Glynn Young

Dancing King Stories: The Victoria Memorial

April 23, 2018 By Glynn Young 1 Comment

Victoria Memorial

Queen Victoria died in 1901, after the longest reign by any British monarch (a record broken only by Queen Elizabeth II). To honor her memory, a memorial was designed that same year. The central monument – what most tourists think of as the Victoria Memorial– was constructed between 1906 and 1911. The memorial was not completed until 1924.

The entire semi-circular design as constructed in front of Buckingham Palace includes the Dominion Gates (the Canada Gate, the Australia Gate, and the South and West Africa Gates); the Memorial Gardens; and the central monument, built of 2,300 tons of Carrara marble and comprised of the monument atop a staired terrace.

Victoria Memorial unveiling — The unveiling ceremony in 1911.

Many a time have I walked around those gardens and not realized they’re part of the overall Victoria Memorial. They’re planted on a seasonal basis, with summer plantings including scarlet geraniums (to match the color of the uniforms of the Queen’s Guard), spider plants, salvias, and weeping figs. Winter plantings (for spring flowering) include yellow wallflowers and red tulips – some 50,000 of them.

The memorial plan required some rerouting of the streets in front of the palace and the shortening of The Mall. Thomas Brockwas chosen to be the designer. Funding was appropriated by Parliament and Dominion nations like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and others contributed. In 1911, Mr. Brock was knighted for his service on the memorial.

Victoria Memorial London — The author standing by the monument.

During the unveiling ceremony that year, the two senior grandsons and their families attended – King George V of Britain and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. Winston Churchill was Home Secretary at the time and had the duty of carrying the speeches to be given (as opposed to giving one himself).

This is the area where crowds gather for significant events in the life of Britain – the ending of World War II in Europe, coronations, royal weddings, and the Golden and Diamond Jubilees of Queen Elizabeth. This was also the area where the 2012 parade of the British Olympic and Paralympic teams ended, following a route through the City of London, the Strand and Trafalgar Square, and The Mall. (My wife and I watched the parade on the Strand across the street from Charing Cross Station.)

The memorial area has also seen its fair share of protests, including the Million Mask March in November 2013 when the Memorial area was damaged.

View of the palace — Looking from the Victoria Monument to Buckingham Palace.

In Dancing King, the Victoria Memorial area is the setting for a critical scene, perhaps thepivotal scene of the novel. The memorial was chosen for the scene because of all the royal connections. Michael Kent-Hughes meets with protesters inside the palace, while crowds gather in front and watch the televised meeting on mobile phones and tablets. Michael doesn’t bend an inch in regard to the protesters’ demands, and his polite but firm statements are met with cheers and roars from the crowd in front.

When the meeting ends, Michael tells his security people that, while he knows the risks, he’s going outside the palace to “meet with my people.” From that point on, the story – Michael’s story and Britain’s story – changes.

Just how much it changes will be seen in book four (in process) and book five (planned).

Top photograph: a panoramic view of the gardens, monument, and Buckingham Palace.

On the Power of Noticing

April 20, 2018 By Glynn Young 2 Comments

One very vivid memory I have from when I was five years old is from kindergarten. During recess in the front yard of the church which sponsored our kindergarten, a little girl and I ran around in our sock feet. We had taken off our shoes for some reason. When it was time to go in, she slipped her shoes on and ran inside. And I stared at my shoes. The laces were untied, and I didn’t know how to retie them.

Her name was Joy. My name felt more like terrified. We weren’t supposed to remove our shoes, even in the classroom.

How do I remember this? I don’t know, but I know it’s important for writing.

In On Being a Writer: 12 Simple Habits for a Writing Life That Lasts, Ann Kroeker (co-author with Charity Craig) gives some advice courtesy of another writer, Dorothea Braude, in how to engage memory: “Set aside a short period each day: when you will, by taking thought, recapture a childlike ‘innocence of eye,’ the state of wide-eyed interest you have when you were five years old.”

Ann, like the rest of us on the planet, has to do more than simply sitting and thinking to recapture that “innocence of eye.” She has to write her thoughts and observations down, using whatever is closest at hand – a journal, a Word document, phone or tablet apps, or whatever else is handy (I’ve been known to write thoughts on grocery lists).

