter what bad-ass thing he or she might be doing, he or she takes a moment to do some tiny good thing. A good gesture isn't the only way to get your viewers to like your character; humor works too. you might go this route if your characters are somewhat less than likable. 
• Pope in the Pool is a way of showing us the back-story without boring us with dialogue. Just like in writing, you need to decide what is vital and figure out how to show it efficiently. This tactic is to make the scene interesting enough that we don't really notice the back-story being fed to us.
• Double  Mumbo Jumbo is the unbreakable law that says you can only have one kind of extra ordinary something per movie. For instance, if your movie has cyborgs as a fairly common ability, you can't also have super-heroes like batman to combat them. In other words 'keep it simple'. Now Blake admits doubling up on the mumbo jumbo is done all the time in comic books, they are really in bad taste for any serious movie.
• Laying Pipe is another way of saying you're laying the groundwork leading to the gist of the story. When you sit down to a movie, how much of this movie are you going to tolerate if the start-up drags? It's the same consideration when writing a book. I'm sure you've all read books that just don't get interesting until half way through; I've read a few basically never 'got into it'. This is why Blake limits his scripts to 25 pages to lay the pipe. Can I do it? I hope so.
• Black Vet or Too Much Marzipan is kind of like a tiny inside joke. Most people might not get it. The description he gives in the book refers to clips made for Saturday Night Live. The clip showed a black man cavorting with animals but he was also ex-military, so he was a veteran who was also a veterinarian. Like eating Marzipan, a little goes a long way. I don't get the joke as outlined in the book, nor have I ever had Marzipan, so this made little sense to me. Another example was to name a character Lefty. The moniker was to be a reference to his leftist political leanings, likely hinted at here and there through actions or comments, however, others decided to try to take it farther. They wanted to also make the character left-handed, and then they decided they'd make him an ex-boxer as well. Just pick one. It's better that way.
• Watch Out for that Glacier is about approaching danger. You know it's there, but too many clues with little or no reaction is making your viewer want to kick in the TV and yell at the movie. "There's danger just around the corner, you idiot. Get ready already!" These glaciers are things like a volcano, or an impending asteroid, or some kind of plague. It's there, hanging in the background waiting until the very last minute to be dealt with. 
• The Covenant of the Arc is another way of talking about character arc. Characters need to change. I watched a movie yesterday where this kid was thrust up front in one of our nasty wars (WWII I think). He wasn't prepared for all the killing. His sergeant forced him to kill a captured soldiered, and it was as if whatever humanity that was in him just melted away, or maybe he was losing his grasp on his sanity. I don't know, I found the change too fast, too abrupt. It was, to me, unbelievable. That's not to say it wouldn't happen; I'll blame it on the script writer or the director. There wasn't enough arc between one end and the other. Character arc in a book is hard enough. Knocking down to a movie script, and it's a lot harder.
• Keep the Press Out is exactly what it says. Once you insert the press everything gets defined by news releases. If you keep the press out of your story, it can remain personal and private - a problem one has to deal with. Once the press is involved, well then the problem is happening to everyone and therefore not a problem at all - and there goes your story.

Have I included all this? The only one I can see I need to work on is that I need to Save the Cat. I gotta think of some scene where Harris saves the cat in some way. Anyone have any ideas?

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Chapter Five

This chapter was the hardest for me, but that's not the only reason for the delay of this post. My waited-for editing job came and has gone; she had a deadline of 'by Valentine's Day' so I devoted all my time to that project. The timing was tighter than I like, so I hope I didn't miss anything. I'll go through a section, and then I'll go back and read through it again with the changes in place.

But enough about that job.

Chapter Five was all about 'The Board'. The board, in movie making is the bulletin board where all the scenes are mapped out. This is the ultimate outline for movies. Hard for me because I don't generally outline my work. Harder still because of all the things I wanted to have in and plan around all the things I needed to leave out. Ooohhh what a pain.

But I did it.

Every script is broken into four parts: Act One, the first have of Act Two / mid point / the second half of Act Two, and Act Three. According to Blake Snider, you have ten slots per section to fill up, and no more, and you absolutely must fill up at least nine of them - the tenth is there for just in case.

As it turns out, Act One is pretty much Chapter One of the book.

The first half of Act Two gets me to page 23 - slow going but expected. Things got rearranged a little from this point on. Every vital incident had to happen before reaching the home castle, whereas in the book he was able to winter there and we get to meet the queen and see how delusional she is. I still might be able to work her in somewhere; we'll have to see.

Anyway

The second half of Act Two gets us to the border, but before we can get that far, three different armies must be assembled into one. At the end of Act Two I inserted an attack that came after the winter layover, but we can't fill up a movie with a winter full of pacing and waiting for the snow to melt.

