Although I had been working on a story, I like the research process too much to stop and write straight fiction. I’ve been thinking about a historical fantasy series, but that wasn’t working, because I wanted to work from the beginning and there is too much that needs to be connected and developed from later periods. So, I’ve changed tracks yet again.
I started in early modern history and created a fictional society, with a founder, that I will be using as a starting point for exploration. I carried this forward for a few centuries, and like the results enough to go back for another pass, with a little more detail, corresponding to areas I have developed or am developing. I liked this, too.

I was going to post the results of the third pass here, but decided not. For one, it’s in much too embryonic form; one paragraph to cover the 6th through 11th centuries, restricted mostly to France and Italy. Second, I think it would be better to keep work I may want to publish as historical fiction off the blog. I will say that, although I am not a member nor a great fan of the Roman Catholic Church, it did serve as a unifying, civilizing force throughout medieval times. Critiques will come up later as I get more details.