Delving into History
While I read many different types of novels, I find myself gravitating to historical novels when it comes to writing them. Why? I think I appreciate that the world in which my story will take place has been predetermined. There are already rules; I don’t need to create them. Sure, I can bend one or two depending on the story, but I try not to.
One of the things that is most important to me, whether I’m reading or writing a historical novel, is making the time period realistic. In Victorian England, my characters can’t go bopping down the street half clad (well, unless they are running from a villain that has disturbed them at an inappropriate time, perhaps). In 18th century Ireland, I have to have that clash between the English and the Irish palpable in the air. It has to color everything my characters do. So what do I do? Lots and lots of research.
If I can find slang or samples of speech from the period I’m working in, I do my best to make the dialogue fit the pattern. What curse words were prevalent? Depending on what your characters are up to, you may find yourself researching some pretty odd stuff. For example, the current story we’re putting together deals with prostitution in London in Victorian England. Never in my life did I think I would spend time thinking about how a girl would turn tricks with all those clothes on...especially when it was just a quickie in an alley. Yes, it actually was done that way. I know, right?
Of course, not every bit of research is interesting. Try studying up on how street merchants sold fruit or how people took meals if they didn’t have a kitchen set up in their home. We take all that for granted now, but our ancestors weren’t nearly as lucky in many cases. I’ve even downloaded old maps to study the areas where our stories take place and mark important events on them so I know where they took place in relation to the rest of the story.
Heck, in our last story, part of it was modern day and I still found myself researching things like how to defuse a bomb and what one could really do with a cell phone (I am not cell phone literate).
When I read historical pieces, I want to see the setting in my mind’s eye, from sights to smells, sounds to textures. I want to feel as if I’m there with the characters. Don’t you? I want to create that same type of experience for our readers.
TITANIC DECEPTION follows the journey of young Alice Clarke as she boards the famous ship as a nurse for a young baby, falls in love, then finds herself bereft after the disaster. She writes of her adventures in a journal, which is inherited by her great-grandson, Michael. He stumbles across a strange story about the ship, and finds evidence to corroborate it when he reads Alice’s journal. With the help of a conspiracy theorist who will only go by the name of Soft Kitty, Michael must figure out the mystery before the company behind it all kills him to keep their secret safe.
Readers can learn more about John & Toni Rakestraw and their stories, check out http://rakestrawreads.com. Links to the ebook can be found there, as well as some deleted scenes for readers eager for a taste of the adventure. The book will be out in print by the end of May.
Thank you for the opportunity to talk about a genre that is very special to me.
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