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Happy February!
I’m excited for all that this new month will bring, including my Leaping Worlds online creative writing class for historical-fiction and time-travel writers.
Begins Friday, February 10th. There are still a few spaces left, and I’d love to work with you and a friend. Details at: clickety-click.
Also, here’s a favorite and motivating Hafiz quote to enjoy.
To February, and sweet inspiration!
Super excited that my article was published today at Women on Writing! Check out my craft article below, and learn more about my online Leaping Worlds writing class on this topic that starts Friday, February 10 (sign-ups open!) at: clickety-click/class info!
“Six Methods for Sparking Historical and Time-Travel Stories”
By: Melanie Faith
One of many wonderful facets of writing stories set in the past is that initial aha when an idea lands. While that spark’s arrival can be unpredictable, there are tried-and-true ways that authors of historical fiction and time-travel books employ to discover inspiration that sends them running to their computers.
Let’s take a look at six of these methods. Take one (or more!) for a spin today. Glean inspiration from:
Online articles. Many of my students have found their story ideas while reading either primary sources (first-hand accounts and/or articles written at the time of the events) or secondary sources (articles written in later time periods about historical eras). Most newspapers and colleges now have online databases and articles of literally thousands of letters and historical documents (such as birth, marriage, legal, and land-deed records) that can be perused for free or nearly free. If you take classes or teach, most universities subscribe to database services where you can find even more sources, but even a general online search outside of a school’s website can yield a field-day of resources on just about any historical figure, fact, epoch, or related historical topic you can imagine. Once you find an article of interest, you can then refine your search by typing the precise person, place, or event and filter articles, such as by year published/posted to narrow and focus your search. Have a notebook or word-processing document open for taking notes; always list the author and URL and/or bookmark your sources for handy return to this info for fact-checking later.
Photographs. Are you a visual person? Are you the kind of person who loves paging through old photo albums or yearbooks? Then this method is likely going to lead to stories aplenty for you. I remember visiting historical sites in elementary and high school and being fascinated by tintype photos as well as always being the partygoer magnetized by the photo albums on a nearby shelf. Perusing photos for what people wore, how they did their hair, how they assembled (or didn’t) as a group in photos, who was missing from the photos and why, who took center-stage in the photos, whether the shots were made in a formal studio or by a personal camera in the driveway before the prom, all of these aspects of photos intrigued me and created sense impressions and questions that could easily lead to great fiction. Photos are especially great for writing descriptions of indoor and outdoor settings as well as physical details for characters.
Questions we don’t know the answers to at the moment. This is one of my favorites. So often, I’ll stumble upon a document or a reference in a nonfiction book and several questions will pop into my mind about related ideas that didn’t (for good reason) make it into whatever I’m reading. I keep my writing notebook handy and jot down questions that arise from resources. Later on, these questions can lead to exploration into a character’s motivations and struggles that inform their actions and possibly whole scenes can result. A little bit like a magician’s colorful scarf—one question leads to another and another related question that can reveal images, dialogue, cultural references, and more to inspire writing.
Memories. What did you like to learn about most in history classes in school? Conversely, what did teachers never talk about that they should have or you wish they would have? Answering these questions could certainly help with setting and character development if/when you plunk your protagonist in the middle of the era you’ve always found fascinating.
Visits to museums or national parks. Almost every community around the world has hidden-gem museums about their town, region, or country with amazing historical resources for low-cost entrance and/or donations. Ditto for university and college archives that are open to the public, to alumni, and/or to the school community. Check websites or contact your local archivist or docents for hours or to email/text to arrange a visit. Want to walk through some history? National parks can be inspiring resources and a great way to take a break from the desk for the day. Take a camera and/or photos with your phone to remember specifics about landscape later. Bonus: jot some sensory impressions and notes while you’re there—details flit through our minds on-site that we are sure we’ll remember …and then don’t.
Reading. Hello, libraries! It doesn’t matter how many books there are about a topic or historical figure or era or time-travel element—there’s always room for more. When I want to write about a certain era, I’ll read through a few recent and/or long-ago books about the topic, to see what’s already been written and where there might be pockets of information missing or where fresh ideas for a different POV or character arise. Reading and leaving reviews for others’ books is also a great way to give back to the literary community while informing yourself and immersing yourself in a time period to inspire your own totally different but equally interesting historical book.
Hello, September!
I’ve been thinking a lot about time lately: how we organize it, how we anticipate or dread it, how we save it through the things we make and the things we share, how it is ever-malleable—both jet-speed propulsion and gelatin slow and everything in-between.
So, I made this thematic pen-and-ink drawing. Writing the interconnected and interrupted “ticks” was relaxing. There’s something very meditative about making something by hand, even something imperfect, as this doodle most certainly is. 😁
Also, my new class about writing historical fiction and time-travel stories, Leaping Worlds, is accepting registrations and will start Friday, September 30th. Can’t wait! Clicky above for more deets. I’d love to work with you and a friend. 📝
Once upon a time (circa 2015), I started writing a Jane Austen fan-fiction story that over a few months turned into a novella, it was so irresistible to keep writing. Happily, it was published as an e-book a few years later by Uncial Press.