I carry a journal with me just about everywhere I go, including business meetings, church worship services, and sometimes even the gym. In the one I’m carrying now (its predecessors safely stored on a bookshelf above my computer), you might find rough drafts of poems, quotes (like the one by Dorothea Braude cited above), my notes from a poetry reading with Billy Collins, sermon notes, and odd facts like “During August 1914, the Times of London received more than 100 poetry submissions about the war every day.”

When my wife and I went to Amsterdam and Paris for a belated 25^th wedding anniversary trip, I carried a travel journal with me, dutifully recording each day where we went, what we saw, where we ate, and what we bought. It was not only helpful for correcting faulty memories later, it was also useful for helping to keep track of expenses and anything that might have to be declared for Customs.

I did the same thing these past six years for our trips to England. Except these travel journals are slightly different. In addition to places visited and places we ate, they also include drafts of poems written while on a train to Oxford, notations from ads on the tube in London, a few comments about Salisbury Cathedral, observations from a walk in St. James Park, street names and directions for my Dancing Priestnovels, and any number of things I noticed and didn’t want to forget.

Traveling is helpful for writing because you’re seeing the unfamiliar and the new. You’re looking at something with new eyes – those “eyes of innocence.” I’ve actually written the first draft of a novel because I looked at something familiar – an old apartment complex – with a completely new eye.

Like I said, I don’t know how this works, but for writers, it’s critical.

Photograph by Peter Hershey via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Dancing King Stories: Christmas in Edinburgh

April 16, 2018 By Glynn Young Leave a Comment

In my novel Dancing King, Michael and Sarah Kent-Hughes have something of a break from London, when they go to Scotland for Christmas (with a slight interruption with Michael’s sermon at Southwark Cathedralin London). It’s a relatively short part in the narrative, but two important things happen.

First, Michael has a conversation in the stable with his guardian father, Ian McLaren. Ian and his wife Iris were surprised – shocked is a better word – to discover they become the guardians of a six-year-old boy. Childless themselves, they raised him as their own child, and he still calls them “Ma and Da.” And Michael gets his degree from the University of Edinburgh, which is where he meets American exchange students and twins David and Sarah Hughes in the first novel in the series, Dancing Priest.

McLarens barn — This is a converted barn (now a vacation home) but is the idea for the McLaren stable

Their home, known to the family simply as McLarens, is some 40 miles from the center of Edinburgh, positioned in a somewhat rural area that’s hilly (as a boy and teenager, Michael does considerable mountain biking on the property). Although born in southern England, Michael considers Scotland and Edinburgh as “home.”

Edinburgh is on the eastern side of Scotland. The inspiration for McLarens is actually on the western side. The address for the home and rather famous gardens of An Calais the “Isle of Seil, Argyll, and Bute,” near the village of Ellenabeich. The gardens were first established in 1930, and it took considerable renovation and blasting of the terrain to plant them. Then, as now, the gardens feature azaleas, rhododendrons, and roses.

For the Dancing Priest novels, I “borrowed” the house and gardens, moved them to east side of Scotland near Edinburgh, and expanded the size of the property. I created a barn / stable for equine veterinarian Ian, and it’s there in Dancing Kingthat he and Michael have a long talk on the morning of Christmas Eve. The scene is meant to show the closeness and tenderness in their relationship and even add a bit of humor. It was not in the first draft of the manuscript but came during the editing process; it was one of those ideas that suddenly began to spill from my head on to the page in front of me. And it turned into one of my favorite scenes in the book.

That afternoon, Ian leads Michael, his adopted sons Jason and Jim, the baby Hank, Sarah’s brother David and his son Gavin, and Michael’s best friend Tommy MacFarland on the annual McLaren Men Last-Minute Christmas Eve Shopping Expedition to downtown Edinburgh. Their first stop is Jenners Department Store.

Jenners, often called the “Harrod’s of the North,” was the largest independent department store in the U.K. until 2005, when it was bought by House of Fraser. It’s a beautiful, and old, store, with that classic Victorian architecture and a spectacular grand hall. And it’s there that Michael’s friends and family learn firsthand how life has changed for Michael and his boys. They’re recognized as soon as they step through the doors, and Michael feels the obligation to speak to the growing crowd.

What the Scotland scenes show is that Michael Kent-Hughes has the continuity of a loving family and the press of new and demanding obligations.

