Why do we enjoy a book?

 IT IS ALL ABOUT STORY

Plot and Story are needed to make a book. But which is most important? Which one makes the book more readable?

"A plot is not a story,

 Plots are events, stories reveal how characters react to those events." (from the website Tameri Guide for Writers, http://www.tameri.com/write/plotnstory.html

 

 

 

What is plot?

The plot is the activity that happens in the book. It’s the series of events, in whatever order, that lead the characters to the end of the book. It is the vehicle for the story. A plot, to me, is like recorded history and by itself it’s boring. It does give the story structure. But it doesn't have "soul."

What is story? 

Story is the emotion, decisions, and growth of the characters. If we like a character, we root for them, weep with them, and laugh at their jokes. We care about them and read to find out what happens to them. STORY determines our enjoyment level of a book. Story is the backbone of storytelling.

Next time you don't like a book, see if it is because the characters are "cardboard" figures pushed around in a series of events.

If you do like a book, consider the characters. Do you like the main character? Did you read to find out if they triumphed in the end? Do you feel like you know the people in the book?

Chances are you'll easily see that the STORY is what helped you enjoy the read.

Both plot and story are necessary, but strong characters trump plot every time.

Excerpt from "Tools Not Rules" A guide for beginning and stuck writers. Written by Mahrie G. Reid and coming to the market in the summer of 2020

Children in the Age Of Chivalry by Rosemary Morris

To find out more about Rosemary's books click the cover above.

Grace, Lady of Cassio, The Lovages of Cassio, Book Two, the sequel to Yvonne, Lady of Cassio, begins in the reign of Edward III. It will be published in October 2021.
At heart I am a historian. My novels are rich in historical detail which requires intensive research, some of which I am sharing in this blog.
Contrary to popular beliefs people understood the need for personal cleanliness. Even babies, who were wrapped in swaddling, were bathed regularly, but, sadly, approximately half of them died before they became adults.
Children were betrothed in infancy. The law allowed fourteen-year old boys and twelve-year old girls to marry, although co-habitation usually began when the wife was fourteen, an age at which pregnancy was encouraged.
After the age of five most of the peers’ sons and daughters went to another noble household to be brought up. At seven, boys destined for the church were tonsured and commenced a life of worship. Agricultural workers’ children worked in the fields from the same age. Craftsmen’s sons become apprentices when they were young, learned their trade and how to keep accounts. A child with a very low rank in society, who worked for a villein or poor franklin only received board and lodging.
In towns and country, the parish priest taught young children about the seven deadly sins. A surprising number of townswomen were literate. Nunneries might have poor be poor endowments, but they were keen to have schools and they educated as many girls as boys. There were formal schools in most towns but only for the minority who could afford the cost Cathedrals, Benedictine monasteries, and friaries often had schools attached to them, so did city churches. It was from such establishments that the clerks and clergy and the fourteen-year-old undergraduates at Oxford and Cambridge were drawn. However, the custom was for private tutors to educate great lord’s offspring.
I believe most parents wanted the best for their children. Some parents refused to punish them. Others applied brutal punishment. There were many manuscripts with different advice about how to bring up the young. A common belief was that a good father would apply the rod to instil fear of breaking the law – from the age of seven a child could be hanged for theft. Some mothers beat their daughters until they cried for mercy. In some people’s opinion, a lenient parent was considered to neglect his or her duties. In such circumstances, although children were instructed to love and honour their parents it must have been impossible.
In the age of chivalry, boys worked from the age of seven and were liable to serve in an army from fifteen onward. At the battle of Crecy, sixteen-year old Prince Edward commanded the vanguard. Can you imagine such a young commander leading troops into battle in the 21st century?
I believe most parents wanted the best for their children. When those placed in other households came home several times a year to visit them. I like to imagine these were happy occasions. The third Edward and his queen, who loved their children, were never parted with them at home or abroad for longer than necessary.
To conclude, I cried when I read Gawain’s heart-breaking poem about his pearl, his precious daughter Marguerite, who died before she was two,

www.rosemarymorris.co.uk

http://bookswelove.net/authors/morris-rosemary


Fathers.

Rasputin’s Murder by Katherine Pym

For something entirely different, a YA fantasy for all ages. 

Well imagined. 

Buy Here

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Imperial Family & others. Little Alexi is sitting on the ground, center.