In the time-honored tradition of Romance writers, I pen-named it. Recently, I had the great joy of writing an article for The Uncial Letter about why it’s so fun to read the Regency genre.
Read my article below, and then do pop by the Uncial Press website and/or Amazon to treat yourself to some of their many fabulous books in genres as diverse as Fantasy and Science-Fiction, Westerns, Paranormal, other Historical Fiction eras, poetry, and more.
To subscribe to The Uncial Letter is also a must and easy-breezy: just send an email to uncial-letter-subscribe@googlegroups.com, and you’re all set to receive the latest book updates and many other fine articles, too.
Without further ado, I’m so pleased to announce my featured article:
Enjoy plucky protagonists with minds of their own and strong convictions? Like historical times and places? Want something--anything--today to make a modicum of sense? Regency romance may just be the perfect balm for these tumultuous, wearying days of 2022. Read on!
Regency tends to be character-rich. Readers follow lords, ladies, commoners, clerics, dukes, and duchesses as they populate a British town or city and, best of all, take part in the growth experience of the protagonist. Let's talk about this protagonist for a moment. She tends to be youthful and, while a bit inexperienced, filled with hopes and ideas about how the world works. She's a young woman of conviction with goals that frequently don't pan out as easily or even in the same way as she'd hoped, especially when it comes to her experiences with love. Yet, by the tale's ending, she's realized life lessons about herself and become a more thoughtful, less selfish, more accepting person to her friends, to her family, and to her love interest.
The pleasures of escaping into another world. While I was researching my novel, Her Humble Admirer, it was a great deal of fun to enter back into a place and a time where flowers had secret meanings, from undying friendship to unrequited love to secret passions and more, based on the colors of the blooms. A world where calling cards were on everyone's desk, and ladies and gentleman who were single were only allowed to dance one dance in a row with each other, lest they raise gossipmonger's eyebrows by scandalously dancing away the evening together in public.
The mores and customs of Regency England are far different from 2022, and that's a great thing. Nobody in that era has heard of a thing called Covid nor felt worried and annoyed again because the cost of rent and groceries and gas have skyrocketed yet again this month because of inflation. Nope: readers can time travel and drop in by the fireplace for a cozy conversation (and a bit of village gossip or a reading of the latest Lord Byron poem that's the talk of the Ton) or enjoy an afternoon's carriage ride to visit a relative or the scintillating excitement of a costume ball in a fortnight. Spending time in a different era via characters and scenery is a staycation for the senses that won't cost a penny (and no jetlag!).
Bring on the happy ending! What do we most crave in times of stress and drama? Times when our lives have been upended and are still being put back together? That's right: familiarity. A pattern, order, the sweet pleasure of our expectations being met. What more satisfying pattern could there be than what Regency delivers time after time: the spark of first feelings, obstacles to those feelings, more misunderstandings and a clash, followed by an upturn, a tender admission or a quick reunion, and then together again, this time forever.
While everyday life certainly offers headaches and hassles that don't frequently tie themselves together with a neat little bow, it's a soothing experience to enjoy the protagonist's HEA, page by page. Now, more than ever, that vicarious joy is an especially delightful part of our entertainment, and one in which Regency particularly excels.
So, go ahead: grab a Regency novella or novel today and prepare to encounter another world, a heroine to root for, and a HEA that makes 2022 a bit more palatable and a lot more entertaining.
~*~
We couldn't have said it better. Immersing yourself in a Regency can allow you to escape from yesterday's scandalous headlines that have barely been assimilated when today's upheaval makes news that's followed far too quickly by tomorrow's disasters.
We have a great assortment of Regencies for your pleasure, in all lengths and moods. A great place to start is with Lucy M. Loxley's Her Humble Admirer, a sweetly traditional story with its share of quirky characters, including an innocent maid who is ready for love, a faithful swain who seems interested only in being a good friend, and a sophisticated gentleman from London who wants something from Miss Livia Hightower, but is hesitant about telling her exactly what. Caught up in the summery swirl of country society, Livia weaves romantic dreams about the future...but will they ever be more than hopeless fantasies? [ISBN 978-1-60174-232-2, $3.99]
For a long time, I’ve wanted to teach a class about writing historical fiction as well as stories with time-travel elements. Le voila! Wish granted. In this new class through Women on Writing, I get to explore both topics with writers interested in either or both types of fiction. It’s going to be a blast.🚀 Break out your keyboards and your time machines!
Starts September 30th online; sign up today to reserve your spot.
More details at: Leaping Worlds—Writing Historical Fiction and Time-Travel Stories
Photo by sebastiaan stam on Unsplash