Ruth Hull Chatlien's Blog, page 17
February 23, 2014
New Review of The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte
The Copperfield Review, an online journal for historical fiction, just published a new review of The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte. The reviewer gave it five quills (their equivalent of stars).
While you’re at it, you might want to check out other pages on the journal. Editor Meredith Allard has put together a great publication for lovers of historical fiction.
February 19, 2014
Outlining Historical Fiction
It feels as though I’ve been very slow at starting the new novel, mostly because of the distraction of cancer treatment. This week, however, I finally felt like I was getting somewhere. That’s because I stopped just reading about the historical background for the book. I actually started on the outline.
My method is pretty direct. I start by listing chronologically the main events from the life of the woman I’m writing about—at least, the ones that pertain to the period of the novel. Unlike The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte, which covered a time span of more than 30 years, the next book will cover only a few months. Once I have my list of actual historical events, I’ll start adding fictional episodes as needed: events that fill in the gaps of motivation and character development. The third and final step will be to sort those roughly into chapters.
I still have a lot of reading and research to do yet, including a trip this summer to the area where the action of the novel took place. But as a writer, I’m happiest when I’m juggling research and more creative activities.
I also received some really terrific news today. I heard from a state historical society that they have three photographs of the interior of my main character’s house (taken before the attacking Indians burned it). And I can purchase copies. That’s going to be an invaluable help to me as I write.
February 18, 2014
Twitter Me
I finally joined the Twitterverse on Sunday. I guess I did it a little too enthusiastically because when I woke up Monday morning, my account had been suspended. However, I appealed right away, and by early afternoon, it was up and running again.
So if you’re on Twitter too, you can follow me @RHChatlien. Hope to see you there.
February 16, 2014
Research Photo Sunday
More photos from my trip to Conner Prairie, last summer.
February 14, 2014
Kirkus Review Praises My Novel!
Kirkus Review just posted a review of The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte. They liked it!
You can read the review here.
February 11, 2014
Brinkmanship
Child of the Cold War,
trained to see mushroom clouds
as the avatar of devastation,
entertained by movies
about Day-After desolation
and gamma-ray mutation,
I now, to preserve my life,
must submit to
intentional radiation.
Is it any wonder
that my primary reaction
is cogntive dissonance
and bemused mystification?
February 10, 2014
Doing Distressing Research
Because of my current treatment plan (for breast cancer) and my resulting emotional fatigue, it’s been hard to get excited about working on the new novel. Another reason for my reluctance was the type of research I was doing.
The novel I’m planning to write is based on the true experiences of a woman who was taken captive during one of the most brutal Indian wars in U.S. history. To get a broader background, I decided to read a 400-page book on the beginning of the conflict. I have to say, it was one of the hardest reads I’ve done in a long time. The book went into excruciating detail about the violence committed during the conflict. Some of it was really barbaric.
It’s not like I’ve never done this sort of research before. As a textbook editor and writer, I have covered some really horrible periods of history in which humans have committed unspeakable horrors against each other. Immersing myself in such knowledge always depresses me. I remember one three-week period in which I had to write a chapter on Reconstruction. Having to spend all my working hours dealing with stories of lynchings and the other forms of terrorism inflicted on the recently freed slaves left me feeling so sad and heavy. I was never so glad to be finished with a chapter!
With that assignment, at least, I knew I’d be done after a relatively short time. In contrast, my novel will probably take me a couple of years from research to final revisions. As I read that book that described attack after attack, I began to wonder if I’m really up to dealing with this oppressive material—especially since I’m already dealing with other stressors.
Well, for the time being, I’ve decided to soldier through. I’m just going to have to alternate the upsetting reading with research about more pleasant things, such as fashion or native culture. Fortunately, my main character didn’t personally witness too many barbarities, so I can limit my exposure to that material should I need to. At least, that’s the plan for now.
February 9, 2014
Sunday Check In
Last week I was adjusting to daily radiation treatments, so I never got around to writing my own or reading other people’s blog posts. This afternoon, I decided that I’m not going to be able to catch up reading other blogs, so I’ll just try to start fresh tomorrow.
One thing I did last summer was to go to an interactive history museum as early research for my next novel, which is set in a frontier area. I think I might make it a regular practice to post a few pictures from that every Sunday. And I’ll start today.
January 28, 2014
Ruth Hull Chatlien – Writing The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte
Many thanks to Mary Todd, author of UNRAVELLED, for interviewing me on her blog today.
Originally posted on A Writer of History:
Ruth Hull Chatlien started following A Writer of History a few months ago. She’s been an encouraging voice as I blog about historical fiction, my latest survey and aspects of my own writing. Today she talks about her writing and a novel with an enticing title The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte, about the wife of Napoleon’s younger brother, Jerome.
Why did you choose to write historical fiction? For the last 25 years, I have worked as an editor and writer in educational publishing, concentrating on social studies?particularly U.S. history, world history, and world geography. I also wrote literary fiction and had several short stories and poems published in literary journals. In addition, I have three unpublished novels tucked away in my filing cabinet; generally, I received good feedback on the writing, but they were very personal books without a clear marketing niche, so I wasn?t able to place them. Then, a few years back, I decided to integrate the two halves of my career?my educational work and my creative work?and try writing historical fiction. I discovered that I loved it. The year I spent drafting The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte turned out to be the happiest year of my life.
Why this particular book ? The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte? My husband and I were great fans of the Horatio Hornblower television series in the late 1990s. Then in the 2000s, we discovered an additional four episodes we had never seen because they were produced much later. The last of those featured Jerome and Betsy Bonaparte. Despite my familiarity with world history, I didn?t know that Napoleon?s brother married an American. When I looked up the facts on the Internet, I discovered that Betsy?s real life was far more interesting than the snippet shown (and distorted) in the television show.
Ruth Hull Chatlien - Writing The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte
Reblogged from A Writer of History:
Ruth Hull Chatlien started following A Writer of History a few months ago. She's been an encouraging voice as I blog about historical fiction, my latest survey and aspects of my own writing. Today she talks about her writing and a novel with an enticing title The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte, about the wife of Napoleon's younger brother, Jerome.
Why did you choose to write historical fiction?
Many thanks to Mary Todd, author of UNRAVELLED, for interviewing me on her blog today.
