Historical Fictionistas discussion

Great story, Harald, and well told! I can relate to how the germ of a story can lie dormant in you for decades without ever losing its grip on you: I’m currently writing the first of a series of stories that came to me four decades ago and have lain waiting to be watered and fed ever since.

Pamela wrote: "While growing up, I always hated listening to jokes about the Italians going into World War 2 with their hands raised. This was not at all the case, and I wanted to point out the bravery of the Ita..."

Just bought it. I think it sounds very interesting. Good luck!

Abigail wrote: "Great story, Harald, and well told! I can relate to how the germ of a story can lie dormant in you for decades without ever losing its grip on you: I’m currently writing the first of a series of st..."

Thanks, Abigail! And notice that water binds us together in our storytelling adventures :) Good luck with it!

Harald wrote: "My reason is a combination of the others mentioned above but with a unique twist...

I swam around Manhattan (the island) in the early ‘80s. It was part of a race they held each summer to promote w..."


I like that story :)

Blueberry wrote: "... I like that story :)"

Thank you, Blueberry. There's even more to that story. But I'll keep it a mystery for now. :))

I write historical fiction in order to take my readers on a journey of discovery to a world long ago because surely that is more enjoyable for them than the unremitting misery of most modern novels? I have stopped reading modern fiction, especially thrillers completely having found the experience so depressing

I write historical fiction because there's so many countries and eras left unexplored, especially for a mainstream audience. I want to bring to light events like the January Uprising in my novels, as they deserve to be told just as much as something like the French Revolution.

From my reading experience, I notice that there is very little choice when it comes to historical fiction set in China. It seems to me that the historical fiction arena is skewed towards Western history. I've thus decided to do my little bit to try to stir interest in Chinese history by focusing on writing historical novels set in old-time China.

My reasons for writing historical fiction are numerous. I have always been interested in Ancient History from a young age, particularly the history of Ancient Egypt. There are many gaps in this history and many questions to be asked as well as to be answered. I was intrigued, in particular, with the three pyramids on the Giza Plateau. Who built them? How were they built? Why were they built? The history books give few answers to these questions and so I embarked upon my own extensive detective work - the result was the historical fiction books comprising The Giza Trilogy: The Pharaoh, The Sphinx, and The Three Queens. A companion guide, Eternal Egypt was later added. This supplementary book explores the history of the plateau and the three pyramids, along with the lives of the priests, scribes and craftsmen who continued to work there, from the collapse of Old Kingdom Egypt through to the occupation by the Romans in 30 B.C. Eternal Egypt attempts to answer the questions of when the pyramids were first looted and by whom; how the Egyptians viewed the pharaohs buried there; and when and if the plateau was finally abandoned. In a nutshell: it was my inquisitive and questioning mind that got me involved in writing historical fiction.

To answer the question, I got into writing historical fiction because of a man named Lancelot Jones who told me a wonderful story of pirates and slave traders as we sat by a campfire one summer night when I was a child. The history bug bit me that night and, much later, the writing bug followed.

I write historical fiction,to have somewhere else to inhabit.

I regard historical as anything beyond fifty years and my first novel explored growing up in a conservative Irish environment. That was my springboard. I'd love to write fiction based on characters of the Austen period, but I'm not confident. For my most recent novel, it was an obituary I read in the NY Times about a woman who'd been America's first bullfighter and it took on a life of its own and became a story about feminism and love and power between the sexes in the 1950s.

Growing up in Northern Ireland, we studied English history at school and I found it fascinating. Unfortunately Irish history wasn't studied to the same degree, but I began reading about Irish history and I fell in love with all things historical. Regards what made me write an historical novel, it was an obituary of America's first female bullfighter who was Texan that inspired me to look into the 1950s and what happened when women wanted to do something and be the equal of a man.

I live in the Chicago area and have been interested in local history for a long time. After moving to the far SW suburbs I found the area, both geographically and its history, to be fascinating as well as quirky. When I decided to write a mystery novel it seemed natural to set it both in that locale and in a historical time period. The growth of Chicago had everything to do with the building of a canal that connected the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River, the canal was mostly dug by Irish immigrants, and my heritage is Irish. It all fell into place for my first book, The Mystery at Sag Bridge. The second book came from a desire to show Native American early residents of the area as having the same values and problems as white settlers. How better to do this than to have a Native American mother turn sleuth to save her son? That became the theme of book #2, The Mystery at Black Partridge Woods.

Sounds good! R u having a giveaway soon?

This sounds fascinating. Love your theme and how you found to depict it.

