Historical Fictionistas discussion
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How did you get into Historical Fiction?
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James
(new)
Jul 16, 2013 04:51PM
Saw a book cover with with an illustration of the battle of Agincourt. It drew me in, I imagined myself amid the carnage sword in hand, dealing death and of course mounted in armour, the works. I was a small boy, couldn't read. Didn't learn until grade five. Thank God for remedial teachers. Once reading I was hooked. Then, Nigel Tranter & I met in the library we've been friends ever since.
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Historical fiction, mate? I find it a sort of drug or even a trap. When characters like the convict, Laurence Frayne, or the monstrous commandant, James Morisset jump out at you from the history books you just have to bring them to life in story form...aren't we all story tellers?
I love it! What amazing things have gone before us. As to are we all story tellers, yes, and no, some better than others, not all us are Hilary Mantel. And when did I meet my first murderer, about twenty-five years ago and he threatened to kill me, thought, I'd knocked him out. Thought I moved so fast he didn't see my hands move, which they didn't he slipped over on cement - I didn't throw a punch. A very long story suffice to say I'm still here.
Hi James, what an amazing story you tell about your 'first murderer'. Mine was convicted of multiple murders and I met him working as a tutor on drama in our local jail. After long hours of exchange, of course I had to use him as one of the story strands in my book. Tried to get him out on parole, but no good. He died in jail.
The first book I ever read, hiding under the covers when I should have been asleep, was a historical novel for kids about the early American settlers. As I recall, they were on a houseboat. That's about all I remember about the book, but you never forget your first love!
My guy. I've met a few when I was a copper but you don't always know it when you do, but those I did know usually in more controlled environments. The bloke who threatened me told me he did time for murder, and said he knew where I lived, I told him to tell me, and he did, so he did. I moved. It was a police barracks and I changed rooms and set up a protective device, won't go into the details, but if he tried to approach he was in for a surprise. You know, for warned is for armed. He told me he had killed others and left them out bush down unused mine shafts, too many out there to check it out. I'd had a fight with his dopey mate about a week earlier and knocked him out. Another long story. All over a counter-meal.
Wow, getting into HF is certainly a hot topic. In the library run by the good sisters on Friday afternoons I met up with the wonderful Carola Oman and her 'Ferry the Fearless' Many years later and six of my own novels down I am still hooked
Six novels, congratulations. Do you own a TV? Six novels ... of course you haven't got a TV.
Dear James, Yes I do have a TV but get lured away from it too easily. am being horribly tempted at the moment to begin a new novel based on the life of an Irish pirate queen in mediaeval times. Please write and persuade me not to.Tony Brooks
I think I've always liked l e warning about history since junior high and in my high school AP European history class learning about all the events and wars and the Tudor history classes were always my favorite! After two separate trips to Europe where amazing events happened while I happened to be there- one being Pope John Paul II's funeral- I have been reading historical European fiction ever since. although I will admit that since I was young I've had an interest in The Romanov family and Julius Ceasars Rome.
Ashley wrote: "I think I've always liked l e warning about history since junior high and in my high school AP European history class learning about all the events and wars and the Tudor history classes were alway..."There are many incredibly interesting times and places in European history. From the Romans to the Byzantines, to the Florentines, to the Tudors, to the Restoration, to the French Revolution. It helps if there were historians who could write down what was happening as it happened. Otherwise, we have to try and figure it out ourselves.
Welcome, Ashley.The Romanovs, eh? *rubs hands in glee*
Tony wrote: "Dear James, Yes I do have a TV but get lured away from it too easily. am being horribly tempted at the moment to begin a new novel based on the life of an Irish pirate queen in mediaeval times. Please write and persuade me not to."Watch TV or write a masterpiece? Go to the moon, or watch TV. Seems to me TV will still be there after you write your masterpiece.
I couldn't read until grade five but I always loved books. Mh brother had a book on the battle of Agincourt, a tatty raggedy book, part of the cover was missing. What was there, men-at-arms, the bloody fields of battle, fallen standards ... I could smell the battle, feel the rain, see the faces of my enemies and see the arrows falling from the skies, and see men die, and still the arrows fell.It was then I become a writer even though I couldn't read. The book spoke to me even though I couldn't read a word and a world opened up for me, the of witches, magic, fair knights and ladies,and a lonely field in France when Harry the king made his name.
