Creating a Historical Trilogy

I'm not sure how far this discussion will go but I have had an idea for a trilogy of stories for sometime now. I thought it would be interesting to document the process.

To begin, you should know I created a story about Joan of Arc many years ago. I can’t recall now why I did, it may have been a request or just something I wanted to do, but I have always loved Joan’s story, the tale of a teenage girl’s courage and faith beyond all odds. I have not told it in a long time and so I suspect it will go through some additional work. It will be one story in this trilogy.

Before I talk about The Maid of Lorraine, I will share another piece of my usual process. I like to have a title to work with as it helps keep me focused, but for now this trilogy has no title. That may come along as I get more involved in the research. I have decided on three Medieval woman as subjects for this trilogy, Joan of Arc, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Hildegard of Bingen. Hildegard will be my first research project because I don’t know as much about her as I would like and she fascinates me.

Joan of Arc, or Jeanne d’Arc: Joan lived in a man’s world and because of this she lived by the law of man and the law of the church. I looked at four different stories about Joan, and I often refer to children’s stories because they are as bare bones as you can get. It’s a good place to get small details. Each story offered a different look at Joan. I collected information on her childhood and daily life, dates, places, what brought to her a place in her life where she would decide to openly break the law of the church and take the role of a man and so on. As a child I was taught she was burned as a witch but in fact if you read enough about her you learn that the church could not find her guilty of witchcraft but instead used its laws on the conduct of women against her. She was burned as a heretic. But I never found any account that really allowed me to get inside her head and see things from her perspective, perhaps because she was a woman and most writers were men. Using historical accounts and what I know of the lifestyle, I could have “made up” what Joan would think and say. But I felt that would not do her justice so I chose a different point of view (POV).

Steps so far:
1. Chose a story
2. Find as many versions of that story as you can
3. Learn something of the time, place, customs
4. Choose a POV

My POV for Joan’s story was a woman whose husband joined Joan’s campaign, fought beside her, and returned to tell his wife all that had happened. Then she tells the story of her own interaction with the Maid and what her husband had relayed. Now I can give the opinion of the woman I have created and nobody can dispute whether she said or did what I have given her to say and do. Still I must stay within some societal confines of the culture and time period for my story to feel real.

I don’t know exactly what the next post will be but my plan of action is to read about Hildegard of Bingen and see if I can connect her life with Joan’s in some way, not physically but metaphorically or philosophically. I am looking for a “thread” to bind the stories and help me determine where to place each one and how to tell them in the trilogy.