As a child I grew up hearing about an Indian raid on my great-great grandfather's homestead west of Austin. He was a well known Texas Ranger and sergeant in the Civil War. The tale always fascinated me and I set out to write a fictionalized short story about the event unaware of where the decision would lead. After receiving early praise, the short story transformed into a full length novel that needed room to grow. As a result, the decision to write a short story became a life changing moment that gave birth to the Hard Land to Rule Trilogy.

How exciting, Anthony. It sounds like a fascinating story. Congratulations!

Stanley wrote: "Sounds good! R u having a giveaway soon?"

I have been considering a giveaway but haven't settled on a date yet.

Laura wrote: "This sounds fascinating. Love your theme and how you found to depict it."

Thank you Laura.

My pleasure, Pat.

Since I am an American living with my wife in Russia I have a unique insight in to Russian history and culture. I spend roughly 95% of the time in Russia. We have met many interesting people in the decade since we settled down in The Krai and my connection with Russia goes back almost three decades. My Russian is very poor while my wife's English is quite fluent, plus we meet many people who speak at least some English and more than a few who are as fluent as my lass. For those who don't speak English my wife translates simultaneously as I and they speak.

With this window in to the real Russia of small cities, towns and villages far removed from the madness of Moscow and St. Pete I started to write one morning almost on a whim. That whim turned in to a bit of a large tome concerning a near history event of a decade and a half ago that I turned in to a fictional story with a deep look in to Russian culture and military, and in English. My second work is near history but written in a fictional way. I guess it, too, would qualify as 'historical fiction' depending on what one considers 'history'.

My wife has been inspired after reading my scribblings and has started writing children's fairy tales using Russian characters but in English. She gets some of the tales from the elderly ladies at Church and she intends to publish them in booklet form for parents to read to their children before bedtime. I will of course help her with her writings just as she is my rock of peace, calm and food while I write.

R.H.,
What a unique and fascinating life you and your wife must have. Please let us know when/where you and your wife publish your respective writings. They both sound intriguing.
Laura

Life is a bit different here and I've always said if you want to understand Russia you must study Byzantium, reason being Russia is the heir to that culture lock, stock and barrel right down to religion and the almost obsessive penchant for secrecy. That being said this culture is far more open then anything I've ever seen in The West. Our 'propeeska', our house and official registered address, is Moscow Region, you would call it 'county', not the City proper. Where we actually spend most, or if needs be all, of our time, 'they' could care less.

My efforts are on Amazon, her efforts, we don't know yet. For local and not so local distribution we'll have the fairy tales printed in Simferopol in Krimu, we spend over half of our time in our dacha in that area. She is writing her tales in both English and Russian, cultured English and Russian, and we may have the little tales printed with Russian and English on facing pages. That is not too difficult a task to set up and the printer in Simferopol, and one we've talked to in Sevastopol, say they can format the works to do so with the push of a computer button.

I too am an American expatriate, presently living in Holland. My ex-wife is also Russian and we had a flat in Volgograd. I fell in love with the language (though my command of it is very limited) and most of its peoples. I did, however, find living there very trying. Except for the open markets and conglomerated department stores, I struggled to find the things so common in western countries. The summers are pleasant but the winters can be brutal. The traffic is hectic and the roads are sometimes nonexistent. Life is less stressful but also more demanding. Health care is antiquated but passable (health insurance in Holland is mandatory and of a much higher quality). Russian doctors, in my opinion, are very good diagnostically but lack treatment resources.
I was born in Panama (Canal Zone) as my father was in the military. We moved to El Paso, Texas where I grew up. I attended Oregon and was in the navy for a few years, seeing action in Vietnam. I married an elementary schoolmate and we moved to Europe in 1973. I am now retired and plan to take life easy and read as many books as I possibly can. I haven’t yet read any of your publications but you never know; my interests are far-ranging.

Hi Thom, good to meet you so to speak. We have a house in Moscow Region but we both despise that entire area and only go there once a year. We spend some of our time in the Krai but most in our summer dacha in Krim. Neither of us like the cold and in the west Krai and southwest Krim the winters are mild. Central and east Krai and east and north Krim winters can be brutal, read colder than a mother in law's kiss.

We never had any trouble finding anything we want wherever we are residing but you do have to know where to look. That being said we both have simple tastes bordering on the old fashioned. It does help to have old friends in the States who can send me what I want or need and can't find but those needs are quite rare. I do think I have the only Evergreen broadcast and drop spreaders in all of Russia. I agree, in many areas the roads stink and I firmly believe most the drivers bought their licenses if they even have one. However, in our two main residences the traffic in both little villages is almost nonexistent although both are quite near to good sized cities.

