Day In The Life Exercise

san_remo_ave · Aug 5, 2008

During a little down time at work today I stumbled across an article I thought might be of interest --Day in the Life Method of Writing Historical Novels by Juliet Waldron

It struck me as something that might be beneficial to the historical writer to try as s/he tries to immerse in their chosen era(s). It seems simple enough, and it may be a fun way to test what s/he knows (and doesn't, as the case may be).

Here's the essence of the activity:

Attention to detail is the new mantra—even in Hollywood. This can be achieved by devoting a day (and some paper) to a simple exercise. This will swiftly show you what you know, what you don’t know—and what needs to be looked up. It will also tell you something about your necessary cast of bit players.

Get up in the morning—there you are, bed, bathroom, kitchen. Maybe you also have pets, kids, a husband. Get your imagination going. Put a helmet or a suit of mail on hubby. It’ll help. Engage your senses. Sight, hearing, touch, and please don’t forget your sense of smell.

Take these one by one—holding in mind your chosen time period.

1. Bed—What’s on it--and what’s in it? Getting dressed in the morning—“pants first, then shoes…” clothing, shoes.
2. Bathroom—is there such a thing? And if so, where does the water come from? Is it hot? How is the room heated? Plumbed? Do you get a bath every day or is this simply impossible given the standard of living?
3. Kitchen—who works there? You? Servants?
4. Servants are a problem to imagine for most modern folks, unless they are sufficiently well off to employ some and have first-hand experience. Do these servants live in the house w/your heroine? Who are they? If they were real, you’d be rubbing up against them all the time, and so would know a lot about their personal lives and idiosyncrasies.
5. Breakfast—this meal hasn’t always been the same. What would your characters be breakfasting upon? An Irish cottager eats quite differently from an English Regency Lord—or a Viking. Where did this food come from? Do hawkers bring it to the door? Do you buy it in a shop? Do you raise it yourself? How is it cooked—and with what fuel? Wood burning in the kitchen produces odor and soot, as well as that nice cheery flame. Have we got forks yet? China dishes or gourds or wooden trenchers?
And so on, through the day—at work, or at home.

Transportation, vehicles, draft animals, and who takes care of them? Streets—what do they look like/smell?
Work--and who goes to it.
Occupations for men and women—manners and morals vary in various social classes—
Pastimes and pleasures
Religious practices—this took up a great deal of time in everyone’s daily life since the Christian era—
Housing
Clothing
“Crafts”
Children
Pets

I think I might give it a try. Anyone else game?

Doogs · Aug 5, 2008

Interesting.

I may/may not give this one a go. My current WIP is actually going to start off with a glimpse of daily life on a modest Roman farm, so a lot of this is directly applicable.

donroc · Aug 5, 2008

I too always research "daily life" to get and express the correct feel of the era.

angeliz2k · Aug 5, 2008

Oh, I like this! I admit that sometimes I have only a hazy idea of what the place really looks like. I don't spend enough time (often) creating a detailed environment to wrap around my characters. I only put in the necessary little things that they touch. It's as if they were King Midas and I only include the things that have turned to gold.

Doogs · Aug 5, 2008

angeliz2k said:
Oh, I like this! I admit that sometimes I have only a hazy idea of what the place really looks like. I don't spend enough time (often) creating a detailed environment to wrap around my characters. I only put in the necessary little things that they touch. It's as if they were King Midas and I only include the things that have turned to gold.

Ah, yes, but I'd hasten to add that there is a tipping point at which creating a realistic atmosphere turns the corner into overdescription. A sense of place and authenticity is important, but not at the expense of the story or pacing (I'm sure we've all read the 1+ page descriptions of a building a character is entering...).

Case in point. One of Colleen McCullough's Rome novels (think it may have been First Man in Rome) spent a good page to a page and a half discussing how a toga was put on. While interesting, it is, in the end, trivial information that brings the story to a screeching halt.

pdr · Aug 5, 2008

Useful isn't it?

I always do one for my main characters. If I don't know that much I can't write with confidence.

I find writing with a detailed plan or synopsis doesn't work for me but I do like a large cork-board with a map, sketches and drawings of the places and buildings, a calendar with phases of the moon, a month by month flower, tree, birds and beasts farming chart, and a day in the life sheet for each character. It is helpful.

tehuti88 · Aug 6, 2008

I think this is good when applied to particular situations. I don't tend to write a character going through an entire day, so I imagine there would be lots of stuff I wouldn't need to go over. But when I find myself writing from the POV of one of my non-modern characters, I do try to stick myself in his/her head and see the situation as they would see it. It's often quite different from what I myself would see.

For example, I had a Late Woodland-era American Indian sneak into a Victorian-era house (fantasy story...'nuff said

) and had to write the scene the way he himself observed it. So of course, the mere thought of such a strange house with superfluous seating arrangements and drapes on the windows and multiple stories was just incredibly ludicrous to him. (What's the point of covering up a window with drapes, he wondered?--if a window is meant to be looked out of in the first place, why cover it?? And what did they do when things got dirty?--they obviously couldn't just throw them out and replace them like his people would.) He was looking for a gun, a thundering stick, so it made perfect sense to him to seek it upstairs, because that's closer to the sky, where thunder comes from. So of course he was miffed to find it stashed downstairs, because by his logic it didn't belong there. Stupid Victorians.

And ditto with any other situation not seen from my own 21st-century American viewpoint.

ishtar'sgate · Aug 7, 2008

I pretty much work that way already. I won't begin until I'm sure I can 'see' the period and its people which includes the streets they walk on, the places they shop, the homes they live in, the sights, sounds and smells, etc. I'm not comfortable beginning a project until I feel I could live there myself and know what to expect.
Linnea

Pup · Aug 8, 2008

Here's another thought. If your characters are beyond their youth, what was their life like twenty or thirty or forty years ago? What changes in daily life could the older ones tell the younger ones about?

Day In The Life Exercise

san_remo_ave

Back at it

Doogs

donroc

Historicals and Horror rule

angeliz2k

never mind the shorty

Doogs

pdr

tehuti88

Mackinac Island Fanatic

ishtar'sgate

living in the past

Pup

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