  Drama
This week: Historical Drama Repeats Itself Edited by: zwisis
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Did you know that historical fiction is a genre covering books set more than fifty years before the time when they were actually written? This is why Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights” is not classes as Historical Fiction, because the story was set in the same time period as when it was written.
How do you know if you should write Historical Fiction? Consider the following:
 You enjoy learning about and imagining life set in historical periods.
You enjoy reading novels set in historical.
You have a fascination with a specific historical era or event, i.e Ancient Rome, World War I/II, the Titanic...
You have an idea for a novel that would work if set during a certain historical period.
Do not write historical fiction if:
You are in a hurry to finish your novel.
You hate research.
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Research is the single most important criteria for writing historical fiction, so with that in mind here’s a quick guideline to the kind of information needed to prepare the background for your novel:
What was the political climate? Were the names of towns and countries different, and how different were the borders and boundaries?
What did the landscape look like where your characters lived? Were they in farmlands or forests, or small hamlets or cities? What kind of flora and fauna existed?
What kind of homes did people occupy? How were the homes furnished, and would your characters have had servants? How was the family structured in the house?
What modes of transportation were used?
What type of social structure was common? How did different classes interact, and who was rich and who was poor?
What was the attitude towards social strictures such as education, religion, gender, race, the role of children? What kind of crime and other dangers existed at the time?
What diseases were common, and what kind of medical treatment was available?
What kind of food did people eat, and what were the attitudes and traditions towards food? What kind of cutlery and cooking utensils were used?
How did people dress and style themselves? How did they wear their hair, and what types of clothes and shoes were fashionable? What did they do for personal hygiene?
What would your characters have done to earn a living?
What were the current events? Who was the person of authority at the time – King, President, Prime Minister, Mayor...? What did people talk about, and what were the latest scientific discoveries?
How did people talk, and what kind of vocabulary was used? A word of warning: do not write all the dialogue in the speech prevalent during your chosen historical period – your readers will become bored and annoyed very quickly. Instead, use this kind of speech only occasionally – just enough to give your reader a hint. Do not use modern slang – this will immediately transport your reader out of the chosen historical period, and he will loose interest in your story.
In the course of researching this genre I’ve come across a wealth of information from all over the web, so to conclude this series I thought it would be interesting to share the opinions and suggestions of several historical fiction experts.
Emma Darwin, author of “The Mathematics of Love”:
It goes without saying that you’ve researched your historical facts, and that includes manners and morals as well as stage-coaches and corsetry: how people behave in all matters must be accurate and convincing. You’ve kept a sharp eye out for things you didn’t know you had to check: don’t make your medieval peasants eat potatoes or your Regency heroine tell her fiancé to ‘step on the gas’, and don’t forget that everyone always wears a hat outdoors. You’ve read writing of the period and found a voice for your novel that’s neither incomprehensible nor crashingly modern.
And then you must leave it all behind, because you’re not writing history, you’re writing fiction, and fiction is all about what you can make the reader believe you know: not what you’ve learnt in a library, but what you know as naturally as you know your own house. The worst writing you’ll ever do is what you write when you’ve got a history book in the other hand. The best is when your characters and their points of view are so alive to you that of course you write what they see and how they see it, their voices filling that panelled room or smoky alehouse.
Harry Bingham, author of “Talking to the Dead”:
Authors of historical fiction need to write good fiction. That means a strong plot, driven by strong characters and supported by a strong prose style.
But the historical genre does make a difference to the writer all the same. In my experience, settings drawn from history give a fabulously rich background for the novels. Relish the opportunities you get to use an evocative vocabulary. Pay particular attention to your nouns. Don't tell us that your character ate a 'simple dinner'. Tell us that he ate a 'thin turnip soup' or 'rye bread with the first rust-coloured tints of mould'. Get specific and reach for details that illuminate the period.
In dialogue, it's best not to go all 'methinks, gadzooks' on the reader. That just looks daft and stilted, and will have any literary agent discarding your manuscript after a page or two. It's best to keep dialogue basically modern, but with the occasional dip into the vocabulary or grammatical structures of the past. Use of the occasional, now obsolete, slang or idiom can also really help.
One other point, for commercial novelists especially, is that you do need to be careful about the attitudes of your characters. A character born in the nineteenth century would almost certainly have been a racist, misogynist, homophobic bigot by our own 21st century standards. In maintaining the empathy of contemporary readers, you will need to finesse these issues. On the whole, unless you are portraying villains, you should have old-fashioned attitudes tempered by more liberal concerns, even if these never quite end up winning.
Suzie Opie, publisher of “The Other Boyelyn Girl”:
Before you embark upon your historical novel, ask yourself: who are you writing for? Not only must you have a clear idea of your potential readership (male, female, crossover, and how literary), but also you should bear in mind the state of the market in this area as well. The publishing industry changes, and it has certainly done so in this field within recent memory.
