Historically Accurate Fiction?

Look!  Can you believe it, another post!  I'm working ahead on some post because I currently have some down time in my life, actually I'm ahead on everything.  I just needed some documentation on that, because it'll be a long time before it happens again.  Now, that I'm done with this intro, onto the meat of this post!

Fiction (noun)- the class of literature comprising works of imaginative narration, especially in prose form (dictionary.com).
History (noun)- the branch of knowledge dealing with past events (dictionary.com).
Historical fiction (noun)- the genre of literature, film, etc., comprising narratives that take place in the past and are characterized chiefly by an imaginative reconstruction of historical events and personages (dictionary.com).

Hm, looking at those it's hard to see how they could ever fit together.  I mean one is made up things and the other is pure fact.  Opposites.  However, some how our mind can fit those two together and create an oxymoron is just beautiful, or at least in my opinion.  The question is how accurate does the story have to be?

Here are a few links that I think are a good summary:
Hilary Mantel and the Limits of Historical Accuracy
Historical Fiction o Fictionalized History?

Now, to my opinion on this (yeah, I know, you're celebrating;)).  I think that historical fiction is a sketchy area to tread.  Personally I like staying away from well known people that are large historical figures.  By that I mean the Tudors, any president of the USA, Martin Luther (the one in the 1500s, not the 1960s), and others.  I don't just don't like reading things about them that aren't true, I find that like writing about current people such as Kim Jong Il, Barack Obama, One Direction, Pope Benedict XVI-fictionally.  I know that many of the gossip magazines write fictional stories about those kind of people (sorry, but that's my opinion), but as authors I think that you should owe it to your readers to check your facts a little more.

Just a nice picture of the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii)
at my zoo/school, don't know how they tie
into historical fiction...

I say to add facts to your story and make sure that it's historically accurate, but don't make it a non-fiction text book.  It is a story, meaning fiction.  Try not to bore your readers to tears.  Here's a little story of mine about books that are more non-fiction than fiction.  It was back in middle school, 8th grade to be exact, I had to read a fictional book about the Civil War and write a review on it to add to my poster about the Civil War.  I will tell you, I have only gone on SparkNotes once in my life and only once have I ever not read a book for a report-it was that book.  The first 20 pages were filled with facts upon facts upon facts, with little movement, just facts and descriptions about Gettysburg!  I couldn't read it.  Please, oh, please, do not overfill your novel with information.  Tie it into the text, say that you know that during the 1930s that people in the United States would sit down in the evening to listen to President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his fireside chats.  Don't just go:  My dad sat down in his leather chair and listened to the fireside chats that FDR gave.  Try ingratiating into the story, make it not stand out in the text, blend: I passed by the den, tip-toeing around the door trying not to alarm my dad.  From inside the room the soft, comforting voice of FDR projected through the room, my dad slumped in his old leather chair pressed his ear near the radio trying to hear the fireside chat better without interrupting the rest of the house.  Do you see the difference between the two passages?  Things are more in a story form in the second piece, but there are still elements of the fact in there.

Just one more little thing:  research matters when it comes to historical fiction, if you write it then you have to research it!  Just wanted to throw that out there!

What are your opinions on historical fiction?  What do you like, more info or more fiction?  What do you think about the fictional stories about important/famous historical figures?

Darn Creativity!

I hate my mind sometimes.  It thinks that it has a mind of it's own.  No, I'm not insane-well not doctor proven insane...  For the last few days I've been having this lady come into my head and start rambling on about her life.  Stuck in a tower.  And how she hates singing.  Yeah, weird, I know.  I've never had this happen to me. I mean that I've had moments when I am writing and I know that a character wants to say something, but never a random character come into my mind and force herself on me.

I'm aware that many authors have this issue when they're not writing, apparently it "gives them the need to write, they're not whole without it" stuff.  I've never had that.  I'll let you in on some things from my past about writing, be warned-it's dark;) (okay, not really, it's just a little off).

Here's my story:
I write.  Not well and for sure not known.  None of my family or friends know that I write anything, and I don't want them to.  I don't want to have to explain it to them and deal with that embarrassing ordeal because let's face it my family is not one of the most accepting group of people around.  (My neighbors are from Uganda, I mean they moved here about 10 years ago, my grandmother felt the need to inform my aunt and uncle (who have lived in Chicago and New York) that my neighbors are black, and not just regular black, but black black.  Oh and their dog who is black little Schnauzer barks at them... and they encourage it... yup, my familia!)  They all just think I have an overactive imagination, which I do but it would be more so if I didn't write, but they don't need to know that.