C.P. wrote: "Welcome, Ashley.The Romanovs, eh? *rubs hands in glee*"
Oh yes C.P.I've always had a craving to know more especially after reading the kitchen boy The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar when I was younger. Always wanted to know why it was always Anastasia that some how survived
Alas, she didn't. You know that, right? They found the bones.If anyone survived, it was Maria. But most likely, no one did. The Bolsheviks were disturbingly competent in that regard.
Ashley wrote: "C.P. wrote: "Welcome, Ashley.The Romanovs, eh? *rubs hands in glee*"
Oh yes C.P.I've always had a craving to know more especially after reading the kitchen boy The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the La..."
Good point, I think it's because Anastasia sounds good as a name!
I've always loved history, but my love of HF really started when I wanted to learn more about the evolution of the British monarchy (yes, I'm an Anglophile!), so I started with Jean Plaidy's kings and queens books, beginning with the story of Eleanor of Aquitaine. I'm now up to the George III. It's taken me several years, as I've only read them sporadically the last year or so, but I still hope to finish them, through Queen Victoria. Plaidy makes learning about history so much better than reading a biography. I've checked her facts on occasion, and they're pretty accurate. HF gives one a great way to travel the world without leaving home!
Nancy wrote: "From my erliest days I remember loving historical fiction. It might have begun when I was in grade read biographies about the early presidents for book reports or when I read the All of a Kind Fam..."How have I missed out on Taylor Caldwell and Susan Howatch?! Caldwell I'd heard of, but never read. I've rectified that and ordered the first of her novels :)
R.M.F wrote: "Ashley wrote: "Anastasia sounds good as a name."I think it also means "resurrection" in Greek. I never made that connection before!
Have you read The Last Romanov? It's sitting waiting for me. I just haven't touched it yet.
For a much earlier group of Romanovs, The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great is wonderful.
Peter wrote: "Like a lot of boys of my generation (one or two of them rather famous authors now) my imagination was captured by CS Forester's Hornblower navy books."Hornblower was definitely it for me, then later Alexander Kent, Richard Woodman and Patrick O'Brian. It helped that Woodman lived a couple of doors down from my uncle, in a town that used to be a naval base.
I've been a lurker for long enough so I figure this is a good place to jump in.I only realized I love HF when I decided I had to write it. Before that epiphany, my work in theatre had exposed me to many classic plays; Shakespeare and the Greeks, of course, and many other works written long ago - sometimes set in even older times and sometimes contemporary to the writers.
When I started reading novels again I gravitated towards fantasy, sci-fi and HF (or old books: Hugo, Dickens, Austen). The last thing I want to read is something set in the here and now. I can get that on TV. (Actually, I can't - I don't have a TV). If Oprah is talking about it, I'll probably run. It's not that I just want to escape but that - well, I want adventure and Otherness. Okay. Escape. But intelligent escape.
It happens that I've just started a blog and am in the middle of a 2-part post explaining how I got to HF. So, I'd better get back there and finish it!
Lausanne wrote: "I've been a lurker for long enough so I figure this is a good place to jump in.I only realized I love HF when I decided I had to write it. Before that epiphany, my work in theatre had exposed me ..."
I never got into fantasy stuff, but sci fi and HF were my regular reading material. When I read, I want to be someplace else, and books set in the here and now just don't do it for me. I do sometimes wonder if I would have enjoyed the Brontes, Jane Austen or Dickens if I had lived when they wrote. Still, I do not see authors who write about the here and now whose books will have the staying power of those classics. Maybe Tom Wolfe (I must admit to his books, but they are more fun than anything else), but most of the rest just seem like they will fade away.
