What To Write Next

Apropos of nothing (OK, since I haven't talked about writing on this blog for a while), it's occurred to me that an SF or fantasy book that basically lifts as its plot elements of the life of William the Conqueror would be pretty neat.

I mean, get a load of this guy's CV:

Da died while on pilgrimage;
Uncle Walter slept in his room to guard him from kidnappers;
Escaped a kidnapping attempt of Guy of Burgundy, got Henry on his side, and defeated the bloke in 1047;
Spent next 13 years reconquering everything, I do mean *everything* to become William of Normandy;
Married the daughter of the Count of Flanders;
Partly defanged his most immediate competitor (Earl Godwin of Wessex) by marrying his daughter to Godwin's son;
Then offed Harold Godwinson (Oy! In battle) and conquered England;
Undertook to learn English around this time but didn't do too well;
Spent over half his reign in Normandy, 'cause the counts of Anjou were scrappy;
Built a truckload of castles;
Put down a rebellion...here...there...and over there...
Paid off the Scandinavian invaders when the Danish King Swein Estrithson invaded;
Lost in Brittany during a siege of the castle of Dol;
Fought his son Robert and, um, lost, but was rescued;
Undertook a land survey that resulted in the Domesday Book (The Book of Doomsday) [which I just finally bought];
Mortally wounded, split his holdings (England, Normandy, and a honkin' sum of money to William Jr, Robert, and Henry);
Died, decayed, and THEN had his Mass (so they rushed it);
And his death had some cowering in fear, expecting vast natural catastrophes to follow. Nothing else could mark "the passing of so fearsome a king"*.

*"Royal Panoply: Brief Lives of the English Monarchs", by Carolly Erickson

I mean, <expletive deleted> you could do a novel on just the first three items. So, I might.

I do want to tackle another book-length project when I'm done with Mitch Chevrolet, Supernatural PI, and it's either this William the Conqueror idea, a star trek-with-extra-psychics idea, or a Dr. Who novel, up next.

Whichever shall it be. Dr. Who? Got an outline. Know some fans. Plenty of canon. And canon. And canon. Dear god, more. William the SOB, or my psychic Swedes in Space tale.

Need to work on plots. Not my strong suit.

(Maybe I need a collaborator. Hence this idea of stealing from history.)

Hum dee hum dee hum.