The question takes me back to one of the earliest articles I wrote for this column in which I explored the idea that there are six basic elements (Time, Place, Person(s), Event(s), Culture, or Legend) that are mixed in one way or another within all good Historical Fiction—and that an author may take any one of those elements as the starting place for a narrative. 

That’s all well and good at a sort-of ten-thousand-foot level, but where the rubber meets the road—when you have to decide precisely what story you want to tell—how does one map concept to execution?

Start with what you love

The cliché advice to anyone wanting to write is “write what you know.” There’s nothing wrong with that advice, but, in my opinion, it doesn’t go far enough. You may know an incredible amount about the Vietnam War, but if you have a particular aversion to that period of American history, trying to write about it may quickly begin to feel like drudgery. It’s unlikely you’ll tell a very good story if you don’t enjoy what you’re writing about.

So think about what speaks to your heart. Are you intrigued by the dangers faced by the resistance movements in Europe during World War II?  Find a historical figure—or create your own character—and plunge into the story. 

Are you fascinated by women who’ve played remarkable roles in the distant past? These weren’t always political figures. They might have been in science or medicine or the arts. Go looking for some of the lesser-known ones and spin their tale. 

Do you think it might have been fun to have lived during the Renaissance in the orbit of someone like Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo? Why not create a character who was an apprentice or assistant to the great master? Or, perhaps even more intriguing still, a character who fancied themselves as a rival to the great one? 

Do you love music? Choose a composer—perhaps a less well-known one—and tell their story. Perhaps tell it from the point of view of someone in their household? Or maybe tell the tale of the creation of one of your favorite masterworks.

Tell the more intimate story

When you find yourself feeling like “that story’s already been told over and over,” don’t despair. Yes, maybe the story of Henry VIII and all his wives has been well hashed. But if you love that era of history, why not find—or craft—a little-known tale set against the backdrop of Henry’s quest for an heir? Henry’s break with the Church of Rome led to the dissolution of the monasteries in England. There might be quite a poignant tale in the life of a monk who lived through that purge.

Clavell created a fictional character shipwrecked in the feudal world of 1600s Japan to explore that society. And the choice of a protagonist who really had no idea what was going on around him was a tour de force of immersing the reader in a world no one had ever experienced at the time.

Cornwell and Follett are masters of setting the stories of fictional characters against the backdrop of epic periods of human history. By telling the more intimate tale of what living through an epic period of history felt like to “ordinary” people, they draw their readers into those times in a way that feels like a very personal experience.

Look to your own family

Thanks to the internet and modern genealogical research sites, it’s now far easier than it used to be to discover our ancestors and where they lived, and what they did. Maybe it’s no more than one generation back, as is the case with a release from this past summer: The Caves of San Pietro, in which the fictional narrative is based on a family story that links the 1918 Spanish Flu, the heartbreaking story of the Orphan Trains of the early 20th century, and the liberation of Italy in World War II. On the other hand, your ancestral inspiration may go back hundreds of years, as in the case of Bernard Cornwell’s Last Kingdom series.

In my own case, we think we’ve traced our family back to members of the Norman aristocracy in medieval England. One branch of the family received honors from the Crown within English territory while another branch received grants of land in the American colonies. I wonder which branch of the family might be the most fun to write about?

So, why revisit an earlier article?

First and foremost, it seemed a good topic for this column to connect some dots between concepts and the actual germ of a story. But secondly, I’ll admit to feeling a bit nostalgic as I put pen to paper (or more accurately, fingers to keyboard) for this article as it’s to be my last in this series.

It’s been a truly wonderful experience to have had the opportunity to share my thoughts with the DIY MFA community. But I’ve hogged the podium for three and a half years now, and it goes without saying that there are other novelists in our genre who have thoughts they’d love to share. They deserve their chance. And the community deserves the chance to hear a diversity of ideas—it makes us all better at what we do.

While I’m passing on the pen for this column, I’m not abandoning DIY MFA. I’ll be hanging out on Word Nerds Unite and continuing to follow the excellent content on the website, listening to podcasts, and constantly looking out for what’s new here to help me improve my craft.

Thank you, Gabriela, for the opportunity to be part of your team. And special thanks to those who’ve found reading my column worthwhile.

I’ll leave you with two parting thoughts. The first is from Hilary Mantel, which I find a wonderfully succinct summation of our genre: 

And the other from Albert Einstein: “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”

Happy writing!

