i miss history

Walking through the ruins of Hailes Abbey, we listened to an audio tour narrated by fictional monks: "Turn right, and you will enter the room where the monks transcribed their manuscripts" or "the one room of the abbey where the monks were allowed to speak." The lives of Cistercian monks – fascinating! Then we visited Sudeley Castle, where Catherine Parr lived after King Henry's death. It was like visiting old friends (see below, Catherine Howard mannequin in beautiful gown). I am angry at Henry for offing his wives and for destroying the aforementioned Hailes Abbey (for their supposedly false holy relic) but that's not the issue here. It's that…I miss history.

I came home with some ideas for one of the contemporary fantasies I've been working on; these ideas were thanks more to a talk with Tom than the actual surroundings of the trip. I set to work over the weekend, but there was something lacking. I'm feeling very blah about the whole thing. Where are the fascinating details about the setting, her lifestyle, her daily life? Well, there are none. The story is just plot plot plot, with no time for those details, and no interesting details to tell. This is a flaw of the storytelling (meaning: my fault) but it still stands. I want a book that I can fall into, the way I fell into Tudor England. It's not exclusive to historical fiction, of course: I certainly fall into life at Hogwarts when I read Harry Potter novels. I love books that encapsulate a rich world, a way of life.

So maybe this is what I learned on my trip, that I want to start flirting with history, again. Not in a high pressure way, forcing a plot-line onto a particular time period. More like "hey, you're interesting and I would like to spend some time with you." See? No pressure. I have to remember, there was a moment when I wondered if Catherine Howard would be enough to keep my attention. That moment lasted for about five minutes. But still, I can't expect inspiration to strike like a lightning bolt, all doubts thrust aside. But it's time to walk out into the rain and see what happens.