History with a Twist - Why I Find Writing Historical Fiction So Much Fun!
I refer to the historical fiction I write as “history with a twist.” Why? Because I’m intrigued by the unusual and little-known aspects of history so naturally that’s what I like to write about.
What exactly do I mean by unusual and little-known aspects of history? Well, most of us were taught the important names, dates, wars, decisive battles, political events, etc., etc. Take for example, American history. We’ve learned the fundamentals about the biggies – the American Revolution and the Civil War to name just two. We’ve probably learned at least something about smaller events such as the Salem Witch Hysteria of 1692.
But unless you are well-versed in New England folklore, chances are you haven’t heard of the New England Vampire Panic. Yet it was prevalent throughout several rural and isolated areas of New England for decades and was well-known enough at the time to get a mention in Henry David Thoreau’s diary.
The people experiencing it never used the word “vampire” but the concept was similar, at least in their minds. The real culprit was tuberculosis. But what if you were an inhabitant of a small, remote rural area in New England and your family members died off in fairly rapid succession seeming to waste away before your eyes? What if they told you that during the night they felt as though someone was sitting on their chest? What if you discovered blood on their mouths in the morning? Might you start to wonder about the odd stories you’d heard of dead family members coming back to drain the life from their living relatives? Would you be willing to find out if one of your deceased loved ones was to blame? Just how would you go about doing that? Better yet, how would you put an end to it? After all, you could be next. This is one historical event I plan to explore in a future novel.
I love delving into the day-to-day lives of people of the past, the material culture of their times, and the changes in perspectives over generations. I gather up those ingredients then add an unusual, odd, or downright spooky, but true historical occurrence and I’ve got the recipe for a fascinating story.
Truth be told, I’m surprised by how many people have told me they had no idea of what the Irish faced during the Great Hunger (aka the Irish Potato Famine) after reading my novel Kelegeen. Oh, they’d heard of the Famine, of course, but never realized the depth of suffering, the trauma, the sacrifice endured by the Irish peasantry. For many readers these people were their own ancestors who came to America to escape the starvation. Yet they’d never known that over a million died and a million more emigrated. They’d never heard that they were forced to eat food considered cattle fodder, if they were lucky, not to mention tree bark, nettles and grass. They didn’t know of the evictions Irish cottiers faced if they could not pay their rent to their British landlords. Or how, once evicted and their tiny cottages torn down or burned, they had to build three-sided structures called scalpeens in which to live, praying they weren’t found since they had no “right” to live on the land at all.
Many of my readers have expressed what an eye-opener it was for them to learn of the devastating choices that had to be made in order to survive. Often they comment on how remarkably strong the people were in their faith. In so many cases, faith was all they had to see them through. These are the not-so-well-known aspects of an infamous historical event.
Think of the Salem Witch Hysteria. You’ve heard of it, I’m sure. But what do you really know about it? Was it a bunch of bratty young girls who just wanted some attention? Once they got it, and a little power to go with it, did they let it go to their heads to the extreme detriment of hundreds of people and the executions of nineteen? Or was there a whole lot more to the story? If you guessed the latter, you’re right. This post would become book-length if I were to explain it all here, but suffice to say that a bratty bunch of girls is the least of the reasons for that terrible event in Massachusetts history. Political and religious factions and maneuverings, mental illness, the Puritan religion, and social discord to name but a few factors played far greater roles than those of the “afflicted girls.” Once the hysteria was set into motion, it became clear to certain powerful people in Salem that the girls made perfect pawns for forwarding their own agendas. Oh, the devil was surely busy in Salem, but not necessarily in the way one might think!
And then there’s Anne Putnam, Jr., the thirteen-year-old ringleader of the “afflicted girls”. She’s the one who’s generally judged as the worst of the “brats.” On her head falls much condemnation for all that happened. But how much was she really to blame? Her young life was marked by tremendous loss, fear, and a certain degree of helplessness. When it’s all put together one can see how she, as well as the other girls, so easily fell into the grip of hysteria, perhaps even temporary madness. Does anyone care or even remember that she was one of the few who later repented and did public penance for her part in the hysteria. Can she be forgiven? This is another story I hope to bring to life in a novel.
Then there are history’s other oddities, many of which took place during the Victorian era – a time ripe with eccentricity, strangeness and peculiarity. A veritable treasure trove of the odd and unusual, this time period could keep me going for a very long writing career. (As is certainly my hope!) It’s such a passion for me, I could research and write these stories for a lifetime with never a dull moment. Hopefully, my readers will feel the same way.