An award-winning author of historical fiction and a freelance editor, Pamela Taylor loves helping others polish their stories almost as much as she enjoys writing her own. She’s a member of the DFW Writers Workshop and the Editorial Freelancers Association and spent four years on the judges’ panel for the Ink & Insights Writing Contest. She shares her home with two Welsh Corgis who frequently remind her that a dog walk is a great way to get inspiration for that next chapter.

The post Where to Start with Historical Fiction appeared first on DIY MFA.

I thought it might be fun to take a look at how the element of time travel creates a tangent between historical fiction and sci-fi.

A Visualization

As in the earlier article, it seemed like a picture might be useful for discussing the relationship and interplay of the genres.

If a narrative’s time travelers always go to the future, then the story remains solidly in the realm of science fiction. The genre junction occurs when the characters travel to the past.

The Author’s Basic Responsibility

Regardless of the basic premise or genre of the story—whether it’s romance or a mystery or fantasy or even horror—when an author embraces time travel as a mechanism for revealing the plot, they share the same responsibilities as the historical fiction author. 

They must research the time period in which their characters will land. That portion of the narrative that occurs in the past must be authentic in every respect. The details of everyday life. Clothing. Events occurring in the larger world in which the characters must exist. The language of the time and place. Food, medicine, tools, gender roles. All the elements of authenticity that we’ve discussed in other articles for this column, including the less savory ones. An author can’t send characters back to the US in the first half of the nineteenth century without acknowledging the existence of slavery.

The Author’s Added Responsibility

Beyond that, authors who use time travel have some additional responsibilities related to when their characters become aware of traveling backward in time.

Is the time travel intentional? Do the characters return to the past of their own volition for their own particular purposes? In such stories, the characters must have a pre-awareness of how the past will differ from their present. Most likely, their intention is to fit in from the moment of their arrival in the earlier time period, so preparation is required. At a very minimum, they must be dressed in the proper clothing before undertaking the travel so that they don’t stick out like a sore thumb wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops when they materialize among the Barbary Pirates in 16th-century Algiers. 

In the manuscript that was the inspiration for this column, the author was careful to show the characters’ preparation for the journey, including subtle details like the acquisition of coins that wouldn’t be suspect in the target era so that the characters could buy food and temporary lodgings while they were getting themselves established.

The other side of the awareness coin for intentional time travelers is anachronism awareness—knowing what they must leave behind. A cell phone or a modern firearm during the Napoleonic wars is just wrong on so many levels. For the author, however, anachronisms are a rich opportunity for creating or exacerbating conflict in the narrative.

And then, of course, there’s the time-travel mechanism. If it’s a physical device, how do the characters prevent discovery? That’s probably a little easier in a genre where spoken incantations or mystical use of ordinary objects is permissible.

But what if the characters are transported back in time at the whim of some other characters or some other force within the story? For such tales, the author must be prepared to provide time-period-plausible cover stories for the characters while they figure out where they are and what they’re going to do about it. Or perhaps bumbling cover stories that only sort of ring true and serve to heighten the suspense by raising suspicions about this character that has just appeared as if from nowhere into the ordinary lives of people native to the time period.

Regardless, when science fiction meets “The Past,” it only works successfully when the author embraces the same guiding principles that are the bread and butter of historical fiction authors.

An award-winning author of historical fiction and a freelance editor, Pamela Taylor loves helping others polish their stories almost as much as she enjoys writing her own. She’s a member of the DFW Writers Workshop and the Editorial Freelancers Association and for four years was on the judges panel for the Ink & Insights Writing Contest. She shares her home with two Welsh Corgis who frequently remind her that a dog walk is a great way to get inspiration for that next chapter.

The post Time Travel: When Sci-Fi Meets Historical Fiction appeared first on DIY MFA.

We’ve all learned the importance of our author platform and listened to plenty of advice from experts on how to promote our books. Rather than trying to replicate any of that, I thought we’d narrow our focus to the role that book bloggers who specialize in our genre can play in helping to publicize our work.

About Jean M. Roberts and The Books Delight

Meet Jean M. Roberts, who is both an author and book blogger in our space and thus has a 360° view of the creative and promotional dynamics of getting a book out into the world and getting it noticed. Her blog – The Books Delight – is full of book reviews and author interviews specific to historical fiction. Jean was kind enough to spend some time sharing her perspective on the role of book bloggers as part of an overall promotional strategy.