WWI is a popular topic these days with re: to novels, movies and miniseries. Even as a child, I heard it referred to as The Great War but never realized the cruel impact of it, the men being gassed, and the horrors of battles fought almost entirely in trenches. This war involved almost every nation and killed (military & civilian) more than 18 million. 

No small potato. 

Grigori Rasputin, the Mad Monk

Russia took part in this war with Czar Nicholas on the front, trying to direct his generals and their portion of the battles. This left Grigory Efimovich Rasputin behind to give spiritual advice to the Czarina, much of her family and the local nobles. Vicious propaganda emerged Rasputin had bedded the Czarina and the two of them supposedly ruled Russia in the Czar’s absence.

Enter Felix Yusupov (also spelled Youssupov), a prince and more wealthy than the Imperial family. Felix was the second son who, after the death of his brother in a duel, inherited a vast fortune. They owned lands from Asia to Finland, reaped the benefits of minerals and other resources. He was raised knowing this, and was quite the wild fellow in his youth. 

Felix Yusupov

He enjoyed wearing his mother’s clothes and jewelry, went to nightclubs dressed as a woman. After an episode where his mother’s very expensive pearl necklace broke, pearls shooting all over the darkened nightclub floor, Felix’s father put a stop to all this nonsense. He set his son under close military guard and was taught to act like a man. 

Felix (in sailor suit) and his family

Eventually, due Felix’s father’s many absences from their numerous palaces and homes, this hard-line began to fade. Felix went to university at Oxford and resumed his frivolous life. When he returned to Russia, he married the Czar’s only niece. Even as Felix’s reputation was in tatters and the royal family considered him a flagrant ne’er-do-well but since he was richer than Croesus, he was okay.

Felix was introduced to Grigory Efimovich Rasputin, the popular ‘mad monk’ and spiritualist. Felix’s social circles, especially the women, were enamored with Rasputin. He had numerous affairs with women of all stations. His smoky grey eyes could mesmerize one.  His calm voice brought one peace.  

The Czarina considered him a gift from God who could heal the heir to the throne of his hemophilia. Felix’s aunt, the Grand Duchess Olga, professed her belief in Rasputin, that she observed him healing her dear nephew.

Russia’s nobles learned to hate Rasputin. The imperial couple shunted their counsel aside as Rasputin became more powerful. The Grand Duchess hounded Felix to love Rasputin. They met and—even as Felix proudly accounted for his part in the monk’s murder—something was missing in his account. Historians debate there may have been more to Felix and Rasputin’s relationship than spiritual meetings.  

Under the guise of restoring the reputation and dignity of the imperial family, nobles planned Rasputin’s assassination. They hoped the Czar would return to St Petersburg to rule Russia as he was meant to do during a crucial time as this and let his generals run the war.

December 29/30, 1916: (This is based on several accounts that don’t necessarily match, but there you have it.) Led by Prince Yusupov who instigated the whole affair, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavolovich, the Czar’s first cousin, Vladimir Purishkevitch, a Duma deputy, and two others lured Rasputin to Felix’s opulent home with the promise he would meet Felix’s wife.

Instead, he was taken down a winding staircase to a large cellar where he was fed wine and cake laced with cyanide. Either Rasputin was a strong man or the poison was faulty for the man did not die. He passed out though. Rasputin lay on the floor, now awake, and told Yusupov he would tell something damaging about him to the Czarina. This did not sit well with Felix.

The Courtyard where Rasputin finally breathed his last.

Since the Yusupov and the other men were committed, they shot him twice. One bullet hit him in his midsection, the second in his back.

Rasputin lived. He escaped to the mansion’s courtyard where he was cruelly beaten and shot again in the head. Finally dead, the men dumped Rasputin in a hole in the ice of a canal, knowing his body would be swept downstream.

The Czarina was furious. Felix and Dimitri were exiled. Dimitri found his way to America. Felix and his wife went to the Crimea then onward to Paris. They both survived the Revolution.

As a footnote: One article I read stated that without Rasputin and how much he was hated, how he had controlled the Czarina and her husband, there would have been no room for Vladimir Lenin.

But then again, who knows.

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Many thanks to:

Wikicommons &

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/murder-rasputin-100-years-later-180961572/

http://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/Felix.html

http://www.thehistoryreader.com/modern-history/felix-yusupov/