Historical Fiction

[macbroo]

I've come across your board and was looking around a bit. It's large! Very impressive.

However, I don't believe I saw any threads or discussion areas for historical fiction. So, I figure it belongs here in the novel section.

I am a history fanatic. I can't get enough of it. So, I read a lot of historical fiction. I like Colleen McCullough and Margaret George and Edward Rutherford.

I would like to write a historical fiction that takes place in my state. There are many fascinating people and events I could weave it into.

However, I can't write a single word. I look at the blank page in Word and don't know where to begin.

Lack of ideas is not the issue. My head is full. I can't figure out how to put them on paper.

I'll have to find my way around here though.

[aruna]

Welcome!

My tip: when you start off with a blank page, think of a character, a name, and a bad situation. Take it from there. The story should grow as you get into the character and try to get her out of her situation. Let the history be just the background to the story; don't let the details overwhelm the story.

[macbroo]

I didn't think of it that way. I was thinking of starting with an event and trying to weave into it. You suggest the opposite. That's a start.

My character is a child playing with her best friend when they're surprised by hostile Indians in the frontier. They run for their lives, but her friend is captured and killed. She witnesses it, but is helpless to do anything. She hides until they give up searching for her.

She grows up determined not to be helpless. Sort of like Scarlett O'Hara vowing she'll never be hungry again.

That's pretty melodramatic, but hey, so is everything I read or see on tv! Thanks for the start. I'll get right on it.

[SRHowen]

You say you can't get enough of history and read a lot of Historical works. Are they fiction? Otherwise, you may be reading some not so true Historical accounts.

For one thing, "Indians" hostile or otherwise rarely killed children unless they were with the adults also killed, and even then--children where almost always taken captive and raised as part of the tribe or in other tribe's cases raised as captive slaves.

Starting a book out with simply "hostile Indians" attacking a couple of kids, and female ones at that, for no apparent reason and having them just want to kill those kids--is not going to come across as "Historical."

[pdr]

Writing a good historical novel requires a lot of research and attention to detail. It's the small details of past lives the readers love, often in preference to reading about a well known event.

http://www.historicalnovelsociety.org
Join the N. American branch, read what well established writers say about writing historical fiction. Read the reviews and choose your fiction and research books. Ask questions of other members.

Join a re-enactment group. There are many in the States and they will help you get your historical facts and details sorted out. Be careful that your group is into historical accuracy and not only for dressing up and having fun. I'm sure someone on this board will know website urls for such groups. I'm sorry I don't know the American ones.

Get a feeling for what period you love and then you'll find the stories will come more easily.

[Jamesaritchie]

You say you can't get enough of history and read a lot of Historical works. Are they fiction? Otherwise, you may be reading some not so true Historical accounts.

For one thing, "Indians" hostile or otherwise rarely killed children unless they were with the adults also killed, and even then--children where almost always taken captive and raised as part of the tribe or in other tribe's cases raised as captive slaves.

Starting a book out with simply "hostile Indians" attacking a couple of kids, and female ones at that, for no apparent reason and having them just want to kill those kids--is not going to come across as "Historical."

I don't know. It sounds good to me. Indians did take many children hostage, but killed even more, especially toward the end. It wasn't at all unusual, whether the parents were there or not. The fact that the kids were there was a reason, and a good one, to those whose land was being invaded.

Some tribes also took more captives than others, and depending on the place and time and tribe, almost no children were taken as captives. You can't raise kids as part of the tribe unless you have a stable tribe and a place that's relatively safe from constant attack by soldiers.

Even early on, whether or not children were taken as captives often depended on age, or how the children behaved, and on what the Indians wanted to do next.

[macbroo]

I'm a history buff. I don't consider the historical fiction that I read history. I have within my own ancestry butchery from hostiles. A couple of hostiles came upon the homestead of an ancestor of mine and murdered his baby in its crib with an arrow. What became of those two Indians after the murder is even more brutal. History is not politically correct. Historical fiction was never intended to revise history either -- or shouldn't be.

Research is the fun part of it. I enjoy that part. It takes a good bit of time. Geneology is a big part of it. I can speak to families that have been here for generations and get lots of useful information.

Thank you, pdr, for the link. I'm on my way over there ...

[underthecity]

Macbroo,

I've written three regional history books, and am currently writing a historical children's chapter book. And yes, there is a lot of research--especially to get all the details of daily life as well as the big picture accurate. Accuracy is highly important in historical fiction, because the book will be a learning experience as well. Unless it's an alternate or pseudo reality historical fiction, such as a world where television was never developed, or Germany won World War II.

If you have inaccuracies in your published historical fiction, you'll never hear the end of it, even down to the tiniest detail like button fly on a pair of pants versus a zipper.

allen

[macbroo]

Allen, I'm glad to hear from you. Could you tell me a little bit about your work? You don't have to be too specific if you don't want to.