Eileen wrote: "I never got into fantasy stuff, but sci fi and HF were my regular reading material. When I read, I want to be someplace else, and books set in the here and now just don't do it for me. "Absolutely. Different times and places seem bigger, somehow. Even the great 19th century authors, Dickens and Hardy, for example, set much of their work in history - it's just that authors weren't pigeonholed into 'literary' or 'genre' back then. There are definite parallels between history and SF too. Dune evokes the great Arabic empires of the middle ages, A Canticle For Leibowitz explores a modern Dark Ages with remote monasteries fulfilling their traditional role as oases and guardians of learning waiting for a time when the world is ready for it.
'The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there'
Matthew wrote: "Eileen wrote: "I never got into fantasy stuff, but sci fi and HF were my regular reading material. When I read, I want to be someplace else, and books set in the here and now just don't do it for m..."I read sci fi more when I was a kid, although I must admit to reading
Wool Omnibus (Silo, #1) just because I had heard so much about it. Reading novels that take place in today's world generally do not do it for me (a few thrillers maybe). I think it is because the writers have not quite caught the zeitgeist of our times, which may be why I enjoy Tom Wolfe so much. His books really do.
Whether history, sci-fi or fantasy, the world-building aspect is half the fun. I love other cultures, have lived many years overseas, and traveled even further but now, back in my own culture there's nothing like a good book to take me away (Calgon!)
Christine wrote: "Jack, did you feel aggrieved that you had to share your birthday? Maybe you didn't like cherries. I wonder a lot about how true it is that we can imagine the inner life of historical figures. As HF..."Forgive me for taking so long to reply. I was finishing my new novel and lost track of everything else. Well, that's done now and I am among the living again...
Did I resent sharing my birthday with a famous historical personality, George Washington? No. Actually, it worked out well in those bygone days when we celebrated Washington's Birthday. I could pretend that my birthday was a holiday - at least, that's what I told my friends who weren't the brightest students in school. I may have left them with regrets that their birthdays weren't cause for holidays...
Heck, I don't even know. I've always love HF. Probably reading Little House on the Prairie and watching westerns with my dad as a child.
I've always liked history and my mom likes H.F. also so I guess my love of it just grew from there.
I agree with a lot of the other people here saying they got into it from American Girl. I LOVED it is a kid. It was my absolute fave.
Lol!I always liked Historical fiction. I've read some really good stuff recently, and got into it more than ever before!!
Emma, did you read American Girl books when you were younger? I know they've changed the market a bit so I'm curious as to how kids nowadays feel about it getting them into history.
A little. I read one or two. I forgot what they were like - the only thing I remember is that I learned to turn your tea cup over when you don't want it to refilled (should you be in colonial America).
Ah okay. Those are what really, really got me into history.
I've always been interested in history and reading. When I was younger I was obsessed with the Little House on the Prairie series. I loved to write essays about Ohio history and conduct geneaology. I started reading historical fiction in middle school and started writing in the genre while I was in college.
My first historical fiction book was Ahab's Wife. After that I was hooked and I won't read anything else. Even though I not a big fan of re-reading books some day I will go back and see if I love it as much.
I don't think I ever "get into" Historical Fiction. I like reading about different times and countries because the people's lives were different then. Actually I used to read more real history books for years. In fact I don't think we even use HF that much as a genre here in Finland, I keep trying to think of a nice translation but can't... Anyway I remember reading Gone with the Wind when I was 11 and I loved it because of Scarlett. But a character like her wouldn't have worked in a contemporary novel. But it probably wasn't the first HF book I had read, I just don't separate books like that. But it's more about liking to read books NOT set in this time, I just don't like the characters in them.
And for example many of the books that have won or have been nominated for the Finlandia prize have been HF. From this year's books I am mainly interested in a book about Herodes and another about Rasputin. The book that won is about the poet Marina Tsvetaeva and her daughter, it sounds good, too, but maybe it's too close in history for me to be interested.