The Interview

Pamela Taylor: The Books Delight is both the foundation of your author platform and your book blogger site. Would you share with us a bit of how you got started and how you’ve grown it?  

Jean M. Roberts: In 2012, which seems like a really long time ago, I started a family history/genealogy blog. My writing involved a significant amount of research, and I was reading lots of history books as well as my usual historical fiction. On a whim, I wrote a few reviews of books I found particularly well written and helpful to my research. As I did more and more reviews, I started getting requests from authors and publishers. The reviews were overwhelming my genealogy posts. It was then that I decided to start a new blog dedicated to book reviews, author interviews, and of course, information about my own books.

I will occasionally review books other than historical fiction, but this genre is the mainstay of my blog. I find that people who love historical fiction are avid readers and are always hungry for recommendations.

Pamela Taylor: What advice do you have for published authors (Big 4 imprint, small press, or self-published) who want to engage with a book blogger who focuses on Historical Fiction?  

Jean M. Roberts: This is a great question. I get bombarded daily by review requests and have to wade through them trying to decide which ones to read. My best advice is to research the reviewer. Find out their name, look at what books they have reviewed and make sure you’re a good fit for them. There’s no sense sending a Saxon battle novel to a reviewer who only reads Regency period historical romance! Just like a query letter, I would suggest you try to personalize the request, make a case for your book! I generally pass over generic requests that look like they’ve been emailed to dozens of other reviewers. If someone writes me a really personal request, I am much more likely to give them a read.

Pamela Taylor: I know you’re connected with the Coffee Pot Book Club (which specializes in Historical Fiction) and that you participate as a “stop” on their blog tours. Just to be sure everyone’s on the same page, could you describe how a blog tour works, what the various “stops” offer, and what the value is to an author of doing a blog tour?

Jean M. Roberts: A blog tour is a fun way to market your book to a specific readership. The tour organizer lines up bloggers, produces marketing materials, and assigns dates for the blogger to ‘host’ the book. Most tours include excerpts, blurbs, author interviews, guest posts, and/or reviews. Each day your book is on tour, whether it’s on consecutive days or once a week for a set number of weeks, the organizer, the bloggers, and the author promote the book on social media – usually the biggies: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn – to maximize exposure. For a small genre like historical fiction, this is a super way to get social media exposure to a wide audience.

Pamela Taylor: Do you recommend choosing a blog tour organizer that specializes in HF rather than a genre-neutral provider?

Jean M. Roberts: I would, especially if you have limited money to spend on marketing. You want your book in front of your genre readers. A general book tour might have a larger audience, but if they don’t read historical fiction then you’ve wasted your money. An added bonus, I also find that many of the bloggers who host historical fiction tours are writers of the genre themselves and are a great resource for marketing opportunities outside the tour. Doing a tour can be a great networking experience as well as a way to promote your book.

Pamela Taylor: At one point not many years back, it was thought that Historical Fiction had lost its luster, so to speak, and that other genres were on the ascendancy. Based on the books you’ve reviewed and the authors you’ve interviewed, does it seem to you that’s no longer the case?

Jean M. Roberts: Based on my experience on social media, I’d say that historical fiction writers are in the minority. Fantasy and YA seem to dominate the internet. The New York Times Bestseller list rarely has historical fiction in its rankings, and the big publishing houses don’t exactly churn out historical novels. That being said, there are smaller publishers willing to put out historical fiction and the rise of self-publishing/Indie publishing has given many historical fiction writers an opportunity to get their work published. The competition for readers and their limited time is tough. People who didn’t like history in school tend to carry that dislike over into reading which is a shame. The umbrella of historical fiction encompasses so many sub-genres. From romance, murder mystery, women’s issues, and military tales to spies and intrigue, there really is something for everyone. 

Pamela Taylor: Are you currently open for new contacts? If so, what’s the best way for members of the DIY MFA community to engage with you?

Jean M. Roberts: Yes! I am open for book reviews, author interviews, and guest posts! I’d really like to do more guest posts. I’m not sure why so many authors shy away from them. It’s a great opportunity to say exactly what you want to say about your book(s). If anyone is interested, they can contact me via email at thebooksdelight@gmail.com. I do have a long TBR list, but sometimes the right book lands in my inbox and I have just got to read it right away!