Also, a lot of research that I do, and details I check up on to verify, I'm a little nervous as to just how accurate it is. For instance, there is one particular woman in my region's history whose very well known, however, many of the details of her life have been somewhat politicized. What I'm basically concerned about is making sure I have the accurate picture of her, not just the politicized one.

Do you know what I mean? What makes you 100 percent comfortable with the facts and details you learn in your research?

[underthecity]

Macbroo,

My first book is the history of the subway built in Cincinnati but never used (but goes into a lot of detail about mass transit history and early 1900s politics that all affected the subway story). The second is a pictorial history of mass transit in Cincinnati--a companion book to the subway book. The third is an overview of entertainment history in Cincinnati with a lot of in-depth information about each subject: movie theaters, bulesque/vaudeville, live orchestras, and more. If you click on the link in my signature line you can see more about it.

Each book has over 200 pictures and illustrations apiece.

What makes you 100 percent comfortable with the facts and details you learn in your research?
I'm comfortable with the facts when I have corroboration with other sources. For instance, a book (or website) that references a particular theater might say when it was built and/or opened, its address, what played there, and when it was torn down. But a newspaper article that was printed the day the theater opened (and another that came out the day the theater was torn down) will contain original information that other sources may have muddled throughout time. Also, City Directories will list addresses and dates.

I cross-reference everything I possibly can.

I also had a friend read the manuscript both for proofreading and for general fact-checking--he's a retired Cincinnati broadcaster and historian (and all-around great guy). He lived through the time periods I write about, so he (and friends of his) know little facts about things that printed sources don't contain. I end up talking to a lot of different people.

But I guess all that is outside the scope of this thread.

For my historical children's book, I've been speaking to a lot of different people about different aspects of the time period (the 1940s) to learn what daily life was like. I also have a great Time Life book about life during the war, Bill Maudlin's two books, other books, and of course newspaper articles which can tell me what the weather was like that day and what was playing on the radio.

Lots of research, but it's stuff I find endlessly interesting.

allen

[henriette]

underthecity- your entertainment history of cincinnati sounds really interesting. it must be so much fun digging the vaults for pictures and information. best of luck!

macbroo- i'm currently writing a historical novel (france 1835) and have found these points helpful:

-google the year you are setting your story in to find that year's calendar. once i had the actual dates and corresponding weekdays of my story in front of me, it became much easier to figure out what happened in history that day along with the chronology of events in the plot. (example, church on sunday, not tuesday)

http://www.wikipedia.org

-the above is a great resource for looking up years, dates, etc.

one problem i have with writing historical fiction is not being able to use words like "robotically" or "electric" or "photograph" (the daguerrotype had not yet been invented in the time of my novel). sometimes it's limiting, but it forces me to delve deeper into my thesaurus for a more suitable word :)

[macbroo]

Henriette, yours sounds fascinating too! I love Wikipedia, especially all the links within the definitions.


I live in Maryland. We've had some interesting history in our own right as a colony. I look up street names and county names to learn who and where they're named after. That's a start. It gives me a flavor of the folks that settled here. For instance, Maryland, named after King's (Charles I) wife, Henrietta Maria.

But, that's the easy stuff. That's the ABC school stuff they teach the kids in 3rd grade.

Allen, it sounds like you have a lot of information to go by. And I'm guessing all historical fiction writers have "fact checkers" to help verify their facts.

It also sounds like your writings are almost documentaries. That's another area of interest of mine. I like to document things. I enjoy documentaries very much. When I talk about documentaries, I'm talking like, Will and Ariel Durant. I haven't visited your links yet, but I'm on my way.

Thanks.

[henriette]

macbroo- have you started writing the story yet, or are still in the initial note making phase? if you haven't started, i humbly suggest you start. i felt a lot of apprehension before starting my novel- i was telling myself i hadn't done enough research yet, that i wasn't ready to delve into that world. but once i pushed aside my self-doubt and put pen to paper, i realized the characters are the most important thing and the history is window-dressing.

i've written almost half the novel now, and am currently taking a break from writing the narrative. instead, i'm spending my writing time going back over my previously written chapters and adding historical colour here and there. just today i discovered the word "cocotte" (prostitute) and added it to an early scene between my protagonist and anti-hero with good results.

in other words, just giver. think about your characters, their desires, their motives. inspiration will come. you have lots of time to figure out the precise historical details as you go along.

[macbroo]

"in other words, just giver. think about your characters, their desires, their motives. inspiration will come. you have lots of time to figure out the precise historical details as you go along."

I haven't figured out how to quote yet.

No, I haven't started writing it because I'm still researching the whose who and the history of the area.