Steven’s Comments (group member since Jun 20, 2008)

Steven’s comments from the Q&A with Steven Pressfield group.

I did when I was first starting out (first three unpublished novels, which deserved to be unpublished) but, like I said, I discovered that purely fictional characters came out "realer" that real characters. I think a lot of writers have that experience. A character that's totally fictional will have his or her own voice, all by magic, leaving the writer to tune in to that voice and put it on the page. I've heard many writers say that they've drawn up in the middle of writing a line of dialogue and heard a little voice say, "No, that character wouldn't say that"--or wouldn't say it in that way.

Jason wrote: "You are my favorite author and I'm so happy I found this site. I think that most authors don't produce interesting enough characters. In your books, EVERYONE is interesting. I'm on The Afghan Campa..."

Jason, if you want to see something that might be of interest, try my updated site at www.stevenpressfield.com. It's not really book stuff but some new op-ed videos. And thanks for the kind words!

Oddly enough, no, Jason. I actually had an epiphany years ago, which was never again to write from real-life. I don't believe in Write What You Know; I believe in Write What You Don't Know. Again and again, I've found that scenes and characters that are totally made up are the ones that readers respond to with, "Wow, that was really REAL." When I try to base something on real life, people say, "Man, that was phony as hell!"

Clif, if you're interested in the ancient Olympics, I can recommend a couple of books, if you haven't read them yet. One is Tony Perottet's "The Naked Olympics," which is factual history; the other is Eugene Kraay's brand-new "The Olympian," which is historical fiction. As for "Tides of War," I just didn't touch on the Olympics, I'm not even sure why, to tell you the truth!

First, use the word 'ass.' Seriously, my theory is a battle scene is just like an entire book or movie; it should have a beginning, a middle and an end; it should have a theme (it should be ABOUT something.) It should advance the story. And it should have as many visual and sensory details as possible without slowing down the momentum of the action. It's the details, in my view, that make any action scene come alive and seem real. Hope that helps, Heather! (P.S., the same rules would apply to a sex scene.)

Actually I wasn't a member, Doug. That toast just stuck with me over the years. I never forgot it. I'll tell you who was a member of KA at Duke at that time: Charlie Rose of TV fame.

Good question, Heather. I don't know the answer but I do know that various contending city-states from time to time would seize Delphi and act as "protectors" for the sanctuary. Philip of Macedon went to war over this. I'd be curious to learn the answer myself. Anyone?

I like the story of the Spartan who was visiting Athens and being entertained at a banquet by his Athenian host. In Sparta, where simplicity was prized, it was against the law to hew roofbeams in any shape other than the natural round way they came from the tree. The Spartan, noticing that the Athenian's beautifully hewn and carved roof beams were square, asked the Athenian if trees grew square in Athens. "No, of course not," said the Athenian. "They grow round, as they do everywhere."

"And if they grew square," asked the Spartan, "would you make them round?"

No, Ben, but I do remember this toast (made with water, not alcohol) from the KA fraternity:

"Knights, Gentlemen, Brethren ... let us lift high our glasses here tonight and, in the clear liquid as spotless as his fame, pledge the spiritual founder of the Kappa Alpha order -- Robert Edward Lee of Old Virginia!"

Quote unquote.

Tinseltown is tough, as you know, Jhhk. There's a big difference between being a novelist, however successful, and being an A-list screenwriter. I'm in there swinging but a bit superstitious about talking about it right now.

Doug, as for "Bagger Vance" the movie, I hated it too. But once you cash the check, it would only be churlish to complain. I had no experience with actors because they fired my ass before the first frame of film was exposed. I got to visit the location for one day, then they said, "Here's your cup of coffee, there's the van to the airport." But I can't complain. It was still a movie and we all know how hard it is to get a movie made, even a bad one.

I actually didn't go from historical fiction to "Bagger Vance" but the other way around. "Bagger" came first. And yeah, I grew up caddying from the time I was eleven, so I was sort of steeped in the game, like the young boy narrator, Hardy Greaves.

I've always found, for me, that fiction rings truer than fact. When I write a scene that totally made up, that's the one that people say, "Wow, that was so true!" When I try to be true to reality, I get told, "I don't know, that wasn't very convincing."

Movies mostly, Krischelle. I gobble up magazines and newspapers, even the web. I'm not much for art museums. Regular old American rock and roll is my music. Nothing too original or out of the ordinary.