I started writing in 7th grade, where most all people start their writing: FanFiction.  My friend introduced me to it.  She wrote her's and I wrote mine, and we would 'edit' the stories together.  I was a spuratic updater, and now I realized I was writing for her and not for me.  I actually never finished the story.  But I'm a little scared to, to tell you the truth.  I really don't want her to see me four years later still updating that High School Musical story that is awful!  I created another story under another username and that's where I fell in love with writing.  I had always enjoyed reading stories so it was fun writing a story.  But that's pretty much where my writing went to.  There have been a few chapters that I had wrote out or perhaps a very detailed outline, but those have all been lost to history.  In school I never really applied myself to story writing because I hated, etch that- hate, English class.  I'm more of a science person, hence me taking mostly science classes this year and going to the zoo to get extra schooling.  But the teachers had always told me to try a little harder and it would be amazing.  My teacher once took one of my writings and put it in a contest, it got 2nd place, but I was so upset by her that I didn't even recognize what had happened.

I've been trying to get back into writing as of lately.  I'll start writing and then 'Opps, I have to volunteer today' or 'Goodness, I really need to clean up around here'.  I'm aware that everyone has these issues, and that's usually what seperates a never-will-be author and a true author.  I've always imagined myself as the former.

That's where my story ends.  Yup, that was great wasn't it?  No, this was not a bragging party or pity party (also I love the phrase pity party, although I don't know why...)

 I've been trying to ignore the lady because I don't need anymore distraction this year.  I don't think that I am going to get away from her.  Plus she keeps telling me, "I don't sing, I absolutely hate it.  I will hum, but no singing."  Grrr!  I think that I'll give into her a little, let's see where that gets me.  Oh wait, perhaps I will be a 'true' author...

Have any of you people have this happen?  What's your writing back story?

And since I don't have a picture up about this lady or my past, I shall indulge in another betta that I'm in love with...

If anyone wants to get me him, I'd be A-Okay with that!  You've got to admit that he is one attractive betta!

The Scarlet Letter- Opening Act

Hello wonderful people! I am so sorry that I have not updated in so long. I was on vacation and then realized that I had 2 books to read and annotate before August 22, and this realization came four days ago... Yeah... I procrastinate. In honor of my summer readings I would like to address the wonderful book of The Scarlet Letter, and how we can add old writing to make our writing better.

The Scarlet Letter: How to Open Like Hawthorne

Have you opened a book lately? I mean a book wrote within the past 10 or so years.  Let me open up a few of mine and let's look at them.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer : "My mother drove me to the airport with the
            windows rolled down."

Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich : "Just because I know hoe to change a guy's oil doesn't mean I want to spend the rest of my life on my back, staring up his undercarriage."

Skinny Dip by Carl Hiassen : "At the stroke of eleven on a cool April night, a woman named Joey Perone went overboard from a luxury deck of the cruiser liner M.V. Sun Duchess."

What do those all have in common?  Well, the first thing that I pick up is that they all start with action.  It is a jump into the story, there is no background and there are very little details about them.  There is some mystery behind all of them, such as why is the mother driving the main character to the airport, how does the main character know that she doesn't want that/what does she want, and why did she go overboard?  They're all great introductions, but let's be honest: I'm not gripping the edge of my seat to know what happened.  I'm a little interested but not I cannot put this down interested.  Perhaps these are just my musings, but these openings are common throughout most literature today. (If you have an example of one not like this, romance novels not included-those are a whole different ballpark in my opinion- please comment on this and show me/inform me.  I'd like to see one!)

I'll switch to The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.  After flipping past a good 50 pages of someone's opinion on the novel (which I don't read that... Sorry, too much other stuff to do) this is what you would come across: "A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and other bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice*, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak and studded with iron spikes."
* I had to look this up: a building, usually one that is large.


I may be one of the few that aren't English teachers that get chills from the writing, but you have got to admit that it takes some... uh how do I say this in a politically correct way, oh screw it... balls to put out your first sentence with so many commas and descriptions.  That's one reason I love this beginning, he takes a risk and it pays off because it is executed so well.  There are details about the people, the setting is partially established, and not too much is given away.  It takes a grand three chapters before we know exactly what Hester had done.  Nothing is given directly, it takes time and steam to build up to this.  There are questions about this too considering how little Hawthorne gives away while addressing so much.