Pamela Taylor: Your own books are set in colonial America, so I’m guessing that’s one of your favorite historical periods and locations. What’s one of the most curious or unexpected things you’ve discovered when researching that period?  

Jean M. Roberts: Good question. First an observation: this time period is really underrepresented in historical fiction, especially the first 50 or so years of Colonial American history. It seems to pick up speed the closer you get to the American Revolution, and then, of course, the Civil War is very popular. There is a lot of untapped history waiting to be written.

I did quite a bit of research on early Colonial America while searching for my ancestors and was able to apply this to my books, Weave a Web of Witchcraft (set in 1651), Blood in the Valley (1751-1781), and The Heron (1691). The thing that really made an impression on me and is reflected in my books is how incredibly violent life was during the early settlement of America by European immigrants. From the 1676 conflict known as King Philip’s War to the onset of the American Revolution, there was an almost constant state of conflict in the colonies. Many of my ancestors were killed in attacks by Native Americans. Whether it was attacks/counterattacks from the native population or outright war with the French, America was a wild and dangerous place to live.

Jean’s latest novel was released in April 2021 and is available wherever you buy your books.

An award-winning author of historical fiction and a freelance editor, Pamela Taylor loves helping others polish their stories almost as much as she enjoys writing her own. She’s a member of the DFW Writers Workshop and the Editorial Freelancers Association and spent four years on the judges panel for the Ink & Insights Writing Contest. She shares her home with two Welsh Corgis who frequently remind her that a dog walk is a great way to get inspiration for that next chapter.

The post Conversations: Jean M. Roberts appeared first on DIY MFA.

History is full of things that can—and should—offend our modern sensibilities. So what can writers do when their obligation to historical accuracy comes into conflict with a 21st-century world view?  

Consider Your Audience

Fans of historical fiction actually expect authenticity, not a whitewashed version of the past. You’ll disappoint them if you don’t deliver. To borrow a catchphrase from Monty Python, these readers do expect the Spanish Inquisition, in all its brutality. They want to be transported to the world of the past as it actually existed and will reward you with strong reviews when you achieve that.

Even so, we don’t want to serve up a dish of utter distaste. So what are some strategies we can use to mitigate the most unsavory aspects of the past and acknowledge our evolved understanding?

Point of View

This may be the most straightforward, and novels of World War II are prime examples. Stories of the Holocaust or the occupation of sovereign nations or the horrific medical experimentations of Josef Mengele are usually told from the POV of the victims or of someone who intervened or of someone powerless to do so rather than from the POV of the perpetrators of the atrocities.

Is your story set at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Incas or the Aztecs? Will you choose the point of view of the conquerors or the conquered? The former may seem, in some way, “natural” because there is such a vast written record to tap into. Global territorial expansion was a driving force among the highly competitive European powers of the time, so that must be represented for your story to ring true. But we now understand that these were thriving, highly-developed civilizations that were devastated and destroyed by the ambitions of colonialism. One way to acknowledge that would be to choose the point of view of the conquered. It’s just as authentic and perhaps even more interesting because of its rarity in earlier writing.

“But you just made my job that much harder,” I can hear you saying. Perhaps it’s just a matter of focusing your research differently, of looking into what archaeologists have uncovered. But think of it this way: wherever there are gaps in the record—regardless of the context of your story—therein lies your opportunity to shine as a novelist—to imagine what might have been and to reveal the past to your readers in all its dimensions.

Character

This is another technique of our craft that’s easy to apply. Is there something unsavory about what’s going on at the time of your story? Consider including a character who’s repulsed by those events or that state of the world.

This actually gives you lots of opportunity for character development and dramatic tension. Does your character merely stew internally over the wrongs they witness? If so, how does this impact their mental health and how they interact with others in the world? Does this internal turmoil eventually become their undoing? Or does the character take action—perhaps lash out against the injustices or, alternatively, quietly bring others around to their perspective? And what happens to the character as a result?

“But isn’t this just a plot device?” I can hear you asking. Crafted poorly, it could come across that way. But throughout history, there have been people who looked at what was going on in the world and questioned whether what they were observing was moral or just or right. Those people are no less authentic than the things they are questioning. So weaving them deftly into your tale is a natural way to portray the realities of a past world, including its wrongs.