With Act Three we need to see just how destitute the home country is, so after Harris recovers from nearly being killed, they find a refugee family trying to scrape a living without it all being stolen by the collectors. This jumps us to page 158 in the book. And then we need to jump to page 319 for the rest of it.

Meeting all the lords who used to manage the districts that made up his country have all been left out. I hope I can still assemble them in a believable manner; they need to be there for Harris to be properly crowned.

It's not going to be easy. I seems each part can have only a couple pages devoted to it, give or take one or two here and there. Wish me luck.

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The Board
The Crown of Steel

+/- = emotional up/down or -/+ down/up >< = conflict
ACT ONE [p. 1-25] 1. Harris on the roof +/- curiosity frustrated  >< empty but lush landscape 2. Fredric, the librarian +/- hoping to find out what a king does/ unable to locate any >< during a game of chess, Harris asks what a king does. Fredric gives him a lecture on family bloodline 3. Balion, the arms master +/- love of the music of the sword/Balion interrupts with his version of a lesson >< Balion trying to play tricks to ‘teach’ him to expect the unexpected 4. Duff, the stable master +/- Harris disliked the man, but had to deal with him if he wanted to go riding >< Duff seldom allowed Harris to ride the first horse he picked 5. conversation with father +/- curiosity vs. fear >< father believes things are fine – Harris can’t see how 6. watches his father be king +/- father tells of betrothal offer – Harris is appalled >< questions father about papers signed without reading 7. Jonathan arrives +/- meeting someone new/learning he’s being sent away >< won’t allow himself to protest 8. Harris and Jonathan compare worlds +/- Harris getting excited/Jonathan determined to whip things into shape >< quickly become best friends 9. Harris and Jonathan go to the stables +/- beginning to suspect he is nothing but a figurehead >< Harris is told what he will be taking 10. +/- ><	ACT TWOa [p. 25-55] 1. Harris heads south +/- dreading to go/ determined to conduct himself with pride >< seeing his father standing at the door – realizing he’d never seen his father outside before 2. after river crossing +/- wonder at seeing the farmsteads and herds >< wonders about goat’s milk and wool – learns where it comes from – Jasper getting low on patience – Harris asking questions like a curious child 3a. Harris meets his new family +/- hard to get used to many brothers and sisters >< Kandice sticks her tongue out at him – doesn’t like him at first 3b. Harris meets with the king who outlines his expectations +/- eager to start – appalled at the requirements >< wants to go home – no not really 4a. heads out again +/- happy lessons will be put off – only they aren’t >< not at all used to be in the saddle day after day 4b. Jonathan is bored +/- was determined to learn more about the country/ can’t even find a map >< sends a messenger home with news and request – the man gets waylaid 5. training for the military +/- eager to set aside lessons/not so lucky >< arms master starts to teach him military management and strategy 6. working his way up the ranks +/- new rank/more responsibility >< corporal in charge of 4 men 7. patrol – meets ‘the enemy’ +/- his men very serious about the exchange/the enemy laughing as if it’s all a game >< only some wounded – Harris watches enemy vanish as if into the dust of their trail 8. camp ravaged +/- tired from the patrol and fight – eager to get back/finds home camp has been breached and ravaged. >< brought to Sorsha’s cabin for questioning 9. nightmare +/- happy to be going home, seeing father again/sees giant cage closing in on him. >< tells Sorsha the dream - pack up to go back – changing of the guard 10. +/- ><	ACT TWOb [p. 55-85] 1a. battle +/- Harris, still dusty from patrol, sees a very sorry train of wagons and mounted. >< tries to bolster morale riding up and down the line. Spells a wagon driver with a concussion from afternoon sun 1b. battle +/- surprise / tries to defend >< Attack comes and overruns the train. Harris’s wagon is overturned. 2a. Magg +/- at death’s door / Magg heals him and then gets him onto his horse and away >< Magg must get Harris away but realizes her little donkey isn’t nearly enough. 3a. Sorsha - battlefield +/- enemy killed / bitter victory >< calls for report – can’t move – Harris unaccounted for 2b. Magg +/- arrives home / Sholeh there to help >< drag Harris inside – heal more – begin to recover 3b. Sorsha - home +/- worried about Harris / reports say her post the only one attacked >< goes to royal medium to find him 4a. Jonathan +/- meets the queen for the first time >< the queen sends him home – supposed to be to his death 5. Harris +/- needs to learn more but can’t leave everyone hanging >< sends his horse home with a message 4b. Jonathan +/- makes it home with another message from the queen >< the message wasn’t for Harris at all 6a. Harris +/- into the desert / no way of knowing if he’ll ever find anyone >< meets Juan – they fight. Treacherous blindside shot puts Harris under Juan’s protective wing. 6b. Harris +/- meets with clan leader, Duncan >< witnesses the punishment dealt out for treachery. 6c. Harris +/- Convinces the nomads to tell him who his enemy is. Their honor commits them to his cause. >< messenger is sent home to arrange supply lines – first learns of shapeshifters. 7. Evan +/- finds the castle. Finds Kandice >< Evan is shot out of the sky 8a. King Carroll +/- reads the message Evan brought >< questions him extensively 8b. King Carroll +/- discussion with Kandice >< Kandice heads off in search of another fairytale. Brings back the truthsayers. King calls for an assembly of military forces. 9. Harris +/- arrives home >< meets his first truthsayer bodyguard. Safi??? Kanon??? 10. Harris +/- at the head of his unusual army >< at the border, an insane group attack, trying to hit Harris personally. Almost succeed.	ACT THREE [p. 85-110] 1. Harris in a coma +/- choice – live/die >< vision – Kandice dancing around the Maypole = unite the people. 2. Harris wakes - blind +/- learns of Kain’s capture/ learns of death of his bodyguard >< funeral – new bodyguard – Saarloq 3. paces camp – vision blurry +/- wants to start marching again - has to defeat Kain’s monopoly >< time is short – winter is closing in 4. Servern and Claire +/- learns things >< battle with collection team 5. divide and conquer +/- sends messengers to districts asking for reinforcements/can’t wait >< Jonathan leads Harris to the back door. 6a. taking Castle Penn +/- finding hostages inside in the rooms >< finding opposition as well 6b. taking Castle Penn +/- finding hostages outside in the tents >< finding opposition as well – sending wolves ahunting 7. verbal battle with Kain +/- learns that no enemy can touch him with harmful intent. >< must get close enough to touch. Saarloq won’t let him touch yet. 8. wedding and coronation +/- says it all >< lords swear fealty 9. turns Kain over to his lords +/- Harris’s touch removes block >< lords pull the struggling man out to his fate 10. final image +/- the town is abuzz with business >< sees off wedding guests