Top photograph: the home at An Cala Gardens. Photograph of the exterior of Jenners is by Stuart Caieand the interior by Christian Bickel, both via Wikimedia.

Writing: The Right Reason

April 13, 2018 By Glynn Young Leave a Comment

I was at a writer’s conference, carrying with me my selection of a work in progress like hundreds of others, scheduled for a meeting with both an editor and an agent. Like most of the people there, when not in a general session or a seminar, I spent a lot of time milling about, looking at the writers’ books for sale, talking to a few people, trying to understand what I was even doing there.

At one of the luncheons, a woman sat next to me, her arms full of books, papers, notebooks, purse, briefcase, and water bottle. She smiled expansively at the rest of us at the table and announced, “I am a writer.” Loudly. Loud enough so that the people at the next table turned their heads.

She went on to tell us, knowing we were all phenomenally interested, that she was in her positive affirmation mode. Declaring herself to be a writer meant, as night followed day, that she was one. And she went on to explain what that meant.

“One day,” she said, “I will be on that dais, getting ready to make the luncheon address. I will be signing books during the meet-the-authors sessions. My books will be on the best-seller lists. I will be mobbed by people asking for advice and the name of my agent, and manuscripts thrust in my face to read.” She smiled. “I will not just be a writer; I will be an author” (emphasis in the original). She looked around, a smug smile on her face. “And each of you knows that’s what you want, too.”

The rest of us at the table suddenly discovered reasons why we had to be somewhere else. And if we had to choose between two good seminars scheduled at the same time, the decision would be easy once we saw which one she had chosen.

What struck me about her words wasn’t her brazenness. It was that she didn’t want to become a writer, not really. What she instead wanted was the experience of becoming a writer. The difference was, and is, huge. One implies work; the other implies adulation. One implies a love for others; the other implies a love for self.

In Forgotten God: The Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit, Francis Chan asks a rather pointed question about Christians’ desire to be “filled with the Spirit.” And that question is, “Do I want to lead or be led by the Spirit?”

It’s not unlike “do I want to write or have the experience of being a writer?”

Chan asks the question rather bluntly because there’s no dancing around it; this isn’t the time to be polite. Your faith is either all about you, or it’s not. How you live your faith is either all about you, or it’s not. How you pray is either all about you, or it’s not.

Do I want to lead or be led by the Spirit?

That question requires a deep pondering, a prayerful searching of the soul. The answer isn’t as automatic as we like to think it is, or hope it is.

Because if there’s one thing that’s true about the Christian faith, it’s that it’s not about the person holding that faith. It never was and it never will be. To be a Christian is to be other-directed, in the same way Jesus was other-directed. For him, and for many of us over the centuries, it meant being other-directed to the death.

Jesus didn’t die to save himself.

That’s why Francis Chan asks that question about the Spirit.

Do I want to lead or be led by the Spirit?

Photograph by Aaron Burden via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Dancing King Stories: Fleet Street and St. Bride’s Church

April 9, 2018 By Glynn Young 1 Comment

Fleet Street in London has been long associated with newspapers and journalists. But it’s been a long time since any newspapers were actually located there, since all moved to other part of the metropolitan area. In the fall of 2017, I walked Fleet Street and some of the side streets on a cloudy, rainy Sunday, and say only one vestige of the area’s newspaper past – fading letters on the side of a building. A few former newspaper buildings have been listed on the historic register and preserved, but no newspapers operate here today.

St Brides interior — The interior of St. Bride’s

The area includes the Temple, still a part of the legal industry, notable buildings like St. Dunstan-in-the-West Church, the Samuel Johnson House, the Royal Courts of Justice at the western end of the street and the Old Bailey near the eastern end, and many more. On my visit that Sunday, I stopped long enough to take a photo of a lawyer’s gown and wig for sale at a shop.

St Brides Courtyard — The side courtyard of St. Bride’s, where Michael has a press conference

The church long associated with Fleet Street, so much so that it’s still called the “journalists’ church,” is St. Bride’s. The site may be one of the oldest church sites in London, dating back to the 7^th century. Seven church buildings have stood here; one was burned during the Great Fire of 1666 (and rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren) and another was bombed during the German Blitz of World War II. After the war, it was rebuilt according to the Wren design.