My favorite part about Hawthorne's opening is that he doesn't come out and say what is happening.  I don't know why, but, in my opinion, opening with too much information messes up your entire book.  You can have a great rest of the book, but people aren't going to stick around and read it if you give it up within the first paragraph or two.  Here's an example (this is from some random story off of FanFiction- I refuse to give away any information about the author and such, and yes I went on FanFiction I'll get to that in another post)
"I was just talking to Ron about what happened that day at lunch when Draco had me sit with him at the Slytherin table. Apparently Ginny, his sister, told him about it"
See, too much given away.  You can guess the entire rest of the story because of the beginning, which is why I put the opening as the hardest part of writing.

Here are some tips that I've created, and taken a few times, about opening a story in a Hawthorne-ian style:

1. Give some details.  Put out there a general feel of the setting, the characters and a small glimpse of the plot.

2. Give the point of view, and DO NOT CHANGE IT!

3. Create some questions in your beginning.  Make the reader think about what they are reading, you put all that time and effort in the novel, start them off with something strong.

4. It's okay to not start with action, sometimes details are better.

5. Give out small bits of information on your plot.  I know I put this up there in 1, but I feel that this needs to be addressed more.  Don't give in to the urge to put everything in the beginning, space it out, give them a reason to keep reading.  Remember that tiny hooks catch more readers that one giant hook;)  

6.  If you begin with dialogue, which is a great way to start, keep it down a bit.  You do not need to fill the entire page with a conversation between Jack and Jill, one this will confuse people with characters and two you'll be likely to give too much of the plot away.

7. Don't give the plot away, space it out!  Oh, wait.  I've already addressed this, but this is IMPORANTE!

8. It's okay to try around with different beginnings.  Maybe dialogue will work with one story and a detail beginning will work with another.  It's okay to change, it's the only way we can get better.

Great link for more opening tips: http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/write-first-chapter-get-started/10-ways-to-start-your-story-better

I think that addresses everything.  If you have another tip or two you want me to add, just leave a comment and I'll add it!  These are ones that I think are important.  Hawthorne does a great job opening up his story, learn from him and other great writers, and if you haven't read The Scarlet Letter shame on you!  Go get it now and read it, you won't regret it.  Reading is the best way to learn to write!

Farewell! <- Anyone get it?

MM i: Counselor/Letter Monday

From Here

It's Monday.  Whip out the caffeine, I can't say coffee because I don't drink it.  I'll let you all in on a little secret of mine: counselor-ing an orchestra camp for beginners=death.  I'm dead on the inside.  The children had just learned how to play their instrument with a bow and are moving on to more difficult things, which makes for a lot of complaining and whining and headaches.  On the bright side there is great food, and a really cute counselor ;)

For the first ever Motivation Monday, I will be sharing one of my methods of getting motivated/back on track.

Stop reading this blog.  Shut the laptop top down, get out of the chair, lock your phone, whatever you need to do to stop reading this post for a minute, do so.

Actually, wait!  Read all of this before you do that!  When you leave the computer go get a piece of notebook paper and a pen/pencil.  Take those beautiful writing skills that you own  and write a letter to yourself.

Write about what you want to gain from writing.  Write about where you see yourself at the end of the writing.  Put little details that you want to remember to include.  Add a little joke.  Write a quote that makes you happy or feel good.  Tell yourself about what you'll do once your done.  Write whatever you want to write, just make it fun and upbeat.

Take that great letter, fold it up, and put it in an envelope.  Put a picture of your dog/cat/husband/wife/anyone doing something silly in the envelope for extra fun!  Grab a silly sticker or boring piece of tape and shut it closed.  I like to write a statement on the front like, 'Only Open When In Dire Need of Motivation' or 'Intruders Will Be Feed To The Wolves of *insert the name of the writing*'.

Now put that envelope of motivation in  a place that you won't forget it.  Take it out when you need something to get you moving.  I love looking at the reason I started something.  It makes it seem like the whole thing isn't so bad if I accomplish what I wanted.  This may not be your way of motivating yourself, but I like it.

What's your way of motivating?  Do you write a sticky note?  Have a certain song?  Tell me:)

P.S. I have a Special Coupon Code for all you people for my Etsy Shop!  It is:
COUNSELORMONDAY

Housekeeping

I hope that you all had a wonderful 4th of July!  I know mine was hot and tiring... Heat+Zoo+People+No Lunch= Emotionally and Physically Drained Elizabeth.  Nonetheless it was still fun.

