Fact Is Stranger Than Fiction: How to Use Historical Prompts for Your Writing

Investigating your family tree can lead you to more writing prompts that you might think! Blogger Jolie Tunnell shares her experience and advice with us today on using real people and events from the past to inspire your historical fiction:

History has a way of repeating itself. This March, I completed my second historical novel using the NaNoWriMo template. I have to admit, the excitement, sense of accomplishment, and celebration is just as fabulous this time around.

I don’t have to tell you that writing a novel in a month is one rollercoaster of a ride. Getting to “The End” is a matter of putting one word down after the other and I want to remind you of a great cheat for those times when you are terrified that you’ll run out of words.

Let me encourage you to steal your best story ideas from historical events or items from the past. They can fuel your story with plot twists, unexpected heroes, or surprising conclusions. Fact is stranger than fiction and twice as fun.

The impetus for my novel was an old stash of photographs and letters in my mother’s closet.

“That’s the couple who eloped,” she told me, “their youngest son stood trial for murder. They were homesteaders and cattle ranchers and Bible thumpers.”

But it could easily have been an antique shop perfume bottle or a sarcophagus from the local museum that caught my curiosity. There’s a story in there, somewhere, and the fun lies in teasing it out. Historical events contain multiple points of view, and the clever story-teller singles out the one worth telling.

I decided to tell that young couple’s story. Each time I came to a gap between the facts, I looked for something to bridge it. What was the political climate that year? The weather? Was there a radical current event or a mysterious secret from the past or something about to occur that affected their motives? Peruse old fashion catalogs, maps, and newspapers to spark your imagination and give you more words. Raid your grandmother’s attic.

“Historical events contain multiple points of view, and the clever story-teller singles out the one worth telling.“

Halfway through my novel writing, the world outside my window began to shut down with the corona virus. It would not have affected the furious typing at my desk if not for the fact that one of my characters suddenly found himself drafted into World War I. I did not see that coming. Against my wishes, he was sent to Camp Lee, Virginia, where the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 found him.

He died within the week.

The eerie similarities between my pages and my Facebook feed lent authenticity, color, and emotion to my pages in a big and unavoidable way. As I researched the family tree for more scenes, I came across everything from a haunted courthouse to a brothel. These are the things that keep your chapters growing, in spite of distractions, and you can use them regardless of your genre for a splash of flavor and fresh ideas.

I have a 73,600 word first draft. It’s a beautiful hot mess about my pioneer ancestors with a dynamite ending that I didn’t see coming until I was almost on top of it. Just when you think you can’t write another word, another clue inspires you onward. Sometimes it’s an ancient manuscript. Sometimes it’s a family relic. And sometimes, it’s happening right outside your window.

Whether it’s historical fiction, memoir, or humorous Erma Bombeck material, history has a way of repeating itself and the stories of the past have a funny way of resonating through our work into the present and far into the future.

Jolie Tunnell is a freelance writer, blogger, and aspiring novelist with a background that includes administration, education, and - thanks to her five kids - a sixteen year stint in the PTA. She serves up hard-won wisdom with humor, compassion and insight.

Jolie lives in San Diego, California. Visit her at JolieTunnell.com, LinkedIn, or Facebook, or be her writing buddy at NaNoWriMo. Cheers!

Top photo by Mr Cup / Fabien Barral on Unsplash