We used to have a fair sized expat community in the Krim area but almost all of them left in early '14. I told them for years to get their residency documents, it was not easy but not that difficult to get back then but few did, reason being I think most of them were on the lamb. As things got dicey three years ago the requirements got much more stringent and they were out of luck. In our areas in Krasnodar and Moscow I'm the only foreigner.

I must disagree on the medical care but things might have been different in Volgograd and that also depends on when you were there. I'm currently undergoing treatment for almost a year for an old wound from 40 years ago that decided to raise it's ugly head after all these years. First rate treatment by first rate doctors with excellent facilities in both locations, at no cost and no questions asked as to what happened and why although it's patently obvious what did happen and roughly when.

All in all life here is not bad at all, but you must have a knowledge and understanding of Russian Culture before one should even consider coming here for a visit, let alone living here.

One's family can be very important in creating an interest in history. In my case, I grew up listening to stories of how my great-grandparents emigrated to Canada and (from Scotland and England), how they survived (by trading furs and homesteading), and who they married (indigenous women, in a couple of cases). My extended family also spent a lot of time taking about both world wars and its effects on our family members who fought as well as those who stayed home. As well, my relatives are inveterate collectors of artifacts and other memorabilia, so I grew up surrounded by reminders of the past.

I agree that family is very important in stories. Even if the family does not share stories or have colorful stories to tell, the experiences we have with our families seem to stay with us a long time and when we use these little "bits" it really enriches our writing. The experiences are meaningful to us personally, but we often forget that readers would enjoy hearing about them, whether new or a reminder of something in their own lives.

Your family is your root, the bedrock of your early life. I use everything I've ever seen and done when I write but I am careful to make sure no one can be positively ID'd. For instance one of my main characters in the novel is Father Mitrofan, a Spetznaz Warrior Priest who is based in part on our Priest at Church who was a Warrior Priest. However, you will never be able to read of Father Mitrofan and think 'hey, that's Father //////////'.

When I write I also use the culture here and give a very deep look in to the culture of Russia, socially and with the military. I also blend in German and American culture for the simple reason those cultures figure in with some of the characters I create but Russia is the main theme. Locations are researched and reported correctly. Even the dogs, who figure in the short story prominently, are based on real dogs, in essence two of our boys.

Basically when you write fiction, even recent historical fiction as I write. there has to be enough basis of truth to make the story believable and make people relate to the characters in the tome. My method works for me although it probably will not work for others. I do write of actual events and incidents but I obscure any of the real participants and some locations.

Yes, judgement is certainly needed when involving a character you know in describing an incident. If it is harmless, like something amusing a child in the family once said, I've been known to take less effort to point away from a real person -- after getting their permission, of course. Most readers will never know people in my family, of course.

I did have an almost-problem once. While doing some last-minute fact-checking, I realized as I talked to the chief-of-police of my local police department that he had the same name as the name I had used for my murderer. Obviously that had to be changed!

I always ask permission if we know them, even for just an 'honorable mention', and I use only Christian names and patronymics, no last names, and generally common names. I can only imagine what your local police chief would have thought if his name was in your book as a murderer. Life might have gotten interesting for you.

Because of where I am and the fact that I am writing of a local event I do ask permission before I write of some incidents that we know of but that are not common knowledge. That is the extent of getting 'them' involved and they have zero control of my actual writing nor do they want control. They have denied me nothing but it is polite to ask.

R.H. wrote: "I always ask permission if we know them, even for just an 'honorable mention', and I use only Christian names and patronymics, no last names, and generally common names. I can only imagine what you..."

How true - and the added benefit is that you peak their interest in the book to come.

Not really an interest deal, very few here speak English fluent enough to understand my writings. Those who do already have both books.

Hilda wrote: "I'm interested in what prompted others to start writing historical fiction. In my own case it was because I wanted to research a particular person and her key life events. It was more personal curi..."

I am a historian at heart (even though I was an English professor by trade), who likes to read love stories, and writing historical fiction instead of historical monographs and literary criticism is just more fun. Same research, but more engagement with the humanity of the past instead of the data.

I've liked to write Historical Fiction because I always thought it would be pretty awesome to have fantasy worlds intertwine with the real world.

I'm also a pretty big history buff and I love mythology, so for me it was a win win.

I've liked to write Historical Fiction because I always thought it would be pretty awesome to have fantasy worlds intertwine with the real world.

I'm also a pretty big history buff and I love mythology, so for me it was a win win.