That’s the twist –the stories on history’s margins, things never taught in the classroom. It’s where history gets really fun.
What exactly do I mean by unusual and little-known aspects of history? Well, most of us were taught the important names, dates, wars, decisive battles, political events, etc., etc. Take for example, American history. We’ve learned the fundamentals about the biggies – the American Revolution and the Civil War to name just two. We’ve probably learned at least something about smaller events such as the Salem Witch Hysteria of 1692.
But unless you are well-versed in New England folklore, chances are you haven’t heard of the New England Vampire Panic. Yet it was prevalent throughout several rural and isolated areas of New England for decades and was well-known enough at the time to get a mention in Henry David Thoreau’s diary.
The people experiencing it never used the word “vampire” but the concept was similar, at least in their minds. The real culprit was tuberculosis. But what if you were an inhabitant of a small, remote rural area in New England and your family members died off in fairly rapid succession seeming to waste away before your eyes? What if they told you that during the night they felt as though someone was sitting on their chest? What if you discovered blood on their mouths in the morning? Might you start to wonder about the odd stories you’d heard of dead family members coming back to drain the life from their living relatives? Would you be willing to find out if one of your deceased loved ones was to blame? Just how would you go about doing that? Better yet, how would you put an end to it? After all, you could be next. This is one historical event I plan to explore in a future novel.
I love delving into the day-to-day lives of people of the past, the material culture of their times, and the changes in perspectives over generations. I gather up those ingredients then add an unusual, odd, or downright spooky, but true historical occurrence and I’ve got the recipe for a fascinating story.
Truth be told, I’m surprised by how many people have told me they had no idea of what the Irish faced during the Great Hunger (aka the Irish Potato Famine) after reading my novel Kelegeen. Oh, they’d heard of the Famine, of course, but never realized the depth of suffering, the trauma, the sacrifice endured by the Irish peasantry. For many readers these people were their own ancestors who came to America to escape the starvation. Yet they’d never known that over a million died and a million more emigrated. They’d never heard that they were forced to eat food considered cattle fodder, if they were lucky, not to mention tree bark, nettles and grass. They didn’t know of the evictions Irish cottiers faced if they could not pay their rent to their British landlords. Or how, once evicted and their tiny cottages torn down or burned, they had to build three-sided structures called scalpeens in which to live, praying they weren’t found since they had no “right” to live on the land at all.
Many of my readers have expressed what an eye-opener it was for them to learn of the devastating choices that had to be made in order to survive. Often they comment on how remarkably strong the people were in their faith. In so many cases, faith was all they had to see them through. These are the not-so-well-known aspects of an infamous historical event.
Think of the Salem Witch Hysteria. You’ve heard of it, I’m sure. But what do you really know about it? Was it a bunch of bratty young girls who just wanted some attention? Once they got it, and a little power to go with it, did they let it go to their heads to the extreme detriment of hundreds of people and the executions of nineteen? Or was there a whole lot more to the story? If you guessed the latter, you’re right. This post would become book-length if I were to explain it all here, but suffice to say that a bratty bunch of girls is the least of the reasons for that terrible event in Massachusetts history. Political and religious factions and maneuverings, mental illness, the Puritan religion, and social discord to name but a few factors played far greater roles than those of the “afflicted girls.” Once the hysteria was set into motion, it became clear to certain powerful people in Salem that the girls made perfect pawns for forwarding their own agendas. Oh, the devil was surely busy in Salem, but not necessarily in the way one might think!
And then there’s Anne Putnam, Jr., the thirteen-year-old ringleader of the “afflicted girls”. She’s the one who’s generally judged as the worst of the “brats.” On her head falls much condemnation for all that happened. But how much was she really to blame? Her young life was marked by tremendous loss, fear, and a certain degree of helplessness. When it’s all put together one can see how she, as well as the other girls, so easily fell into the grip of hysteria, perhaps even temporary madness. Does anyone care or even remember that she was one of the few who later repented and did public penance for her part in the hysteria. Can she be forgiven? This is another story I hope to bring to life in a novel.
Then there are history’s other oddities, many of which took place during the Victorian era – a time ripe with eccentricity, strangeness and peculiarity. A veritable treasure trove of the odd and unusual, this time period could keep me going for a very long writing career. (As is certainly my hope!) It’s such a passion for me, I could research and write these stories for a lifetime with never a dull moment. Hopefully, my readers will feel the same way.
That’s the twist –the stories on history’s margins, things never taught in the classroom. It’s where history gets really fun.
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