The market demands good fiction, and a strong sense of authenticity. That’s as applicable to the commercial historical novels as it is to the more literary kind. Readers want to come away from the novel feeling that they have been entertained and that they’ve learnt something as well. They might then go away and discuss the book in reading groups, so it’ll have to stand up to such scrutiny (and the scrutiny of literary agents, of course).
The biggest successes in the area have tended to evoke a period we think we know something about, and have then gone on to shine a new light on it, bringing it to life in a fresh way. It might be told through the eyes of a character not directly in the line of historical action, allowing the narrator much more freedom to move and to comment. Generally, readers are drawn in by familiar elements (if not the period then a famous character or setting), but not so familiar that they’ve heard it all before. Keep an eye on what’s come out over the past year or two and also on what’s about to come out; if a particular character/setting/period has featured several times already, why would a literary agent or publisher take on another book of the same kind?
If you receive an offer of publication, the harsh reality of the industry will mean that your publisher will ask you to produce books in fairly quick succession. That can be hard in this genre; research takes time, and the novels themselves tend not to be short. So you’d better love the period you’ve picked, as it’s much easier to write regularly in a period you know well rather than try to change eras with every new book.
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The comb was a wonderful object to behold. So beautiful in white bone polished and smooth to touch with graceful figures carved on the sides. Majah always asked to hear the story of the carved figures even though she had heard it many times, her mother never tiring of telling it.
That evening at 6:35 PM, a brand new creamy white 1935 Ford Deluxe Victoria pulled up in front of the Dittman home. At their door, a tall, dapper young man, with dark well-groomed hair, greeted Katy and Jack Dittman, he wore a white suit, and in his hand was a single yellow rose.
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Father Cymnal walked out of the bakery with a warm loaf under his arm. He frowned at the gathering across the square and began to walk over. By the time he'd reached them he was righteously incensed at a gathering larger and certainly more animated than his own had been.
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Her mother was a strong woman. She threw Sara’s father out with nothing and raised the children on her own. She worked her entire life. Sara was not as strong. Sara was a beaten soul who believed less and less in herself. The curse was back.
Wilcox looked again at the picture of the young women he had addressed as he arrived. A small cameo held a crooked striped bow around her neckline. She stood in front of an empty chair where her hands rested. Her fingers were unadorned.
I was traded between masters often, but the work was always the same. I came to know the Spartans as cruel and merciless. They all were. Their love for fighting, for killing, made them barbaric in my eyes. Every master, I have ever had was a soldier. I traveled with them to every battle. They longed to fight again, and although there was no reason to, they found one.
Even in the fading light the ladies sheltered their delicate skin underneath parasols. It would not do to catch even the smallest ray of sun and have that skin tanned.
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Finally the ship docked and was unloaded. The women walked on unsteady legs onto the dock. The hems of their long skirts were grimy and their boots coated with filth but it was very exciting to be in the city of Quebec
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Randolph and his men had laid siege to the castle two days before, and still had not taken it. Because of the high rock the castle stood upon, they were only able to attack from a few points, which added to their previous disadvantage of having fewer soldiers.
The aborigine proved to be most friendly and offered us copious amounts of spirituous liquor he referred to as Foster’s Cactus Juice. After many rounds I finally got up the courage to ask him about the large dead rodent lying next to him, which I feared might be the mythical Mickey of Sydneyland. |
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jack-tyler
To experience history-as-fiction done absolutely right, pick up a copy of The Alienist, by Caleb Carr. I doubt it can be done better, but it's certainly a goal to aspire to, and an engrossing read besides.
Thanks for the recommendation - I just looked up the book and it has whet my appetite!
BIG BAD WOLF is Howling 
Sometimes the Time Warp is Back to the Future- Things sure are different from what we thought they'd be. Still waiting on the flying car and the hoverboard, and the self-tying shoes.
Those and a few other developments as well!
dwarf2012
I haven't tried to write a historical item yet, but I love the research. I think I have read at least fifteen books about the Tudor era. Plus the series is great!!
Me too - I just love the intrigue and manipulations prevalent at that time, and so many of the books about the Tudor period demonstrate those traits!
Marci Missing Everyone 
I really liked this newsletter. I learned a lot! Just thought I would share a tidbit since it kind of pertained to what you wrote about. I started a Christian romance set in 1920's southern USA. I named a character Ms. Lane. I never even thought about when that salutation was brought into existence, and then my mom told me that 'Ms.' was not used until the 1960's. I would have had no idea to look that up. Thank God for smart moms! So I have officially changed it to Miss Lane.
Just goes to show us writers how a tiny piece of factual information can become so relevant to a story! Thanks for sharing the tip!
blunderbuss
Thank you Sarah for including me in your Editor's Picks. I am very honoured!
You are welcome!
sdodger
Thank you for the mention on the contest!  I hope you like this story.
I did, and it's been highlighted in this issue!
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Drama: June 19, 2013 Issue [#5738]
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