Lise wrote: "Hilda wrote: "I'm interested in what prompted others to start writing historical fiction. In my own case it was because I wanted to research a particular person and her key life events. It was more..."

Hi, Lise. I can identify with you in wanting to write historical fiction more than historical non-fiction. I'm a history prof but I have more fun doing fiction, and I find that in some ways it can be more effective in teaching history than historical monographs can. I suppose the key is "interest." We learn most from what interests us most.

Elinor wrote: "One's family can be very important in creating an interest in history. In my case, I grew up listening to stories of how my great-grandparents emigrated to Canada and (from Scotland and England), h..."

Hi, Elinor. What I found in relation to my family and history is that I could tie specific experiences of my family members to larger historical themes (such as the Westward movement, the World Wars, and the Industrial Revolution), and then work those parallels into historical fiction.

Lloyd is absolutely right about tying family experiences to history. The writer benefits from the excitement of a very personal event tied to history, creates a story that then portrays history in a way that is exciting to the reader. Everyone benefits, but perhaps the writer even more so. That is one of the things that makes historical fiction so interesting to us addicts.

By credentials and experience, I'm a legal historian, so that's part of it. I'm a lifelong HF reader--one of that insufferable kind that groans aloud at anachronisms or historical errors. The trilogy I'm writing now, set during/after WW1, started out as a single volume, contemporary novel examining men and women coming home from America's long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As I dug into that a little, I really felt uncomfortable. It felt too close, too political, too personal to the very young victims. I've always been intrigued by WW1, much more so than WW2. Plus, there's the centenary. That all sort of decided it for me. Then, as is the way with these things, it grew to a trilogy.

I was deeply impressed by how much can happen within one human lifespan. My grandparents lived from horses and buggies through man on the moon. I wanted to express that sweep and how any person's very good life's work can be stripped away by forces beyond his/her control.

I thought I could do a bit of background reading, then start my story. Ha! Hundreds of books, countless exchanges of posts with librarians and archivists, a dozen trips to locations, much help from local residents, a week-long trail ride into a national wilderness, and nine years later, I finished the book. The effort was a quest and great adventure.

During the research and writing, I repeatedly asked, "Why am I so driven to do this?" The answer emerged a year after I finished writing. The deepest, most hidden meaning of the book came from my subconscious. During the process, that was my unrecognized motivation. I haven't revealed the personal meaning of the book. Maybe readers will figure it out.

Some of us just love research, I think. After spending two years on each of my first two books, I thought I'd take it easy on myself and write about a time period I had lived through, thinking I could pull most of the details from memory. So far I've researched the Chicago mob, thoroughbred horses, local topography, the history of golf, blindness...need I go on? No matter how familiar, there is always more to know. It's all so fascinating one could spend a lifetime following interesting tidbits, but eventually if the book's ever going to get written we have to take what we have and jump into it.

Exactly! You think you have the research done, you start writing, you get to the third paragraph and start to discover facts you want to include but don't know. The research continues till the end of the book.

Pat wrote: "Some of us just love research, I think. After spending two years on each of my first two books, I thought I'd take it easy on myself and write about a time period I had lived through, thinking I co..."
Oh, how I love research and going off on unexpected and fascinating tangents.

Pat wrote: "Some of us just love research, I think. After spending two years on each of my first two books, I thought I'd take it easy on myself and write about a time period I had lived through, thinking I co..."
Ohhh, yessss!!!! Fellow Research Geeks!!! I've found a home.

I was never happier in college than when I was falling into that time-suspending bardic trance you get into when totally immersed in research of a new and fascinating topic. And those flashes of insight! So addictive. Alas, they came so frequently when I was 19... much farther apart now.

It's like detective work — so satisfying to find what you've been searching for.

Then, of course, there are the glorious unexpected twists.

It's sort of like being lost in a tremendous cobweb...I should say entranced rather than lost.

As long as the spider isn't there to devour me.

Research is never done. No matter how meticulous you are the moment you start writing you find something that must be addressed. I write recent historical fiction and my MC's are always coming up with off the wall references to obscure weapons, locations or events so nothing will do but stop and research. Most of the research concerning weapons or local locations means saddle up and go to the location or to either the Desantnik Lager next to Battery Museum or to Museum itself for hands on concerning weapons.

I swear I can hear my MC's snickering as my lass and I leave the digs and head to a location which is invariably as far away from our house as you can get in this berg or region.

I've always been intrigued by the idea that people were "here" before me in good times and troubled times. How did they feel, how did they get by, what kept them going? That curiosity just leaks out into my writing.