Total words: 742 (I woke up late!)
Manuscript total: 5,108
Last night after a long run-hike, which included having to bypass a flooded area, which in turn led to getting lost, which in turn led to forging a new trail through a meadow, which in turn led to leaping a gulley and slipping through a barbed-wire fence, I was really tired. So tired that, by the time I got home and showered, all I wanted to do was curl up on the couch and watch Netflix.
I’d already blazed through Feel Good (a fantastic new lesbian drama on Netflix that everyone should watch) and Letter for the King (a relatively bad fantasy that was at least slightly better than The Witcher), so I was looking for something new to watch and stumbled across Medici.
I’ve always been fascinated by the Medici family, so I settled into watch it, and before I knew it, I’d made it through three episodes. I thought to myself,
This show is going to provide some great inspiration for the political machinations going on in Book 3 of my series!
Here’s the random trivia part
Before I got down to writing Princess of Dorsa in earnest, I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History, and in particular, I was listening to the episode about Julius Caesar’s protracted campaign against the Celts. I modeled the War in the East after the conflict between the Roman Empire and the Celtic tribes, thinking through how a “less advanced” and loosely confederated group of tribes might be able to push a sophisticated Empire back despite the odds, even forcing such an empire to offer concessions simply to get out of a costly and never-ending conflict.
As we move into Book 3 (Empress of Dorsa), you’re going to get to learn a lot more about the mountain tribes and the origin of the conflict between the Empire and the so-called “barbarians” they refer to as “the mountain men.” As Joslyn’s ku-sai tells her in Soldier of Dorsa, the Empire has a tendency to label as “barbarian” any culture that does not resemble their own — just as the Romans labeled Celtic and Germanic tribes as “barbarian” despite the fact that they were each sophisticated in their own ways. I’m always fascinated when the underdog can defeat a world power!
And now I’m looking to Medici to help guide where the politics are going in Book 3.
Tasia has gone from a spoiled brat in Book 1 to novice leader in Book 2. In Book 3, we’re going to continue that character arc of leadership growth as she grows savvier in her political dealings… but it also means she’s going to have to make compromises and sacrifices that go against her own wishes and even her own moral compass. We see her starting to do this a little in Book 2, but some of those grin-and-bear-it choices are going to put much more at stake for her in Book 3.
If you want to see where Tasia is going as she loses the last of her innocence, check out Cosimo de’Medici (aka Robb Stark himself!) on Netflix.
What’s everybody else watching during this age of lockdowns?
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