Why I Write Historical Fiction - A Guest Blogpost by John Lynch
John Lynch writes historical fiction under the name RJ Lynch. He writes about people at the bottom of the social heap and says researching those lives takes a lot more effort than writing about the upper classes – but is worth it.
I write contemporary fiction as John Lynch and policeprocedurals as JJ Sullivan, but historical fiction has a special place in myheart. My interest arose from a combination of stories handed down in my familythrough the generations (some of which have proved to be hilariously wide ofthe mark but some of which are surprisingly accurate) and research that beganwith a project looking into a specific incident in the north-east of England inthe seventeen sixties. That led to my spending a great deal of time in countyarchives, especially in Durham and Northumberland, and I became fascinated bythe material I found that told me how ordinary people really lived. In TheStructures of Everyday Life, Fernand Braudel writes brilliantly about the top-down view of history taught in everyschool and university and the bottom-up stories of the lives lived by almosteveryone. I decided that those bottom-up stories were the ones I wanted totell. I write about the farm labourers, the coalminers, the chambermaids andwasherwomen from whom most of us are descended. They lived, loved, fought,experienced joy and heartbreak just like anyone else. Their stories should betold, and I have chosen to tell them. Find out more at: https://jlynchblog.com/
Blog host Helena P. Schrader is an award-winning novelist and author of six non-fiction and twenty historical fiction books. Her current project in a three-part series about the Berlin Airlift.
The first two volumes of the Bridge to Tomorrow Trilogy are now available.
The first battle of the Cold War is about to begin....
Berlin 1948. In the ruins ofHitler’s capital, former RAF officers, a woman pilot, and the victim of Russianbrutality form an air ambulance company. But the West is on a collision coursewith Stalin’s aggression and Berlin is about to become a flashpoint. World WarThree is only a misstep away. Buy Now
Berlin is under siege. More than twomillion civilians must be supplied by air -- or surrender to Stalin's oppression.
USAF Captain J.B. Baronowsky and RAF FlightLieutenant Kit Moran once risked their lives to drop high explosives on Berlin.They are about to deliver milk, flour and children’s shoes instead. Meanwhile,two women pilots are flying an air ambulance that carries malnourished andabandoned children to freedom in the West. Until General Winter deploys on theside of Russia. Buy now!
Based on historical events, award-winning and best-selling novelistHelena P. Schrader delivers an insightful, exciting and moving tale about howformer enemies became friends in the face of Russian aggression — and how closethe Berlin Airlift came to failing.
Winning a war with milk, coal and candy!