Narrow Your Focus

I recall being struck by a comment Bernard Cornwell made in an online interview. I’ll have to paraphrase because I can’t find the video at the moment. He defined historical fiction as “the small story told against the backdrop of the large story.” It’s a very helpful way to think about strategies for dealing with elements of the past that don’t pass muster in today’s world.

Not every historical novel has to be an epic saga or have well-known historical characters on stage. More intimate stories are just as compelling if they draw us deeply into the life experiences of the characters. Think of photographs taken with a zoom lens. The subject of the photo is in focus and crystal clear. But the background is blurred—it’s still there, but in far less detail.

Finding Your Right Balance

These are just a few ideas on how to bridge the discord between past realities and modern sensibilities. No doubt you’ll think of others.

At the end of the day, the choices you make will depend on the premise of your story—what you want to say and how you want to say it. Do you want to draw attention to the discord? Or is the discord merely the backdrop against which your story plays out? Bookshelves the world over have room for both.

An award-winning author of historical fiction and a freelance editor, Pamela Taylor loves helping others polish their stories almost as much as she enjoys writing her own. She’s a member of the DFW Writers Workshop and the Editorial Freelancers Association and, for four years, was on the judges panel for the Ink & Insights Writing Contest. She shares her home with two Welsh Corgis who frequently remind her that a dog walk is a great way to get inspiration for that next chapter.

The post The Unsavory Side of Authenticity appeared first on DIY MFA.

A Matter of Authenticity in World-Building

Authors who write Fantasy are constantly reminded what a critical element world-building is in the development of their narratives. Readers need to understand the imaginary world they’ve created – its geography, social hierarchy, cultural morés, politics, economics, justice system, weaponry, values, religious beliefs and practices – and, in some cases, a system of magic. But we must still write with authenticity. Character behavior must align with the rules of this world. As often as not, characters will be thrust into interactions with a second world as part of the narrative conflict – and that second world must be revealed to readers through the eyes of the characters. It’s a lot of responsibility for the author to ensure consistency.

In historical fiction, we have the same need for authenticity. It is our responsibility. We must recreate a world that once existed but that may be substantially different from what readers are living today. In some respects, we have an advantage – there’s documented evidence of what this once-upon-a-time world was like, so we don’t bear the responsibility of making it all up from whole cloth. And we may have another small advantage in the fact that our reading audience may already have some degree of familiarity with the world in which our story is set.

But it’s no less important that we paint that world accurately and that our characters behave in a manner that aligns with the world in which they actually lived.

When Worlds Collide

Both of my prompts are manifestations of the same issue – the question of whether writers should cater to readers who might project their own world onto the story we’ve written.

In the case of my reviewer, it’s quite explicit from the phrase “are paramount in my world” that this is exactly what the reader is doing. But Alfred’s actions took place in his world – the world of the 14th century – not in the reader’s world. The case of the question about smoking during the 1940s represents a writer tempted to omit an important reality of their story’s world just to cater to modern views.

It’s inevitable there will be disharmony – sometimes even strong discord – between the past and the present. Just as medicine has advanced such that we can easily treat or even eradicate diseases that would have been deadly in bygone days, so has human understanding evolved in areas as diverse as criminal justice, societal responsibility, governance, human rights and self-determination, cultural awareness, commerce, education, conflict and weaponry, scientific exploration, physical and mental health, stewardship of our planet . . . just to name a few. Still we must strive for authenticity in our writing.

Throughout history, our moral compasses have pointed north.  But just as the Earth’s own axis of rotation precesses over time, so has moral north shifted through the centuries. What was considered normal at one time in human history might be viewed as ignorant, or perhaps heinous, today. Beheading was once considered a merciful form of execution (compared to the more brutal alternatives), but it wouldn’t be viewed that way today. People who claim to “hear voices” have been with us from time immemorial. In the past, they might have been considered “possessed by the devil,” “hearing the voice of God,” “practicing witchcraft,” or just plain lunatic. Today, we’d be more inclined to investigate a possible diagnosis of schizophrenia or other mental illness. The mechanism by which a baby’s gender is determined wasn’t understood until the early 20th century, which meant all sorts of notions flourished at one time or another and made it easy for men to blame their wives if the couple didn’t produce a male heir (often with horrific results). Today, we know better. And we can show how we know better by providing these details with authenticity.