It was specific to Rommel, Ben. That was the man's character. He wrote a book about the North Africa campaign which he titled Krieg Ohne Hass, "War Without Hate." One true story among many: Rommel's panzers overran a British field hospital, in which the English medical staff had refused to evacuate to save themselves but had stayed on, caring for their patients, a number of whom were captured German soldiers. When Rommel learned of this, he went straight to the hospital, shook the hands of every member of the British staff and thanked them for their care of his men. He asked them to stay on (which they agreed to) until he could bring up his own medical staff to replace them. Then he made sure that they were not taken captive as POWs but had them repatriated via neutral Switzerland.

That was Rommel. That was why I wanted to write about him.

You got it just about right, except the money was negotiated in advance, when the publisher first approved the idea for the book. The final draft went through a lot of editing but not from my actual editor. Mostly it was for technical content -- military stuff, British vocabularly and slang, etc. Lots of people went over the draft. I had mimimal input in the maps and cover, just a little "consultation." It seems to just work that way.

As for marketing, for "Killing Rommel," I did a whole big marketing thing myself. If you're interested, look on my website and click "The Videos." It tells everything. But basically I had two independent internet marketing people, my own website people, plus a video crew and all kinds of stuff -- in addition to getting a lot of help from my publisher, including them springing for a little TV advertising on the Military Channel. Without all that, the book would have sunk without a trace.

Excellent question. I think it was their women, the Spartan women. It takes a little digging but I highly recommend getting "Sayings of the Spartan Women." It's a short section, maybe six or seven pages, from Plutarch's "Moralia." (Next to it is "Sayings of the Spartans," which is pretty cool too.) They were unbelievably hard-core and had that dark Spartan wit. Here's one anecdote:

Two Spartan brothers were fleeing from some battle. Somehow their mother was there and saw them running from the fight. She lifted up her skirts and called out to them, "Where do you think you're running to ... back here from whence you came?"

Ami, thanks for the very generous words. To answer your question, I always try to know where a book is going -- meaning I know the ending and I know a few big beats along the way. I know I SHOULD block it out more thoroughly than I do (I'm constantly updating my outline) but I confess I let a lot of stuff happen on its own along the way, then I bend the story to fit it!

If you don't like "Rommel" and "War of Art," I'll give you your money back ...

Hey, Josh, that's great. I had no idea. How did that happen, did your Mom or sisters write to me? Anyway I'm glad "Gates" found its way to you. I hope you are recovered from your wounds and I salute you for your service and the pain you have endured. You are part of a long and honorable tradition, Josh, not just of the Marine Corps but of warriors who willingly put themselves in harm's way, going back thousands of years. You have my deepest respect and gratitude.

Semper Fi again,
Steve P

Richard, you are a learned dude and I thank you very much for your parting compliment. I had never thought of it that way but, hearing it in your words, I agree. Who is to say that "facts" are factual anyway? Any reporter knows you can take the facts and skew them any way you like. Empiricism is just another word for a different sort of subjectivism and one that's less honest because it pretends not to exist at all. I go with Shakespeare in "Julius Caesar." He stuck very faithfully to the facts, as we know them, and produced a work of art that's probably (we'll never know, of course) truer to the actual Roman reality than any history we have from anyone.

heather, I approach an historical novel just like a contemporary novel. The story comes first and underlying the story is the theme -- "what it's about." I bend historical "facts" to the theme of the story. I try not to bend them too much. But I keep in mind that I'm not writing a history or a biography, I'm writing a novel. Here's an example: in "Virtues of War" (which was about Alexander the Great), the theme was leadership and how closely a genius leader should follow his own "daimon." I wanted Alexander to represent that leader and the subordinate characters, particularly his generals, to represent different aspects of that theme. So I took two of them, Craterus and Hephaestion, and took literary license to make them what I needed them to be. There was some historical basis for this, as much as can be known of that era, but for the most part I was just "taking them over." I made Craterus represent the hard-core warrior for whom victory is everything and I made Hephaestion a more moral commander who believed that how one conducted himself as a warrior was just as important as whether one won or not. Between the two, I had Alexander -- torn between these different points of view. Does that make sense? In other words, the theme dominates; historical "fact" is respected but secondary. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Fred, I'm not sure what you mean by "constraints" as applied to research. Write me back if you like and I'll try to understand. As for feedback from other domains, your instincts are right on target. When I wrote "War of Art," I wrote it for writers primarialy. I figured other types of artists and entrepreneurs experience Resistance by nowhere near as bad as writers. I was wrong! I've gotten a gazillion e-mails from actors, dancers, photographers, software developers, not to mention people in all kinds of marketing where they're on their own, not part of some overarching organization. Resistance seems to be universal. Anybody who's trying to do something artistic, inventive and original has to fight that battle. It ain't just writers!