Ken Follett has always been well renowned for his well researched and meticulously written books such as Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, therefore the appearance of Fall of Giants and the expansiveness of its story does not come as a surprise to the readers. Fall of Giants is just the first part of the trilogy called The Century and it will cover the story of three families in the 20th century. The author Ken Follett says the historical sweep of the trilogy would be similar to that of Pillars of the Earth and World Without End. With his books, Ken Follett has changed the perspective of the readers about the buildings. The readers have started appreciating buildings and architecture more after reading Pillars.
Hard Work behind Every Book
Ken Follett undertakes elaborate research to write any book, and Fall of Giants or Pillars of the Earth were no different. For example, World without End took him three years, with the first year completely spent on researching only. The story was also planned during the first year itself. In fact, many story ideas came from the actual events that took place at those places. During the research process he makes brief notes, and the notes are converted into vivid and powerful scenes during the actual writing process.
Fascinated With Second World War
One of the main characteristic of many of his books is that they are based around World War II, though numerous other writers also get drawn to that era. According to Ken Follett, the World War II was the most dramatic period in the human history. More people were killed or displaced than ever, and contrary to the World War I, this war was believed to be between the good and evil. Ken Follett also notices most of the time Hollywood movies are more about loners such as James Bond and Bourne, and since his books instead have more to do with families, may be his stories are not so interesting to Hollywood executives.
Time Lag between Two Books
Readers also noticed there was considerable time lag between the Pillars of the Earth and World without End. Ken Follett needed some time to figure out what kind of plot would go into the sequel of Pillars of the Earth. He could not continue the story with the same characters because all the main characters in Pillars of the Earth had grown old or were dead. That’s why he decided to write anther novel about the same place. Finally he thought of Black Death as the theme, which was a horrible plague in which more than one third of the population of Europe was killed. Another point that concerned him was that he didn’t want to disappoint his readers who expected something as grand as Pillars of the Earth from him.