Ask the Author: David Cook
Answered Questions (13)
David Cook
Hi Michael and thank you for your question.
I do set out to write about something that isn't well known in the Soldier Chronicles. I have a main story arc separate to the novellas which will encompass all the well-known battlefields. For me, it's great to write about something not many know about. I have had some wonderful comments from readers who read LIBERTY OR DEATH, which the backdrop is about the Irish 1798 Rebellion (which I only scratch the surface of) and tell me they were educated and want to read more. It's a wonderful feeling.
I do set out to write about something that isn't well known in the Soldier Chronicles. I have a main story arc separate to the novellas which will encompass all the well-known battlefields. For me, it's great to write about something not many know about. I have had some wonderful comments from readers who read LIBERTY OR DEATH, which the backdrop is about the Irish 1798 Rebellion (which I only scratch the surface of) and tell me they were educated and want to read more. It's a wonderful feeling.
David Cook
Hi Anne, your profile says Eastleigh and I'm from Chandlers Ford. I've moved away so probably changed too :)
David Cook
Hi Daniel,
No there wasn't. Mullone started life as an intelligence officer in my unpublished Egyptian novel and is a slightly different character to that in Liberty or Death/The Emerald Graves as it was written 2006-2008. I'll change it. Basically when I wrote LOD I needed him to be more compassionate to the cause as he is Irish and has seen the horrors of warfare for many years. He is wise, intelligent and gentle, but he's a soldier still as he shows his prowess at new Ross.
Cahill is his sidekick. A different character and it was fun part to write him in. Mullone needed someone who he can rely on. Cahill is Mullone's right-hand man. Together they're a team and inseperable.
No there wasn't. Mullone started life as an intelligence officer in my unpublished Egyptian novel and is a slightly different character to that in Liberty or Death/The Emerald Graves as it was written 2006-2008. I'll change it. Basically when I wrote LOD I needed him to be more compassionate to the cause as he is Irish and has seen the horrors of warfare for many years. He is wise, intelligent and gentle, but he's a soldier still as he shows his prowess at new Ross.
Cahill is his sidekick. A different character and it was fun part to write him in. Mullone needed someone who he can rely on. Cahill is Mullone's right-hand man. Together they're a team and inseperable.
David Cook
Habits? I suppose making sure I have everything to hand when I write. A drink. Reference material. Peace and quiet!
David Cook
I spend a few hours a day writing, evening's usually. Unfortunately, I have a day job, which gets in the way.
David Cook
I've been writing my Napoleonic series since 2006, stopping for fatherhood. I picked it up again this year.
David Cook
I have a love of history. From reading, watching and war-gaming (not so much now).
I wanted to bring alive the characters that I have in my head and the situations I loved to read about. That's the motivation.
I read a lot of historical-fiction and thought perhaps I was inspired to write a book about the British liberation of Egypt in 1801, which many people don't know about. From there that where The Soldier Chronicles came from.
I wanted to bring alive the characters that I have in my head and the situations I loved to read about. That's the motivation.
I read a lot of historical-fiction and thought perhaps I was inspired to write a book about the British liberation of Egypt in 1801, which many people don't know about. From there that where The Soldier Chronicles came from.
David Cook
I don't believe it exists to be frank.
I suggest lots of rest, fresh air, and trying to write something different - a different style, genre and come back to that problematic piece later.
I suggest lots of rest, fresh air, and trying to write something different - a different style, genre and come back to that problematic piece later.
David Cook
Escaping from reality and creating written characters who become alive.
David Cook
I don't think i'm established or good enough to do that.
A quote from Chandler in Friends sums this up perfectly here: ''I'm not good at the advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?''
A quote from Chandler in Friends sums this up perfectly here: ''I'm not good at the advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?''
David Cook
Blood on the Snow which is the third in The Soldier Chronicles series.
It's about the British retreat during the winter of 1794, in Flanders. The army is in disarray following its collapse at the hands of a outnumbering French army. It's desperate, harrowing and ultimately one to be told as not many people know of the struggle or what was involved.
It's about the British retreat during the winter of 1794, in Flanders. The army is in disarray following its collapse at the hands of a outnumbering French army. It's desperate, harrowing and ultimately one to be told as not many people know of the struggle or what was involved.
David Cook
Every day I write something. It's important to me to write. I'm pretty good at daydreaming and I read every day so it comes to me easily.
So does being distracted, but that's an answer for another question!
So does being distracted, but that's an answer for another question!
David Cook
I've been a follower of the Napoleonic era for a long time, and always (still do) admire the great ships of the age. So I wrote about Captain Gamble (whose brother features in my unpublished novel The Desert Lion) as a Marine who fights on land, yet has a connection to the Royal Navy.
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