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Chapter Four

In this chapter we get into some meat, but no writing yet. Ahhh the anticipation is killing me.

In this chapter, we go to the Beat Sheet and plan what goes where. The hard part is that only so much can go into these slots. We all know that movies cut away lots of a book; I knew this would happen, but I think it turned out okay. Of course, the more I cut as I went along, the harder it was to keep major elements in.

Let me take you through it:

The Blake Snyder Beat Sheet contains 15 slots. The numbers in parentheses is the page numbers where each event occurs, or the page range where details can be covered. My book is roughly 400 pages long and I have to cut it down to 110 pages. That's going to be painful. But one good thing, once on screen I'm hoping the most important thread makes it through.

1. Opening Image (1)
2. Theme Stated (5)
3. Set-up (1-10)
4. Catalyst (12)
5. Debate (12-25)
6. Break into Two (25)
7. B Story (30)
8. Fun and Games (30-55)
9. Midpoint (55)
10. Bad Guys Close In (55-75)
11. All is Lost (75)
12. Dark Night of the Soul (75-85)
13. Break into Three (85)
14. Finale (85-110)
15. Final Image (110)

The opening image is the before picture of the book - what is 'normal' for the main character in the beginning. This was a simple image to come up with. Though it doesn't happen in the book, I can see Harris standing on the roof looking out over a virtually deserted courtyard and town beyond, trying to figure out what it means to be a king.

The theme stated is where the premise of the book is actually stated out loud. This was simple too. In the book, Harris asks his father outright, "What does it mean to be a king? What does a king do?" This happens on page 5.

The set-up all together gets the first 10 pages. Over these ten pages I need to show how Harris's world is going stagnant - dying. But of course it's all Harris has ever known so he sees nothing wrong with it.

The catalyst occurs on page 12. This is where the beginning of the end of 'normal' happens. In the book, this happened when Jonathan, the youngest son of King Carolinas came to play the part of an exchange student (after a fashion). Harris was to go south and take up Jonathan's duties, and in so doing learn how to be a king.

The debate is from page 12 to page 25 and here I figure is where Harris shows Jonathan around. Here also is where the two sixteen-year-olds compare their two very different worlds. This will be where Harris's first suspicions that things aren't quite right begin to tickle at the back of his mind.

