Day 2 Writing challenge: introduce your Work in Progress

To be truthful, I have two projects on the go at present, but let’s not complicate life!

Now I’m going back in time to AD 370…

The Roma Nova series has two main strands: one with four books set in the 21st century featuring Carina Mitela and the other set between the late 1960s to early 1980s featuring Aurelia Mitela. The short story collection ROMA NOVA EXTRA includes a couple of stories about the foundation of Roma Nova – The Girl from the Market and Victory Speaks – but these were mere dips into the late fourth century.

Readers have been urging me to write about how Roma Nova started. Every country has a history and in the books so far the characters refer back to that history. We know founders Julia Bacausa and Lucius Apulius will survive – there would be no present day Roma Nova if they hadn’t – but the intrigue, I hope, is how and why they did what they did, whether they acted well or not, and what gains and sacrifices occurred. And what the consequences were for Aurelia’s and Carina’s generations.

As I write, I’m about 9,000 words in and I start with the bones of the story in The Girl from the Market, but from Julia’s point of view rather than Apulius’s. That’s an interesting challenge in itself! The other big challenge is all the research. I have a reasonable grounding in Ancient Roman life, but as we know, Rome in the West lasted 1229 years and by AD 370, it was rather different from the classical period of Augustus. And we’re in Roman Noricum, an important province but very different from the old urbs of Rome and the new capital of Constantinople. More of that on Day 4!

In the meantime, Day 3 will reveal more about those founders. Of course, there will be fireworks when they meet!

Back to Day 1: Introduce yourself            On to Day 3: Meet main characters, Julia and Apulius

Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers –  INCEPTIO,  PERFIDITAS,  SUCCESSIO,  AURELIA,  INSURRECTIO  and RETALIO.  CARINA, a novella, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories, are now available.  Audiobooks are available for four of the series. NEXUS, an Aurelia Mitela novella, is now out.

Find out more about Roma Nova, its origins, stories and heroines… Download ‘Welcome to Roma Nova’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email newsletter. You’ll also be first to know about Roma Nova news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.

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