Wished I had known of this site when I researched my last 2 books. Now writing my 3rd, also set in WW2 during the Battle of Britain. Looks like a great site, one I'll be coming to help fill in the blanks. Both of my novels are set on the US homefront during WW2. The first, The Unfinished Gift," will be out this Sept (09), the second the summer of 2010. Dan
Welcome Dan, hope you find the site of interest. Can you tell us a bit more about yourself or your novels???
Howdy Dan, good to see you here. Tell us more of your books. May I also suggest you visit WW2F.com. It is a sister site of this one and may be of service to your needs, also.
:canflag[1]:Greetings from your northern neighbour, Dan. Hopeyou enjoy yourself poking around and sharing on the forum. Enjoyed the Brickyard when I was there some years ago.
:canflag[1]:Greetings from your northern neighbour, Dan. Hope you enjoy yourself poking around and sharing on the forum. Enjoyed the Brickyard when I was there some years ago. And here's me thinking you were a Vegan and a Teetotaller!:p
:welcome_to_ww2talk: Kia Ora form the Kiwi!!! look forward to reading your books, i like to write too, just probly not as good as you, or anyone else here... :icon_sadangel: anyway, WELCOME!!!! :indexCANAHAIH:
Thank you all for the warm welcome. Amazing to see the different places everyone is from (some even from outer space). Some asked for a little about me, then about the books. I'm almost 52, married 32 years, two grown kids. Both parents passed away, Dad fought in Korea. I've been reading books about WW2, mostly non-fiction but also novels for about 20 years. I've been wanting to write novels since high school, but life went in different directions. In the last few years, I've actually had something I rarely experienced before...blocks of spare time. My wife encouraged me to get back into writing. Off and on ideas would come to me and I'd jot them down. I decided to take the one out I felt the strongest about and jump in. In my new-found spare time, I finished the novel and polished it up. I know getting published is very difficult, near impossible. I spent months getting educated about how to market the book, send out 3 queries to reputable agents (thought I could only handle 3 rejections at a time). To my surprise, 2 wanted to read the rest of the book and both wanted to represent me. I settled on 1 and 3 mos later had a book deal. Halfway through the 2nd novel, they liked it even better and bought it also. Now I'm researching the 3rd. Both books are like Hallmark stories set on the homefront during WW2. That might be the easiest way to describe them (actually my agent is hoping to market them to Hallmark after they come out). The first book (The Unfinished Gift), tells the story of a little boy being dropped off to his grandfather's house after his mother died in a car accident 2 weeks before Christmas. He is 7 and they have never met, even though he lives just across town. The military is trying to locate his father, a B-17 pilot in England. He and the little boy's grandfather haven't spoken to each other in years. The title is drawn from a hand-carved wooden statue the grandfather started but never finished (of Sgt York from WW1). It was intended to be a peace offering to his son. The little boy finds it in the attic and it creates some serious conflict. Things get even more tense when they receive a telegram. Word didn't reach his father's base in time, and he was sent out on a mission to Bremen, and is now MIA. Can't say too much more, but I do believe in happy endings. The second novel picks up where the first leaves off. Can't say too much or I'd give away the ending of the first. But it winds up being more of a love story. Whereas the first book spans just 2 weeks, this one goes from Jan '44 until VE Day. Along the way I spend 4 chapters describing a B-17 bombing mission, crash landing, and escape. Several more chapters on a Hollywood USO train tour, and several more chapter in England during the V1 rocket attacks. Obviously in fiction, the war is the background, the characters and how they react to events is central. But I really want what I say about the war to be accurate. I'd hate for someone still living to read something I wrote and know instantly "that's not how it was." So thanks for any help you can give keeping my facts straight. Dan