As writers of historical fiction, we have a responsibility to reflect the world as it actually existed at the time of our narrative. We wouldn’t attempt to cleanse beheading from stories of Tudor England or the French Revolution. We wouldn’t represent Joan of Arc as mentally ill, though who knows if perhaps she was. Nor would we deny that Henry VIII blamed two of his wives for failing to give birth to sons or the anxiety felt by women in general over what they considered their responsibility to deliver an heir.

Likewise, we’d be doing readers a disservice to pretend that smoking wasn’t prevalent in the 1940s – both as a popular form of stress relief and as a social convention. And in my own stories set in the 14th century, pretending that men didn’t seek female companionship outside marriage would be equally dishonest.

But What About the Really Bad Stuff?

What about things like the subjugation or even annihilation of indigenous people by colonizers? What about the African slave trade? What about abuse of workers and child labor during the Industrial Revolution? What about “supremacist” movements of all sorts from the Crusades to the Ku Klux Klan to the “Japanization” of Korea in the first half of the 20th century to the Holocaust? What about torture? What about _______? (fill in the blank). Does writing with authenticity mean leaving these details out?

History is full of atrocities that are in conflict with modern sensibilities. Many of our stories will never come into contact with the worst of the worst. But when a story unfolds against the backdrop of something modern readers may find offensive, what’s a writer to do?

In the next post for this column, we’ll explore some strategies for bridging the discord between the realities of the past and modern sensibilities.

An award-winning author of historical fiction and a freelance editor, Pamela Taylor loves helping others polish their stories almost as much as she enjoys writing her own. She’s a member of the DFW Writers Workshop and the Editorial Freelancers Association and is in her fourth year on the judges panel for the Ink & Insights Writing Contest. She shares her home with two Welsh Corgis who frequently remind her that a dog walk is a great way to get inspiration for that next chapter.

The post The Importance of Authenticity appeared first on DIY MFA.

So, as we celebrate the arrival of 2021 and of Covid vaccines and look forward to the time when we can get back “out there” with our readers, it occurred to me that another thing worth celebrating is the success of Indie writers in our genre. To that end, I’ve compiled a list of winners and runners-up of a number of highly-respected book awards that focus on the Indie publication sphere.  These are by no means all the awards out there, but they are some of the best known. Finalists and honorable mentions are also listed on many of the award websites.

Perhaps you’ll find something for your TBR list. Perhaps you’ll discover indie writers who fuel your own WIP. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to submit your own indie-published book for consideration. In any event, here’s wishing all historical fiction writers a brighter year and lots of success, no matter where you are in your publishing journey.

American Fiction Awards

These awards have categories both for Historical Fiction and for the adjacencies discussed in my August article, “When is it Historical Fiction and when is it something else?”. So I’ve included the 2020 award winners for all the relevant categories.

Historical Fiction: The Takeaway Men by Meryl Ain, Sparks Press, August 4, 2020

Adventure-Historical: Northern Blood (Northern Wolf Series, Book 3) by Daniel Greene, Rune Publishing, March 31, 2020

Fantasy-Historical: The Winter Sisters by Tim Westover, QW Publishers, LLC, August 6, 2019

Mystery/Suspense-Historical: A Child Lost: A Henrietta and Inspector Howard Novel  by Michelle Cox, She Writes Press, April 28, 2020

Romance-Historical: Awaken My Heart by Christine Wissner, Christine Wissner, March 10, 2019

Best Indie Book Award

The most recent set of winners posted here is for 2019. I didn’t find any indication of when the 2020 award winners would be posted.

2019 Winner: Sinner’s Cross by Miles Watson, One Nine Books, October 6, 2019

Eric Hoffer Book Award

Winner: I Was Hitler’s Baker by Glenn Peterson, Xlibris US, January 26, 2019

1st Runner-Up: Carrying Independence by Karen A. Chase, 224 Pages, June 11, 2019

Foreword Indies

Gold: The Boys Who Woke up Early by Amy Trueblood, Imbrifex Books, March 3, 2019 (1st edition)

Silver: Mrs. Rossi’s Dream  by Khanh Ha, The Permanent Press, April 5, 2019

Bronze: Beloved Mother by Laura Hunter, Bluewater Publications, April 1, 2019

Independent Author Network

Book of the Year First Place and Historical Fiction First Place:

