Comments on: Wake Up! It's Time For a History Lesson https://authorkristenlamb.com/2012/01/wake-up-its-time-for-a-history-lesson/ Author, Blogger, Social Media Jedi Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:13:51 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.8 By: Mind Sieve 1/30/12 « Gloria Oliver https://authorkristenlamb.com/2012/01/wake-up-its-time-for-a-history-lesson/#comment-15478 Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:13:51 +0000 http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/?p=5586#comment-15478 […] Wake Up! It’s Time For A History Lesson – how to write/use history in your writing – guest post by Victoria Martinez over at Kristen Lamb’s blog. […]

]]> By: January’s blogosphere round up | On a Pale Star https://authorkristenlamb.com/2012/01/wake-up-its-time-for-a-history-lesson/#comment-15477 Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:07:47 +0000 http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/?p=5586#comment-15477 […] Wake Up! It’s Time for a History Lesson, Victoria Martinez at Kristen Lamb’s blog. “So how does an historical author avoid the pitfalls that plague historical research and writing and keep even the most scrupulous readers happy?” […]

]]> By: lifeinanotebook https://authorkristenlamb.com/2012/01/wake-up-its-time-for-a-history-lesson/#comment-15476 Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:13:21 +0000 http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/?p=5586#comment-15476 Another great post! I also have nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award. http://tinyurl.com/7epypnl

]]> By: Marianne https://authorkristenlamb.com/2012/01/wake-up-its-time-for-a-history-lesson/#comment-15475 Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:20:44 +0000 http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/?p=5586#comment-15475 I would love the picture at the beginning of this entry! I need my son to transition from Star Wars to actual history…

]]> By: Bob Mayer https://authorkristenlamb.com/2012/01/wake-up-its-time-for-a-history-lesson/#comment-15474 Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:57:11 +0000 http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/?p=5586#comment-15474 Great blog. I’m currently reading about the Berlin Airlift and find it all fascinating. And I also find contradictions among some of the sources, more in terms of the angle they take on them, rather than the facts. Sometimes we’re sure WHAT happened, but we’re not sure WHY it happened.

]]> By: Paul Welch https://authorkristenlamb.com/2012/01/wake-up-its-time-for-a-history-lesson/#comment-15473 Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:26:22 +0000 http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/?p=5586#comment-15473 Hi Kristen,
I purchased both your books today, and am having a blast reading them. Thank you for these treasure troves of advice!
P

]]> By: ClaireMcA https://authorkristenlamb.com/2012/01/wake-up-its-time-for-a-history-lesson/#comment-15472 Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:57:11 +0000 http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/?p=5586#comment-15472 I find learning about history so much more engaging and memorable when done so through a well written and comprehensively researched book whether it is fiction or non-fiction. One of my favourites was Sandra Gulland’s Josephine Bonaparte trilogy, which brought that era alive for me. She credits years of research and a passion for the lady; her excellent writing plays an important role for sure.
Thank you for the insights, they are appreciated.

]]> By: Matthew Wright https://authorkristenlamb.com/2012/01/wake-up-its-time-for-a-history-lesson/#comment-15471 Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:36:42 +0000 http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/?p=5586#comment-15471 Thanks for a great & interesting post. I write history NF myself and am currently working up a historical fiction (around my contracted NF deadlines). The techniques are quite different in that the priorities needed for non-fiction – to explain broad-brush, to discover meaning – are not those of fiction, where the little details must be authentic. The smell of pre-factory age hard cheese with its mites, the ‘bite’ of those mites when you eat it, and so on. That data isn’t to be found in the usual standby sources of academic historians.

For me the big issue is keeping true to period in other ways – thinking, mind-set, character expectations. That’s hard. One of the best examples of historical fiction I’ve ever seen is George McDonald Fraser’s “Flashman”, in which he precisely emulated the words, mind-set and environment of a late-Regency period rake. So much so that when the first book in the series came out, apparently one reviewer took it for a real “found diary”. Highlighting the other point that Trap #1 for historical fiction is trying to make it fit today’s values. It won’t – the past is a foreign country, and pretty offensive in many ways. Which begs questions about saleability. Fraser got away with that in 1970, but whether that’s true in today’s more commercially demanding environment is another matter.

Thanks again, Tori – and thanks too, Kristen, for inviting such a fab guest blogger!

Matthew Wright
http://mjwrightnz.wordpress.com
http://www.matthewwright.net

]]> By: charlfk https://authorkristenlamb.com/2012/01/wake-up-its-time-for-a-history-lesson/#comment-15470 Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:02:51 +0000 http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/?p=5586#comment-15470 Thank you, Tori, for your interesting comments on history. I write historical novels and find research and more research is imperative. I think it especially useful to read letters written at the time period, it adds authenticity into a story. However, the further back one goes the more incomprehensible even English becomes, i.e. Chaucer’s time. I think in those instances one must use dialogue that readers can at least understand–agreed?

]]> By: Researching the Right Way https://authorkristenlamb.com/2012/01/wake-up-its-time-for-a-history-lesson/#comment-15469 Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:34:51 +0000 http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/?p=5586#comment-15469 […]  Reblogged from Kristen Lamb’s Blog: […]

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