Bending the Truth a Little
Writing historical mysteries is a juggling act. Writers must create a fictional plot with fictional characters around a historical time period with real people . . . and somehow suspend the readers’ disbelief.
Many writers of historical fiction choose a particular time period and stay with it. I’m thinking Anne Perry, Phillipa Gregory, Charles Todd. I, on the other hand, am intrigued by so many time periods, I skip around. Each of my mysteries takes place in a different place and time, which enables me to do the thing I love most: research. The risk, of course, is that I will know only a little about each time period as opposed to Anne Perry who knows a great deal about Victorian England.
Once I settle on a time period, I read and read and read about it. I visit the places in question, interview experts, historians, and read and read and read some more. By this time, I usually have a kernel of an idea for the plot and maybe even a character sketch or two.
Building fictional characters around authentic ones is key. Unless your character is transported from modern times to the past, he/she must act, speak, dress like the time period. In using real people from the time period, they must be as genuine to history as I can make them.
As the story develops and takes twists and turns on its own, I find I am bending the truth a bit – creating an “alternate history.” This is fiction, after all. The book I am working on now will be a totally new take on history. It is about the witches of Salem, Massachusetts and will provide a different motivation for the girls’ hysteria. The backdrop and many characters are authentic, but the story line meanders considerably from what we know to be historically accurate.
The questions I ask take the form of “what if” and I let my imagination run free. It’s a rare writer that can devise a plotline that hasn’t already been done. But even a clichéd plot can be made new and fresh with unusual twists, powerful characters and exceptional prose.
I’ve completed the first draft of the book and am beginning to re-write. The end is nowhere in sight. But as I write I am bending history to fit the story. That’s the advantage of fiction. And its strength.
I agree. Writing about history can be very challenging. When you merge it with fiction, it can open whole new avenues.
I just completed my second historical romance. The first is currently available on Amazon. With the second manuscript, it became difficult to find the right sources to convey the time period. It was Victorian, like the first, but it was actually later (1890s). So some things had changed. You add in the different locales I represented, the class politics and the story came into its own. Getting there was the issue. But, I managed it. And yes, even though it was heavily based on fact, you cannot discount the necessity to bend the truth a little. It is historical fiction after all. 🙂
Thanks for your comments, Marie! Lynne
I certainly concur with many of your viewpoints. Integrating some creation that will continue the string set by the parameters of time in a well developed story, must concede to the possibility of name changes, larger stipulated by the law when publishing. That is to say that if only one person of your characters wishes not to be identified…then all others must be fictionally named. Maintaining a more than healthy balance of description adds to the glamour of a topic, but dialogue seldom falls short as each and every participant plays a major role in adding color in several ways, to include conversational dialect, specific relevance to the overall picture and theme of the book. I have recently written UTE and am satisfied with the final outcome of the published book. For the right person, this is truly a mystery that has been solved through modern day investigative techniques and of course, research. I look forward to following you in the future.
Seems we’re of a like mind, Andrew! I will check out UTE. Lynne