Before The Brightest Dawn (The Half-Bloods Series Book 3) by Jana Petken, June 14, 2019

Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) Benjamin Franklin Award

Gold Medal: Moccasin Track by Reid Lance Rosenthal, Rockin’ SR Publishing, August 29, 2019

Silver Medal: Breaking Point: A Novel of the Battle of Britain by John Rhodes, Suncoast Publishing, September 24, 2019

Silver Medal: General Meade: A Novel of the Civil War by Robert Kofman, Lion Valley Publishing LLC, March 5, 2019

Independent Publisher Book Awards (the IPPYs)

Gold: Across a Broken Shore by Amy Trueblood, North Star Editions, November 5, 2019

Silver: Beyond the Ghetto Gates by Michelle Cameron, She Writes Press, April 7, 2020

Bronze: The Pelton Papers by Mari Coates, She Writes Press, April 7, 2020

International Book Awards

Winner: Moccasin Track by Reid Lance Rosenthal, Rockin’ SR Publishing, August 29, 2019

National Indie Excellence Awards

Winner: The Dung Beetles of Liberia by Daniel V. Meier, Jr., BQB Publishing, September 1, 2019

Next Generation Indie Book Awards

Winner: Repentance by Andrew Lam, Tiny Fox Press, LLC, May 1, 2019

Pacific Book Awards

First Place: The Andean Cross by L. A. Clayton, JustFiction Edition, April 9, 2013

Second Place: In the Beginning: The Early Days of Religious Beliefs by Jaime Reyes,  Westwood Books Publishing LLC, (August 13, 2019)

Rubery Book Award

There was one Historical Fiction novel short-listed for this award in 2020.

Song of the Nightingale by Marilyn Pemberton, The Conrad Press, December 14, 2019

An award-winning author of historical fiction and a freelance editor, Pamela Taylor loves helping others polish their stories almost as much as she enjoys writing her own. She’s a member of the DFW Writers Workshop and the Editorial Freelancers Association and is in her fourth year on the judges panel for the Ink & Insights Writing Contest. She shares her home with two Welsh Corgis who frequently remind her that a dog walk is a great way to get inspiration for that next chapter.

The post Celebrating Indie Writers appeared first on DIY MFA.

Bald’s eyesalve (from a 10th-century medical text) is made of equal parts of garlic and another allium (think leeks or onions) finely chopped and ground in a mortar for two minutes then mixed in a brass vessel with wine and cow bile, stored in a cool cellar for nine days, and finally strained through a cloth before being administered to a patient. 

It first came to my attention from a report by the BBC on research at the University of Nottingham that had shown the stuff could kill MRSA (the antibiotic-resistant staph infection that gets into hospitals and is often fatal). Another study at the National Institutes of Health has reaffirmed that the mixture does, indeed, have antibacterial properties.

Writing the passage reminded me that medicine, like food, is one of those details that need to be correct for the time and place of our stories.

Whose medicine?

Humans have been devising remedies for what ails us since long before we could write them down, but medicine isn’t just a universal thing that sprang from a single source. Western medicine evolved from the traditions of Galen and Hippocrates into today’s medical-industrial complex (to borrow a phrase from Eisenhower). 

Eastern medicine arose from different beliefs and theories. Arab physicians were among the most advanced of their day, and many of their skills and remedies became incorporated into the medical practices of the cultures they touched during the peak of their empire. And we mustn’t forget the medicine of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, Australia and New Zealand, and remote parts of human habitation.

And when?

My story is set in the fourteenth century, so Bald’s eyesalve would be a well-known remedy at the time. But let’s think about some other remedies and where they fit on the human timeline.

Most of us might not remember a time when penicillin wasn’t part of the physician’s arsenal against infection. That particular remedy, however, has only recently made the cut for something that could be included in historical fiction (if you subscribe to the conventional definition that the events of the story had to occur at least fifty years in the past). Even though Alexander Fleming proved its antibacterial efficacy in 1928, it wasn’t until 1942 that it was commercially produced – and even then, the world’s entire supply of penicillin was enough for only ten patients. Production ramped up during World War II, but it wasn’t until after the war that the remedy was widely available for the average patient.