My mother, when I was growing up, used to slip books onto my bedside table. Never a word of explanation. Some book would simply appear, and I understood it was something my mother had liked herself or thought I might like. I was about fifteen when I found Mary Renault's The Last of the Wine beside my bed. What a glorious read, and for me it was the first of many Renault books. My father gave me books as well. He was the one who brought home ’s Lieutenant Hornblower. Indeed, he read me sections from it—and thirty years later I read the entire book to my own son. He was ten, and it was the first of all the books I’d read to him which we enjoyed equally. (I’d read him bushels of JRR Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, but those were pretty much his choices.) Later, when my dad was in his nineties and fading into Alzheimer’s, I read passages from Lieutenant Hornblower to him a few times, and while I’m not sure how much he could understand, the reading was clearly restful to him, as it was to me. It’s a lovely long history my family has with that book.
John wrote: "My mother, when I was growing up, used to slip books onto my bedside table. Never a word of explanation. Some book would simply appear, and I understood it was something my mother had liked herself..."What a wonderful story, John.
I just found this thread, while browsing through the group's conversations. I first fell in love with historical fiction when I had a high school boyfriend who was completely intrigued by Henry VIII and his six wives. I began reading about Henry the VIII, moved on to reading about Tsar Nicholas, then gradually moved in to all sorts of historical fiction. One author I truly enjoy is Erik Larson. He knows how to bring the people who, in many cases, are simply names in a history book, to life so realistically, you feel you know them like a friend. My favorite book of his is Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History.
I honestly came to historical fiction through gaming. Specifically a pirate RPG I ran, which started the same week that Pirates of the Caribbean came out, but I didn't realize that until after the fact.It got far enough, and I thought, "This would be a good story," and that's how you have my first book. Prior to that, I didn't READ historical fiction, but I've started to now a bit. Now that the door is open, I've had more ideas along those lines (the TV series Engineering an Empire made me think of writing a Carthage-based historical novel).
In the 1970's PBS had a series The 6 Wives of Henry VIII that I watched and I fell in love with medieval history.
Barbara wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Denise wrote: "I actually could not abide history at school. As someone smarter than I once commented: 'history, it's just one damned thing after another!' Then, however, I started ..."Barbara wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Denise wrote: "I actually could not abide history at school. As someone smarter than I once commented: 'history, it's just one damned thing after another!' Then, however, I started ..."
Aloha Barbara:
A paternal grandfather from Naples? That would indeed be fun to go there and research that branch of your family tree. Until you get there, you might enjoy a delightful, short little book I stumbled across while researching Naples for a novel scene. It's called "A Buon 'Ntennitore...Proverbs of Naples" They're very amusing, and chances are your grandfather probably voiced a few of them in his life! Ciao,
Mike
My addiction to historical adventure fiction must be because of an astrological influence. I'm a Cancerian so I'm supposedly very history-oriented and I admit I've always been far more fascinated with history and old things than anyone else I'd met before adulthood. I was reading Tarzan of the Apes by Burroughs at the age of seven with a dictionary at my side. Tarzan of the Apes After that I was hooked and began with the classics from Dickens and Mark Twain. My favorite movies were about anything history.
The first historical fiction I remember loving was Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes. After that I devoured everything about the Revolutionary War. When my aunt introduced me to geneaology, I became very interested in the time periods of people I'm related to, even very sketchily!
I grew up in Wyoming. During school I remember we learned so much about Native Americans and I wanted to learn more. The first book I can recall reading of Historical Fiction was Sacajawea. I loved that book. And that got me started on my path of a love of historical fiction.
I read Johnny Tremain, too! And I didn't read Sacajawea all the way through, but I read some of it. I was a kid and my mom had it.
I fell in love with the Williamsburg novels by Elswyth Thane. I think they may be out of print now. I own the full set and re-read them periodically. I love them.
The first historical fiction novel I read was "Sow Not in Anger" by Hoffenberg. It was published in 1961 and is a post Civil War novel.
Loved it and have been reading historical fiction ever since. My favorites are Follet, Dehane, John Jakes, and anything that is post Civil War to the 1930s although I have read as number of Revolutionary War novels.
Richard Brawer
www.silklegacy.com
Loved it and have been reading historical fiction ever since. My favorites are Follet, Dehane, John Jakes, and anything that is post Civil War to the 1930s although I have read as number of Revolutionary War novels.
Richard Brawer
www.silklegacy.com
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