Ellie Lieberman's Blog: Dusty Shelves - Posts Tagged "tardis"
Historical Fiction: Walking in Someone Else's Moccasins
I haven’t written a historical fiction… yet. There’s one in mind, so maybe in the future. However, I do enjoy reading it. It combines two of my favorite loves; history and reading. Why not just nonfiction, then? Which, I do dabble in occasionally. I have enough nonfiction books to fill multiple shelves. But, there is something about the fictional aspect that is difficult to achieve in nonfiction.
In fiction, you either are in the place of the character or get to know them and walk beside them throughout the journey like a friend. You see the sights and smell the smells and experience the experiences as though you are there. It’s a time machine between two covers. Our own personal TARDIS.
In a way, the fictional aspect makes it more real. History is more than just names and dates. It’s even more than the individual events. It’s the stories. It’s what the people went through, emotionally, mentally, physically and all of the above. History is not meant to be experienced behind a desk, through a textbook that reads like the teacher from Ferris Bewler. It’s meant to be felt and understood the way you would your everyday life.
And, when it’s done really well and the tough topics that most stray from are handled with care and done justice, like in Barbara Lieberman’s Message on the Wind and following books in the series, it really makes you walk a mile in someone else’s moccasins.
In fiction, you either are in the place of the character or get to know them and walk beside them throughout the journey like a friend. You see the sights and smell the smells and experience the experiences as though you are there. It’s a time machine between two covers. Our own personal TARDIS.
In a way, the fictional aspect makes it more real. History is more than just names and dates. It’s even more than the individual events. It’s the stories. It’s what the people went through, emotionally, mentally, physically and all of the above. History is not meant to be experienced behind a desk, through a textbook that reads like the teacher from Ferris Bewler. It’s meant to be felt and understood the way you would your everyday life.
And, when it’s done really well and the tough topics that most stray from are handled with care and done justice, like in Barbara Lieberman’s Message on the Wind and following books in the series, it really makes you walk a mile in someone else’s moccasins.
