October Novel Prep Challenge

OK, so I'm not writing a historical story for NaNo. I am, however, also writing another novel (I know! I know! INSANITY!) based in early 15th century Verona. Now, we're (I'm writing it with a friend...totally a theme with me, I know) writing a story based on Romeo and Juliet, so actual historical events are only on the periphery, but that doesn't mean we can get away with making stuff up. Things like clothing, music, even the food people ate in the period are important details to give authenticity to your piece. You have a piece in the 15th century? Well, they aren't going to be eating potatoes and running around in square-necked Tudor gowns while listening to the music of violins. And the people of Ancient Rome aren't going to wear hose, eat tomatoes, and listen to guitars.

Clothing, food, music...these things are very important. What makes books like A Song of Ice and Fire and good historical stories (not historical fiction, because that requires a whole other level of accuracy involving dates and documents and tons of research to make things absolutely fit the period) so excellent is the writers' attention to ambiance! If your world is based in the past, even if it's completely fantastical, things like this ground it in something with which the reader is already familiar. Is your world based on Ancient China? Well...don't have Geisha showing up and everyone eating pho. You don't have to be exact--this is a fantasy world--but the attention to detail is what's going to sell your piece.

Of course, none of this matters if your language isn't right. I remember reading Pillars of the Earth and being disgusted when the author used the words 'hot body' during a sex scene. Why? Because that's WAY TOO MODERN. Earlier today, I was having a conversation about the '05 version of Pride and Prejudice and why I felt the line, "For once in your life, leave me alone!" was completely inappropriate for Elizabeth Bennett to say. It reeks of modernity and how we speak today. Now obviously, you don't need to break out your Old English or Middle English dictionaries (Shakespeare was actually modern, so think about how much harder it would be to understand the older stuff!), but throwing in modern slang and vernacular is a great way to tear someone RIGHT OUT of your story.

What to do about this? Well, when I was working at the local Renaissance Faire, someone told me something that really stuck with me. It was about how to speak to sound like you're doing an English accent if you suck at accents, and making your speech sound more Renaissance-y: "Enunciate very clearly. Never use contractions. Speak as if you are writing an essay for a very strict English teacher." Really, all she was saying was be formal. Using formal English is thought of (especially in America) as being particularly old-fashioned. In the world of text speak and LOLs, we don't speak formally all that often anymore. So dropping things like contractions and modern idioms goes a long way to making your language seem period! This doesn't always extend itself to the dialogue, but it certainly does if your characters are higher class like mine are in my Romeo and Juliet project. As for lower class characters? Add those contractions back in and use poor grammar (but still keep those modern idioms and phrases from making their way into the speech. Oh no, oh no!)

Now, I'm totally posting this out of the blue, but I was thinking about all of this as I'm writing my Shakespeare project. Obviously, this lends itself to Western Europe, so sorry for those of you who are writing stories based on Asian societies. But keep in mind that Europe is not a uniform entity. There are variations everywhere. Italians didn't dress like Germans didn't dress like the French. Well, actually...Italians barely dressed like Italians as Italy didn't exist until the 1800s, but that's beside the point.

Food. Music. Clothing. Language. These are the things that ground a historical fantasy piece in the era and location upon which your world is based. They give the reader hints as to whether this is England just after the Norman invasion or Florence at the height of the Italian Renaissance. Even if your world is completely unique, the best fantasy (and sci-fi, too, of course) is grounded in reality. If your fantasy has a historical bent and you need some details to solidify your world...those are the biggest things to which you want to pay attention. Of course, if you're actually writing about the Medicis, you'll have to do more than just get the clothing right, but this is for people making up historical fantasy worlds.

I have a great site for food that I use, and I wanted to recommend that here: http://www.godecookery.com/

Unfortunately, I do use books for clothing and music, but I'll actually go ahead and recommend Wikipedia for the former (I know, gasp! But it's got a lot of pictures from the period and that's what counts) and a brief search for Renaissance music brought up a great article from the Met (so you know it's reliable), here: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/renm/hd_renm.htm

Google Fu! It's a good art to have.

Sorry for rambling. I've been neck deep in kirtles and coteardies and lampreys for a couple of weeks now. (Note: do NOT look up lampreys. Just don't.) And I thought that this information might prove helpful to anyone writing fantasy with a historical bent.
-Quaddy

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