The church contains considerable history. One of the first printing presses (and thus the origins of the newspaper business) was set up next door in 1500. The parents of Virginia Dare, the first English child born in North America, were married here. Author Samuel Richardson is buried here.

One of its distinctive features is the steeple, which looks exceedingly like a wedding cake (another connection to the church’s name). The interior is beautiful; the day and time I was there the church service had just ended and the parishioners were having a fellowship time and it was rather crowded and joyfully noisy.

The area of St. Bride’s and Fleet Street have a small role in Dancing King. St. Bride’s is one of the churches where Michael Kent-Hughes preaches a sermon. And Trevor Barry, who becomes a consulting attorney for Michael for the coronation, parliamentary law, and the history of the monarchy, has offices near the Royal Courts of Justice, between Fleet Street and the Thames, on a small street called Essex Street. Law offices actually exist on this street, which is close to the Temple tube station. Barry finds himself frequently taking the District or Circle line to the St. James’s Park station, about three blocks from Buckingham Palace.

Fleet Street Temple — Gown and wig for sales in Fleet Street

After his sermon at St. Bride’s, Michael does have a short press conference in the side courtyard with reporters, but it’s mentioned in the book only in passing. There are a number of more extensive scenes involving the news media, but those are mostly set at or near the palace. They include the BBC interview, the media present at Michael’s meeting with protestors, and others.

Essex Street Temple — Essex Street, where the attorney Trevor Barry has his law offices

The news media play an important role in Dancing King because they play an important role in British society and in the lives of the royal family. Michael’s experiences with the media reflect my own career background in communications and media relations, where I learned that your have good reporters, so-so reporters, and bad reporters, like every other profession.

Top photograph is the famous wedding-cake steeple of St. Bride’s. Photograph of the interior of St. Bride’s by Dilff via Wikimedia. Used with permission. Top photo and all other photos are by me and my trusty iPhone.

Writing and Publishing

April 6, 2018 By Glynn Young Leave a Comment

I started reading a novel recently where what mattered to the writer most was being published. I stopped after four chapters. The writing was bad. What got the book published was lust dripping from every page. I suppose some authors would be thrilled to write like that if it meant being published.

I wasn’t. You might call me the reluctant novelist.

I worked on my first novel, Dancing Priest, for years before I showed the manuscript, or even a piece of the manuscript, to anyone. I wasn’t uninterested in publishing it. I did join online groups, followed what everyone was saying about publishing, followed the blogs of agents and publishers, sent our query letters to agents, and talked to editors and others writers. And I was reading a lot of fiction, both in the general and Christian genres.

I attended a writer’s conference, and even had a session with an editor who had read a portion of my manuscript and then a group reading session with an agent and other writers. Both sessions were personally encouraging. I kept at the writing. I even kept writing after an awful experience with a review and an editor that taught me that some Christian publishers were no different than general publishers. It’s a business, like any other business, and it is business considerations that rule over everything else, including what kind of quality is published.

So, when a small publisher approached me and said they had heard I had a manuscript, I said no. It took almost a year of prodding before I finally agreed to let the publisher see it. When they came back with the offer to publish, it took six months for me to agree. I was still reacting to that negative experience with the Christian publisher, and I also understood what kind of effort would be required to market and promote the book. I already had a full-time job that was about 50 percent more than a full-time job.

We went ahead and published. And I was right to have been worried – the amount of time required was huge, in reverse proportion to the result achieved. The same thing happened with the sequel, A Light Shining.

But I learned a lot. And that made the entire experience worth it.

In On Being a Writer: 12 Simple Habits for a Writing Life That Lasts, Charity Craig (co-author with Ann Kroeker) quotes author Anne Lamott, who frequently sees people at writing workshops who are less interested in writing and more in being published. “The problem that comes up over and over again,” she says, “is that these people want to be published. They kind of want to write, but they really want to be published. You’ll never get to where you want to be that way, I tell them.”

Charity and Ann both describe their own experiences with trying to be published. Both eventually got there, but not because they wanted to be published. They wanted to be writers first; they wanted to tell the story they had in them to tell. They both eventually realized that sometimes, and perhaps most of the time, it’s better to concentrate on the writing and making your story the best it can be before rushing out to try to get published. And sometimes life intervenes, and your writing dreams get put to the side.

The writing is what matters.

Photograph by Helloquence via Unsplash. Used with permission.

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