A local writing group, the Wordwrights, recently reviewed and commented on one of the chapters of my book. A couple of the members noted my use of the word “okay,” which was certainly not in use during the 11th century in England. However, a lot of our words we use today also were not in use. A quandary. What words should be used in this Anglo-Saxon tale, and which ones should I avoid.

Someone at the meeting mentioned a series of YouTube videos on the history of the English language. The history of language is the history of the culture and the people, and I was intrigued. I easily found the ten part series as part of Maxwell’s Collection. Each video about 50 minutes long and I viewed the first two:

“HISTORY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1 Birth of a Language”

“HISTORY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE 2 English Goes Underground”

Very worthwhile, and I recommend these videos whole heartedly to anyone interested in history.

The words castle, jury, justice, army and archer are all Norman, as is Battle, the name of the town tradition says the Battle of Hastings was fought. The word “fight” is Anglo-Saxon, while the Norse added the words “they,” “them,” and “their.” Norse also added prepositions and changed the sentence structure.

From the time of Bede, a monk who famously chronicled the events in the seventh century, until the end of the eighth century was considered the high days of Latin scholars. But by the time of Alfred the Great (ninth century), very few could read Latin. Alfred encouraged reading and writing among his people, but in English, not Latin. He had books translated and encouraged education. By the mid eleventh century, the written English language seemed secure … until the Normans came from across the sea and conquered the land. English, a poor third to Latin and French, went underground. It was not used for writing, but the spoken English survived and evolved. Ninety percent of the people spoke English, but the scholars and nobility all spoke and wrote in Latin and French.

I did some further searches on the internet and, obviously, I learned the “okay” was not in use in the eleventh century (it’s probably a 19th century word). But I also learned the pigeon was a French term, and dove was the Anglo-Saxon word. I found some wonderful old Anglo-Saxon phrases and words I want to incorporate into my story. Words such as

Arsling (backward)
earth-apples (cucumbers)
Elder (respected person)
Breast treasure (heart or soul)
Eaxle – shoulder
Eaxlel-Gestealla (shoulder friend)
Milk-soft – someone gentle, mild-tempered
Sea-flood – incoming tide
Unweder – bad weather, unweather, storm

I also found some Norse words that are common in our language, such as scathing and slaughter.

Using interesting words that were in use in the mid-eleventh century will enrich the novel and give the story an added layer of authenticity. For bringing the importance of words to my attention, I am very grateful to the Wordwrights.

Your characters can make or break your novel. Interesting characters that are fully fleshed out are essential. When you are editing your novel, how do you determine if your characters lack that special spark which makes readers connect to them? One way is to look at Rick Taubold’s Character Data Sheet, which is available free when you sign up for a free membership at Silver Pen Writers. In this Word document is a list of characteristics that you should know about each of your characters, but most especially about your main character(s). And for your single most important character, you may want to take a look at his Extended Character Data Sheet (also a free download at Silver Pen Writers).

The standard data sheet has four sections: Physical Description, Background and Resume, Personality and Emotional Description, and Story Role. I think most writers give a fair amount of thought to the first two sections, but less to what I would say are the key sections.

Emotions play a huge role in novels. I sometimes feel like a broken record when I tell new writers to up the emotional impact of their writing. Writers must be willing to risk something, and sometimes everything, they have emotionally to produce a book that will touch the reader in a special and long-lasting way. They must pour their hearts into every word, every action and every description. To do this, a writer must dig into their characters and find out who they really are. The data sheets, with questions like “Why is the character in the story?” and “What does the character want?” will help focus and identify the behavior and role and emotions of the character.

Once you feel you, as the author, know your characters, it is time for your readers to get to know them. The best way is by making their actions and dialog fit their personality and emotional state. Bring their characterization to life gradually, not in one great exposition. This may sound like part of the huge “show-don’t-tell” litany that writers are often overexposed to, but what you really want to do is have your reader experience and feel what the character is experiencing and feeling. This goes beyond just “showing” to something more emotionally charged.

Because your characters are key to your story, editing to ensure you’ve done the best possible job with all your characters deserves a pass through your novel all on its own, without being distracted by any other of the myriad of editing tasks.