Break into two happens on page 25. This is the beginning of the second act. This is where the main character must decide to head out boldly into his future. Well, in the book, that decision has never been offered to him. His father sends him so he goes, but he can decide how he will go. He can either go kicking and screaming every inch of the way, or he can do his level best to make his father proud of him, and try to represent him and his country honorably. I'm not sure if that's good enough, so we'll have to see.

The B story is where we introduce the rest of our characters, or some of them anyway. Here I figure we could introduce a little humor. Jonathan's family, unlike Harris's family, is quite large. At some point I'll try to work in somehow, Harris's father proposed a betrothal with King Carolinas' youngest daughter, Princess Kandace, but since she was only 12, this exchange of fosters was proposed instead. At this point, we watching the movie will meet the girl along with the rest of her family, and I figure she might find an opportunity to stick her tongue out at him when no one but he can see. This isn't in the book, but I think I'll put it in there. This happens on page 30.

Fun and games is given from page 30 to page 55. This is where Harris learns how true Jonathan's words are. Harris is sent around the country to visit all the different districts to learn something about what each one produces and how they are run. I'm thinking I can find scenes showing how grueling this task is. Things like being hardly able to walk after a three-day ride or falling asleep in the saddle, and I can't forget that here is where Harris is gifted a warhorse colt, though I might have to make it a grown horse. I'm sure I can think up some more things to fill these pages.

When I reach page 55, I have reached the midpoint. In writing fiction, this is the big climax, and my climax is the battle that nearly kills Harris. In the book there are two battles, but I am fairly certain I can combine them easily enough.

From pages 55 to 75 I need to work my way up to the bad guys closing in again. Harris has twenty pages to cover until the bad guys regroup and attack him again, and they do in the book, but twenty pages isn't very long considering the what happens in the book between these two attacks. Here's where the chopping begins and where it starts to get difficult. In the book, there's a chapter or two covering his recovery, and another covering where he sends his beloved horse back home (to Princess Kandace) with a message - you see, everyone thinks he's dead. Jonathan has also returned home with another message from Harris's mother, only it ends up not being for Harris, but Jonathan didn't know that. These two messages are very important, so I'll need to get this in there somehow, but also during this time, Harris goes south, into the desert to try to figure out who is after him and manages to come back with an army, or at least part of one. Here is where we are let in on the greatest secret of the desert people - some of them are shape-shifters. Here also Kandace is sent east to try to find another secret society, rumored to only exist in fairytales. She returns with an entire race, or what's left of them. To complete the army Harris will return with, King Carolinas also calls for an assembly of troops. Once these three peoples are assembled, Harris can then head home. It is on this march, after he crosses into his home country, that he gets attacked again. The enemy has regrouped. This stretch is going to be a toughie.

From pages 75 to 85 is called the dark night of the soul for a reason. This is where the main character pretty much reaches the end of his rope, and he questions his purpose. Now, during this last attack, the mind-altering abilities of the peoples from the sea (those found by Kandace) are used against Harris. Because of those who'd assigned themselves to protect him from just this sort of attack, die protecting him, he does live, but he's in a coma of sorts. I figure I can use this state. He has another choice to make: fight to live, or die. But what does he have to live for? Here, I can lace his nightmares with visions of his people being beaten down, caged up, and turned into slaves.

Break into three, or the third act, occurs on page 85. This is the final straw - in this case, the vision that tells him what to do. This is not in the book, but I figure he could have a vision of Princess Kandace dancing around the May Pole. This vision gives him the realization that there is strength in unity, and he does have a unified army, intent on ridding his country of the evil that has touched them all.

That brings us to the finale starting on page 85 and covering the next 25 pages. Here, I figure we could have the final climax. This is where Harris and his army have to retake his home castle. Now in the book, another chunk of goings on has been skipped, but really, as far as the movie is concerned, it's just window dressing, and can be skipped and not be missed much. The trouble is, in the book, he has already been through here. That is when he learns of his father's death by his mother's hand, and he learns that she has gone quite off her rocker. He has also left behind the non-combatants for their safety. They do play a small part, but I think I can work around that and have this be the first homecoming. We'll see how it develops when I actually get into the writing. To finish this up, we of course need a formal coronation and wedding.

That brings us to the final image on page 110. For this final image in the book, I have Kandace and Harris standing in the entrance of the castle watching the wedding party depart. I figure the palace grounds could be teaming with busy servants, with maybe some kind of pan-out showing the town all busy too.

What do you think?

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Chapter Three

This chapter is all about who. Who is your story going to be about? This information will affect my log line, which sits at "A crown does not make a king" at the moment.

Now this log line tells me anyway, that my story is about someone who maybe doesn't have a crown yet, but I already know the story, so that assumption might be too easy. At any rate, it's about someone who might find becoming a king a less than smooth road. 

