Well, Homer is still exceedingly cute, and I really haven’t forgotten about the next recipe (I’ve just been writing madly on ECHO; I mean it when I describe this stage as the Final Frenzy; I do precious little else!).
However, I do have to pause for a bit here, because a year or so ago, I agreed to teach a two-and-a-half hour workshop on Writing Historical Fiction, as part of a week of such workshops sponsored by a local group called Arizona Authors. (At the time, of course, I had no idea the FF was going to hit _now_).
Anyway–thought I’d ask, for any of you who might harbor ambitions (or merely curiosity) in this regard, whether there are any specific questions _you’d_ like answered, if you were taking such a workshop, or any particular material you’d like to see covered?
I think we may do a minor bit of writing in the class–can’t do too much, as it takes quite a bit of time, but I’m thinking a few paragraphs might be fun; any topics that you’d suggest? (E.g., introduction of a major character, setting a historical background, etc.?)
argh, i hate it when that happens. I posted a comment and it got lost in cyberspace and now I have to reconstruct it!
Anyhoo… what I’m wondering is how much a writer needs to steep themselves in the era they’re going to write, before the start.
For example, if one were to write about the 1850s would it be necessary to know precisely what length skirts were worn at? Or for a story set in the 1950s, how much would the writer need to know (almost on an instinctive level, I guess) about the fashions, the technology, the car styles of the era?
Jen
I’m curious about different types of terms/phrases/jargon that were used during different periods and how to incorporate them into the writing, while still keeping the flow of the text and not losing the reader. What is a good meathod to balance the common phrases/sayings/words with the “read-ability”?
I would be curious to hear your comments on the conflict/paradox/friction of writing in a context of a particular time period with different social mores, expectations to one’s own. How do you make your characters authentic to the time (their behaviour, thought processes)without compromising their appeal to today’s audience. Not sure if I explained that very well. Um.
Like Jen, I find the research part of writing very interesting and intriguing. I imagine your office, Diana, covered with hundreds of multi-colored stickies with bits of info pertinent to people and places. It has always amazed me that you had not even been to Scotland when you wrote Outlander — at least that’s what I’ve read — and your descriptions were so very accurate. And when you look at the span of subjects, times, and personalities of the six, almost seven large novels, the three Lord John books, and the various other work you’ve done, it’s truly amazing to me; the research alone would seem to take a lifetime!
I don’t mind you not posting recently at all, it all brings us closer to the book!
Research is all well and good, but for me it’s getting started that’s the hard part. Where do I go first? What do I do first? If I’m stuck, what can I do to get un-stuck? Also, since you write in first-person, everything Claire sees and does is given to the reader (that’s one of the reasons your novels are so deliciously long I think). How do you modify the level of detail from a third-person point of view, like Jaime or Brianna? What, if anything, is allowed to remain somewhat modern in order not to confuse the reader? I can also see dialogue being an issue – how much of a focus do you put on what words would have been known then and what words haven’t? Do you take it seriously or just ignore it because it involves too much work? And yes, there is research. How much do I put in? I want it to be entertaining, so how do I present that research without sounding like a textbook?
I’m beginning to think I should take this workshop.
I would love to learn a differnet way of researching a historical novel.
I only wish that you were doing that class where I live. I’d take it in a heart beat.
I am a business person and I have written technical papers for years. I love history and would love to write a historical novel. How do I evaluate my writing skills to know if I have what it takes to 1). Write a novel and 2). Create an entertaining story.
Does that question disqualify me before I even get started or can anyone do it. I mean, do you just know that you know that you can – and do it?
I have a community college across the street, maybe that would be a good start – or an excuse to put it off for another semester.
Thanks to “mstoldt” – I had those same questions.
Hmmm… I fall in line behind the others, maybe all of us should enroll in that class.
Your very cool Diana, I have a lot of respect for you, your talents and your intelligence.
I WISH you were coming to my hometown to do this! Arizona is one state too far away…any chance – even minuscule – that you may be doing something like this in Los Angeles in the future? At all?
GOOD LUCK with the final rush on ECHO!
How exciting ! If only I was a bit closer (about 3000 miles closer) I’d definately sign up for that course.
I’ve done a bit of writing for my own pleasure since highschool and my biggest frustration was the deadly (cue ominous music) “writers block”.
I’d love to have a few coping techniques to deal with the stress as you work thru the block.
To Jen:
I find before I hit send on anything I always copy and paste it into notepad “just incase”. It has saved me a thousand times : )
Dear Jen–
It kind of depends, is the answer. [g] I.e., you _do_ need to know a lot about the details of daily living in your era, but a) it isn’t necessary to “steep yourself” _before_ writing the story (you can do it as you go; that’s what I do), and b) _which_ details you use depend on the type of story you’re telling, and who/what your main character is like.
I.e., if your main character is a midwife, you’d better know _something_ about ways and means of childbirth in your period [g]; if he’s a banker, you can probably get along knowing nothing whatever about birthing stools.
Dear Elizabeth–
Well, I’m afraid there’s no method, as such. It’s just a combination of common sense and developing a good “ear” for the rhythms of speech.
That said, there _are_ “rules” (i.e., observable patterns) for writing dialogue in general (I posted these recently in the “Research and Craft” folder of the Compuserve Books and Writers Forum, in a thread titled “Short story dialog”), and you can use those as a general guideline, adding specialized terms and forms as they seem suitable (and preferably in such a way as to make their meaning clear by context, if you don’t have a handy time-traveler around to ask what they mean. [g]).
Dear Penny–
Oh, sure you are; you mean how do you handle the notion of political correctness.
Personally, I ignore it. Yes, you do get the occasional modern reader who simply can’t grasp the idea that things Have Not Always Been as They Are Now, but a) you can’t write for the lowest common denominator, or you will get sludge, and b) it’s your job as a historical novelist to enlighten such unfortunately ill-educated persons.
It is _not_ the job of a historical novelist to readjust the past in order to avoid making readers think.
Dear Deb–
Thank you! It’s true that there’s always more you could find out–but that’s part of the charm of it. [g]
(Actually, most of my research is either in my head or in the original books in which I found it; I keep the specific books that I’ve found most useful/necessary to a given novel close at hand, but I really don’t use Post-its, except to write down addresses for the Elf (the nice person whom my husband and I share, who does our bookkeeping, gets the cars washed and hauls stuff to the post-office (if it were left up to me, nobody would ever get _anyhing_).
Dear ms–
Yes, you probably should. [g]
All good questions, though too involved for me to answer here. I _will_ be posting stuff from/for the workshop on Compuserve, though, over the next week or so.
The basic answer, though, is that it comes down to character. All good stories depend on the central character: who he or she is, what s/he wants, and how s/he changes in response to what happens.
The shape of the story, as well as what the characters say and how they say it, depends on your grasp of this person’s nature and life.
As for ignoring something because it’s too much work…I was about to indignantly denounce the very idea, but in fact, I don’t look up the phases of the moon on specific dates in my novels, because it _is_ too much work for the benefit derived. [g]
Dear C. Clark–
A different way than _what_?
(I did, in fact, teach an 8-hour seminar on “Research” last year, and in the fullness of time–i.e., sometime after I finish ECHO [g]–will probably write up something about it.)
Dear Rosemary–
Well, the simple (and true) answer is that you won’t know unless you try. And I _will_ tell you that if you start doing something, you may or may not be good at it right off–but if you keep doing it, you _will_ get better. [g]
Good luck!
Dear Nathalie–
Well, people invite me to do this sort of thing every so often; I did a 6-hour version some years ago for…some university in Utah, I think.