I have just completed all the character sketches for the historical actors in Book 5 of the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures. Scrivener is an excellent tool for assembling research, as well as plotting and writing.
I discovered something interesting about Sully, Henri IV’s great friend and finance minister. Readers will remember him from The Suggested Assassin. When I reached the section on Sully’s writings, I discovered that he was the first to propose a European Union. He proposed a union of fifteen roughly equal European states under the direction of a “Very Christian Council of Europe”. His proposal was that it be charged with resolving differences between states, and disposing of a common army. I think disposing of, in this context, must be creating one.
I gave myself a fright when I read about Henri de la Tour d’Auvergne, duc de Bouillon. Apparently Antonio Foscari was a Venetian diplomat at court in Paris. Antonio Foscari was the alias I gave Standen when he began spying in Paris. It suddenly struck me that it would be very awkward if there were two Venetian Antonio Foscari’s in Paris at the time. The new Antonio didn’t arrive in Paris until 1601, and Standen was there in 1567, phew! Then I noticed that the Venetian diplomat was Antonio Foscarini, not Foscari at all. Isn’t it strange how the mind reads what it wants to read, or in this case fears to read?
My next task is to read these character sketches over and over, tracing the connections and the conflicts. Then I’ll have to think about how my characters interact with the historical characters, and what additional fictional characters may be required. A lot will depend on what theme jumps out at me, and what the inciting event turns out to be. There are exciting writing times ahead, I feel it.