The flogging

 

As a writer it is nice to have a goal of a word count daily.

However there are times when I get bogged down in a chapter and Chapter 29 of the work in progress in Lexington (working title) is one of those.

The chapter covers the flogging of a deserter. I've been working on the chapter for three days. It is a matter more of adding details. Weather conditions can come from my imagination, but other details must be real.

In the first version I had written whip (more info to come). I finally found the type of whip that might have been used. I was able to make some progress because of the number of strands. But when I enlarged the photo I saw that the strands were part of the stock of the whip. And from the photo they look more like rope than leather. Ooops another slow down.

In writing this book which is about the life of the unknown soldier buried at Lexington. He was killed in the first battle of the American Revolution. Because he's unknown, the life I'm creating for him is fiction.

What can't be fiction is reality of the time. I couldn't have the soldier send an e-mail home, but I could refer to a letter that had taken X months to go from Winchester UK to Boston on a real ship.

Some questions are easily found on the internet. Others, I've bugged Ranger Jim who has become my source hero. Then there's the books I've read, youtubes I've watched and historical blogs like  Http://Boston1775.blogspot.com for other details. 

I know that once published most readers won't know if these details are real or not, but I remember in my novel, The Card, a reader who liked the book pointed out that TWA never flew out of Miami. It has made me a little paranoid about accuracy. 

So today's count was 642 words, most of which I am satisfied with for this draft. But I will be doing more research tonight.