The bulk of this chapter was a discussion of such an aspect from the movie maker's point of view. Blake Snyder went to great lengths to point out many actors fall happily into certain genre, but that to write your script with a particular actor in mind for the lead is the very worst thing you can do. I'm sure you all have certain actors who whenever you see them, you almost always go see the movie. Sandra Bullock has to be my favorite actress, and a Russel Crow among a handful of others are my favorite actors.

I must confess, most of my main characters are written with Karl Urban in my mind. However, I know full well that never in a million years would he be able to play in one of my movies. Most of my main characters start out in their teens - few of them extend far enough to where he might be able to step into the part. That said, he still gives me an imaginary figure. I can imagine him as a gangly teenager, his turmoil of emotions carefully hidden behind his dark eyes and his smooth face.

Once you've decided on who your story will be about, you need to then figure out why he has to do what you're planning on him doing. To keep things simple, primal is the name of the game. Keep it primal, meaning the most basic of emotions. Survival, hunger, sex, protection of loved ones, and fear of death, are the most basic emotion we can all identify with.

So let's apply this information to my book. Young Harris goes off to learn how to become a king - kind of a vague goal, but he fully intended to come home and apply what he learned. He wanted to follow in his father's footsteps; it was a matter of honor. As time went along, he began to realize how bad things were at home. Only then did he realize how important it was that he not only return home, but that he return with enough strength to set things right. Now, honor did not make Blake's list of primal emotions, but I still think we can identify with the desire to set things right, especially when this act alone will serve to protect his family as well as every other family in the country. 

Now I have a who and a why. Is it enough? We'll have to see. 

Now back to the log line. Blake insists on an adjective to describe the protagonist and an adjective to describe the antagonist. I was reluctant to do the antagonist because the man was very much an unseen entity until the latter half of the book, but I'll give it a shot.

A naive prince heads off to learn what it means to be a king, only to discover that he'd escaped the cage. Now he had to figure out who held the key.

I don't know - maybe. Time will tell. What do you think?

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Chapter One

Okay so I've been reading through my new book, Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder, and here is what I learned from Chapter One:

Using my first book, currently published under the title, King by Right of Blood and Might, as my guinea-pig, it has already gone through some evolving, and I haven't typed a word of it yet.

About the first thing I learned when I got internet and started looking into all the writing blogs I found, was that the title was too long. I also learned from more than one conversation about the book, that the cover was all wrong. There was also one review, from a writer who knows more than I do about writing a book, which said that the writing was amateurish and rough. So republishing it has always been in the plans.

According to Blake Snyder, before you write your very first word of your script, you have to answer one very important question.

"What is it?"

And of course, you have to consider that the title of your script will be in a pile of probably hundreds, so it has to grab the guy by the tie and make his eyes bug out with excitement. It needs to blast into his brain the entire movie, or at least plausible parts of it.

So, what is King by Right of Blood and Might? Does that title do anything at all for you? It's very lyrical, but that's about all it has going for it. Quest to Become King, its original title while I was writing it, is no better, at least not in answering that question. I've been hashing over titles for forever, something short and to the point, and most recently I'd chosen The Riddle of Steel. You guessed it - that doesn't answer that question either; it just reminds me of that Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, Conan, where the boy Conan's father tried to explain it to him. I didn't understand that explanation, but I did like that title so I did a little research about it so I could apply some of that concept to my book. That concept will stay, but once again, the title had to change. Currently I have Crown of Steel.

I came to that decision because irony is the best gripper (according to Blake anyway). I chose that because it wasn't gold that gained these kings their lands, it was the strength of their steel and the skill in their arms. I don't know, as I read on, the title might evolve farther. We'll see.

Another thing covered in this chapter, equally as important as the title, is the log-line. The log-line is the one liner that also has to answer the 'what is it?' question. I came up with two - one longer than the other, which also might be used on the book's blurb (maybe)

If he was to believe his father, the crown would be his - no question, but what he didn't tell him was that he'd have to retake the country in order to be king.

The actual log-line (so far) evolved to this:

A crown of gold does not make a king.

That leaves the cover, or the movie poster as the case may be. I'm toying with a sword leaning up against an oak tree with a heavy crown hanging on it. I'd thought of the sword poked into the ground, but that reminded me of rifles poked into the ground with helmets hanging on them - a grave. I also thought about the teepee thing where soldiers would lean their rifles against each other while camp was set up, or whatever the task was, but that was more an army scene and though Harris does return with an army, it is a loaner.

I don't know. That's only Chapter One. Things may still evolve. What do you think?

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