Writing in a 'dark' period.

Hey, bsolah -

I would say making calculated guesses is about all you can do in that situation. The important thing, of course, is to make sure you remain consistent with what you do know.

I'm writing in a similar dark period right now--6th century Britain/Wales. Specific information is pretty sketchy, but there's a lot on the Roman period, about 150 years before my story, so I have to extrapolate from that and try to create a realistic feel for the place. I've had pretty good responses so far. 12th century Ukraine may be even darker (was that during the Golden Horde's reign?). I think the important thing is to give your readers a good story in a setting they can lose themselves in.

Fiction, after all, is about characters. Setting gives us context. Historical fiction is about characters in the context of historical events or periods, not the other way around. You know what people are like; make your characters real, create an environment they can interact convincingly with based on what you do know, and I don't think anyone can fault you.

HN

You could try finding some experts and asking them. For instance, a little Googling shows that someone named Lisa L. Heinrich did a translation of and commentary on the Kievan Chronicle for her Ph.D. back in 1977. Further search shows that a Dr. Lisa L. Heinrich joined the faculty of Concordia University last March.

If I were you, I'd try contacting her and asking if there are good reference books for the era. Assuming it's the same Lisa L. Heinrich, she may also know the names of other scholars who've done work on the period.

And if that doesn't work, more searching should turn up other potential people to ask.

Marlys,

Did you see the article in Wikipedia? You probably already did but in the notes and credits there seem to be an excellent reference and bibliography.

I clicked a couple and it seems really complete.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kievan_Rus'

I agree.

Always try to research your period and stay consistent with what you find.

Marlys has done you a great service tracing one English speaking expert. Do try to talk to this expert.

bsolah said:

Also, it seems the Wiki article seems to have grown considerably since I last looked at it.

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I kind of thought so because those were new information sources.

Wiki is great but you have to be careful because almost anyone can register and add information.
I found history to be pretty accurate on it but I take the political and religeous articles on a one by one basis.
I also never quote wiki, just the sources given by wiki.
But i will link to it.

For this period in Russian history, a good place to look is in Byzantine history texts. For instance, this one gives quite a bit of info on Russia and Kiev: http://www.amazon.com/History-Byzantine-State-Georgije-Ostrogorski/dp/sitb-next/0813511984/ref=sbx_rec/102-1221967-6889703?ie=UTF8#bort

And though it's pricey (hey, at least it's also tax-deductible), I'd think it'd be INVALUABLE to travel to the region, and spend some time in the local museums. The curators would be able to direct you to any number of reference sources.

Tartars

bsolah said:

I'm working on a story set in 12th Century Russia, or more likely the Ukraine. I've looked for information regarding the period known as Kievan Rus', but there is little information.


You might not be finding much because this is the period the Mongols ruled. They did a good job of wiping out the old and you won't find many Russian records until the rise of Moscow.

The Mongols didn't rule directly, they stayed separate in their hordes and collected tribute. The above reference to Wikipedia is good, click on the links and follow the Golden Horde.

The best read I know of on the Mongols is "The Mongol Empire Its Rise and Legacy" by Michael Prawdin Its an asummed name of a Russian author originally published in German in 1938 and English in 1952. My copy is worth nothing so I suppose its in print. It is smoothly written and the new stuff I've seen doesn't seem to introduce major new sources.

Yes I was a Russian studies major back before the end of the cold war.

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