Historical romance has long been one of my many favorite genres. The mixture of romance with history is, to me, just one of those brilliant combination’s that can’t be beat (like peanut butter and jelly or ketchup and french fries). It’s even better, of course, when more than just the historical setting is added.
Don’t get me wrong, reading a novel set in the Regency period is fine in and of itself. But, it always feels like something is missing when those little details about the period itself are lacking. Most authors include the basics (mannerisms, the societal norms, dress, modes of travel, etc) but those that include the events that were current of that time always seem to fall into my list of favorite authors.
Which rather brings me to the point of this entry. Setting a novel in a historical period is fine. Getting the basic details of that period correct is a must. But adding that entirely new depth to the story is absolutely fantastic and, if done well, can do so much more for the novel itself!
If your novel is set in 1814 England, for instance, altogether ignoring the fact that Napoleon was temporarily defeated that year is not necessarily a good thing. Consider a novel set in late September of 2001 in New York. Wouldn’t you find it exceedingly odd if not a single mention of what was occurring during that period of turmoil was included? What if said novel were set on December 7, 1941 in the United States? Wouldn’t it seem odd to you if the attack on Pearl Harbor was not even mentioned?
The same goes for things that occurred years and years ago in other countries. If your novel is set in that time period in which those important events were taking place, chances are your characters would talk about it, think about it, hear about it or even read about it at some point in time. Those events, such as the defeat of Napolean, were as big a deal to the people they affected as September 11th or Pearl Harbor have been to us. Failing to even mention those events, while not necessarily noticed by every reader, takes that element of realism away from the story for so many others.
You don’t have to write an entire plot around those events, but it is important to give them their proper place. These events were as life changing to historical folk as events today can be for us. If you choose to include more than just a mention of such an event, it’s important that you get the details right (or leave us believing that your version might just have been a possibility).
If you’re writing about the defeat of Napolean in 1814, to stay with the same theme here, you can’t have him killed off as that strains not only credibility but enjoyment of the story itself. Not everyone will realize that Napolean wasn’t killed in 1814 and others won’t care, but so many that enjoy historical romance also have an appreciation of history. More than a few will, undoubtedly, know that Napolean was exiled to Elba and escaped 9 short months later to resume his campaign.
Don’t risk alienating those readers just because it’s your story and you’re doing the writing. Stick as close to the actual event as you can while giving it that zest that makes reading it exciting. People will appreciate that you’ve not taken unnecessary liberties so much more than they will the taking of unnecessary liberties.
Finally, don’t be afraid to add lesser known events and issues to the story either. They can add as much, if not more, to a novel as can those larger events. You don’t want to pack your novel so full of these facts and tidbits that you’re writing a history tome instead of a novel, but one or two can be a very great thing.
That said, you’re probably wondering how to go about finding such information. As is usual in such a case, my advise would be to start with Google. Type in the year and the country and see what you can find. If that doesn’t find anything, change your search terms. “Historical events in COUNTRY”, “important events of YEAR” , “COUNTRY/YEAR history timeline”, “COUNTRY/YEAR history” and similar search terms may prove helpful.
Try the “This Day In History” tool at the History.com website to see what you can pull up. Check out the Timelines of History website, or review the archives at the History Facts website. Visit your local library and dust off the card catalog or visit the History sections of your local bookstore. There are quite literally thousands of places to go for information of this nature. And if absolutely none of those net anything… email me (seriously). I’m always up to a challenge, am a research loving fool, don’t charge and have access to more academic databases, by virtue of being a perpetual college student, than I care to count. I can, at the least, point you in the right direction or provide necessary linkage. 🙂
For many, research is a complete pain. For others, it’s an absolute blast. For the author, it’s a necessity. And practice makes perfect.. trust me on that one! In the next post, I’ll provide information on a few history specific events as well as resources on important events that I’ve found particularly useful during the course of writing or researching.
Which leads me to a final point. When you’re researching, always make a note of where you’ve gotten your research from even if you aren’t sure if you will use it. Save the links to your computer, to your blog, in a notebook, take notes and attach links. Whatever works for you. There will come a time when you find you need to pass that link on, when you need to review it again or a thousand other similar scenarios and you will drive yourself insane trying to find the link or book title, etc. again if you haven’t saved it for quick retrieval. Get in the practice now and you’ll save countless hours of redoing the same research at some point later. Believe me. I’ve been there, done that and lost count of how many times I had to do it all over again because I couldn’t seem to remember to SAVE MY WORK! 🙂
Happy day,
Ayden
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If you talk to most authors for any length of time about the craft, you’ll quickly learn that most believe there are very few rules in writing that cannot be broken. That is not to say that the rules should be blatantly disregarded. They shouldn’t. But, there is a time and a place in which the rules can be bent, ignored or simply rewritten. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be posting about some of those rules and when/why they should be broken in addition to the typical book reviews and general postings.
That said, let’s start this series off with the big one, shall we?
The dreaded spelling and grammar. You might well hear that one should never disregard proper spelling and grammar in writing. I most respectfully disagree.
Let’s face it; there might just be more rules regarding the proper use of the English language than there are people in the United States. Generally speaking, knowing how to use the English language correctly in writing is a good thing. But, knowing when to ignore those rules can be an even better thing.
When you read a historical, say from the Regency period, and your hero or heroine is speaking with a street urchin who has had nothing resembling a formal education; would you really believe it if every word that came from said urchin’s mouth was perfectly spoken? What about if you’re reading a contemporary novel, romance or otherwise, and your character is speaking to a teenager. Would you believe it if every word that teenager spoke was perfectly correct? Would you believe it if every internal thought a character had came in complete, perfectly constructed sentences? Likely not.
Understanding when to break the rules and when to follow those rules can add depth to a story that would never be attained were the entire story written in perfect, precise English. At the same time, a great author can add levels and depth to each individual character simply by changing the patterns of speech when writing from the perspective of that character.
Another important point that should be made here deals with slang. There is a time and a place to use slang and a time and place in which slang should be left alone. You wouldn’t have your medieval characters using today’s slang and, in most situations, your contemporary characters wouldn’t use medieval speech patterns. Your 90 year old characters probably wouldn’t make a regular habit of using the same slang as your 16 year old characters and your 16 year old characters probably aren’t going to have a “knee’s up” like your 90 year old characters might.
Obviously, that’s not always the case either and that’s where knowing when to break the rules comes into play. Your eccentric 90 year old character might well attempt to “get jiggy with it,” your old soul in a 16 year old’s body might well go “out yonder,” your contemporary character might well say “tis and shan’t.” But chances are, your medieval character (unless he or she is a time traveling fool) probably isn’t going to break out with a “lamespice” or a “make it snappy.” Know when to use it and when to leave it alone; and don’t make a habit of overusing slang. Allow it to mingle with proper English or you might well find that your readers find said character annoying.
Which brings me to the spelling point. It’s important. And most of the time, it’s darn important. And failing to use it properly to no real purpose is incredibly annoying. One shouldn’t misspell words unless those misspellings have a point. For instance, spelling definitely as “definitaly” or “higher” as “hire” is typically not a good thing. If your character, however, is looking at a note in which those words are misspelled, it might be acceptable. If you’re dealing with a time period in which words were spelled differently than they are today or a world in which the language is similar but has those distinct variations, it would be acceptable to stick to the spelling of that time period or world. You, obviously, don’t want to do it so often that readers can’t keep up; but it can add to the story to do so occasionally.
In short, break the rules when breaking the rules adds to the story, but don’t do it so often that you wind up taking away from the story instead of adding to it and don’t do it without reason. Breaking to rules just to break the rules can be irritating for the reader.
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