From Here

Today's not much in the substance side of things with the blog, I just want to put down some kind of schedule and hammer out some things.  Housekeeping, I guess we can call this.

From here out I am enacting a brand new schedule!  I shall be posting 3 times a week.  The days shall be Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.  Tuesdays will be 'Teaching Tuesdays' when I go through bits and pieces of the writing process that are sometimes sketchy or need to be looked at.  It will be a very informing day:)  Fridays will be a day for writing motivation, such as writing prompts, general motivations, and other things that are lurking in the back of my mind for these.  I eventually want to have this become a kind of editing day, so that your WIP can be edited.  I would love give some of my assistance to others with the editing process, and there may be some tips there.  But I am going to wait a little while to see if this would work out and to stimulate any attraction from you all to it.  And finally Sundays will be a hodgepodge of different things, for example I may read an awesome article that I will share, perhaps there will be a book review, recipes, and random junk!  That will be the fun day of the week!

From Here
This is the fish I'll be getting and once
I breed some other fishies:)

Another random bit that I'd like to point out is that I have set up an 'About the Author' page so you all can go stalk me.  And yes, I actually put up a picture of myself.  No laughs!  That picture is from a year and a half ago...

Also I'd just like to add this for my own happiness: I'm back to aquarium keeping!  Like full out again.  I'm working on breeding some of the fish:)  They're so cute my little fishies!

Write What You Know???

Arg, almost a whole week without blogging!  Next time I go on vacation I will make sure that the place I stay has wireless internet.  Sure I could have taken my laptop out with me, but I was a tourist in Chicago from a smaller city (Columbus) and I wasn't to comfortable with carrying it around, there was no leaving it in the car 100 degrees? Probably not the safest for electronics...

Even though I wasn't able to post on here I was able to create some great topics for blogging, so be warned: awesomeness will be a reoccurring event this week.


One of the most controversial topics when it comes to writing is the statement 'Write what you know.'  I find myself in the middle of this argument.

Some people say that you do not have to write what you know because how boring would that be?  What would you write about? Sitting in a room typing stories while eating Doritos?  That would be boring, and I'm not sure how long that I would be reading that novel before my drool would wash away the words.  Plus if you're writing sci-fi how are you supposed to know what cultural habits there are in the galaxy of Gungro if you've never actually been there.  Perhaps that knowing how things work around you can help you with knowing how things work else where.

From Here
When I went it was like this, but imagine trees with leaves and temperature
around 100 degrees F!

The others state that you have to know what you're writing about because how would you know about the place.  I can see there point on this.  You would want to know everything that you're character would know because it would make them more believable, plus you wouldn't want to make the people who live in the place you're describing to be mad(unless they're in Gungro).  If I were to write about Chicago before I left I probably would have written about some office worker who lives in a nice house with a dog, and goes driving around town on the weekend.  If you would ask me now?  Well crazy drivers that honk to much, pedestrians that think that they own the sidewalk and the road, the man that plays a saxophone on the corner of Delaware and Michigan, the lack of parking spots, the price of parking spots, the one way streets and $5 burger at McDonalds would all be included now.  See the difference?

I'll tell you where I stand on this.  I think that we need to know certain elements for writing, not everything.  I think that if you're including some place that actually exists then you need to know it.  Find someone who has been there or worked there.  Do some research.  I don't know much about lifestyle of people in Botswana, but I can find that information out.  Google some things, read some books, talk to people who have been there, just find a way to grab a taste of their culture and ride it.  Everything doesn't have to be exact.  As a reader I don't need to know about the giraffe statue that is at the bottom of the street that your MC lives on, unless it holds magical powers or if that is where you're MC met their true love.  Writing what you know doesn't have to be about what you do, but how you feel.  Everyone has felt something at one point in their life, if not be scared because they may be a robot.  But seriously, at one point in time you have probably been embarrassed, sad, happy, loved, scared, etc.  And guess what?  You're character can too!

Here are some great website articles that I found you should check them out!

“Write what you know” – the most misunderstood piece of good advice, ever

Writing Tips: Write What You Know

Write What You Know -- Because You Know More than You Think!

So here's my tip to you: Writing is 50% research, 50% experience, and 100% trying.  So go on now and research, experience and try!