Vaccines are an entirely different story. We tend to think of them as very modern inventions, perhaps because of the recent controversy over disproven side effects. But they’re much, much older. Today, we don’t give smallpox a second thought, but it was once as feared and as deadly as the plague. 

As early as the 10th century, the Chinese had a method of preventing smallpox that involved blowing powdered smallpox material into a person’s nose. This idea came into Western medicine as a result of European exploration in the Far East. In 1796, Edward Jenner proved that inoculation with cowpox was effective in preventing the contraction of smallpox, thus launching the development of ways to prevent deadly diseases rather than simply hoping to cure them.

The germ theory of disease was proposed by Arab physicians as early as the 11th century but didn’t definitively displace the miasma (bad air) theory until the work of Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch in the late 19th century.

It wasn’t until the 1870s when Joseph Lister did his own research developing techniques for sanitation and antiseptics that significant advances occurred in preventing the transmission of disease from one patient to another by the very doctors who were trying to provide care. So if your story is set before Lister’s time, disinfecting medical instruments between patients would have been highly unlikely. Even hand-washing when caring for patients didn’t really become a standard practice until Florence Nightingale introduced it during the Crimean War in the mid-1850s.

And what about the physicians and others providing care? Even the ancient Greeks recognized that infections could be contracted by those in the presence of sick people. (This likely contributed to the miasma theory of disease.) But it wasn’t until the late Middle Ages that the notion of PPE began to emerge with the idea of wearing a mask when tending very ill people. This culminated in the 17th-century plague doctor’s “uniform,” which may have offered some protection, though the breathing holes in the long snout of the mask might not have been the most well-thought-out part of the gear.

Getting things right for your narrative

This article is little more than a set of thought-starters for things you might need to research if the characters in your story find themselves in need of medical attention. My objective was to identify a few milestones to help guide any specific research you might need to undertake to be sure your details fit your setting and period.

And to end with a bit of fun

A shout-out to Karen Brooks for a social media post that led me to a fun little book entitled Revolting Remedies from the Middle Ages. It’s published by the Bodleian Library of Oxford University and is a compilation by Daniel Wakelin and 7 students from his Master’s-level course on “handling and reading manuscripts from the seventh to the sixteenth centuries.” In the Introduction, Wakelin says the intent of the compilation was not to choose remedies that were representative of an era, but to pick those that struck him and his students as “funny or freaky in some way.” The following are excerpts from the book:

“FOR A ZITTY FACE

Take urine eight days old and heat it over the fire; wash your face with it morning and night.”

“FOR FEVER CHILLS

Take three drops of milk from a woman who is breastfeeding a baby boy, and put it inside a soft-boiled hen’s egg, and let the sick man snack on that for this disease.”

Pamela Taylor’s inspiration for her first book turned out to be that final straw that pushed her to leave the corporate world behind for the world of words and imagination. Now an author and an editor, she loves helping others polish their stories almost as much as she enjoys writing her own. She’s a member of the DFW Writers Workshop and the Editorial Freelancers Association and is in her fourth year on the judges panel for the Ink & Insights Contest. You can learn more about her books at secondsonchronicles.com, and about her editing services at editing4you.com. 

The post Creating Authentic Details: Medicine appeared first on DIY MFA.

The Essentials

One of my early posts for DIY MFA discussed six key elements of historical fiction and how authors tune those elements in creating their stories. There are plenty of online resources that touch on the definition of the genre and its important elements (or “rules”).

Experts may differ on some of the details. For example, one generally accepted definition says that the events depicted must have occurred at least fifty years ago while another expert argues that the story must be set before 1950. Characters can be real or imagined or both. But everyone agrees that the setting, the characters, the events, and the culture must be period-appropriate for the era of the narrative. And the novelist must immediately transport the reader into that world of the past through strong world-building and appropriate dialogue.

The Adjacencies

So let’s take a look at some of the adjacent spaces and what makes them different.

Historical Fantasy

Historical Fantasy tends to follow many of the “rules” of pure historical fiction. But it veers away with the introduction of speculative elements. Dragons, wizards, immortals, magic swords, special powers. Elements that one might expect to encounter in a more traditional fantasy novel.

And, as always, there are some gray areas. Take the many novels and screenplays written about the Arthurian legends. I would postulate that something like The Mists of Avalon is historical fantasy whereas Jack Whyte’s Camulod Chronicles series is historical fiction, since all the characters, including Merlin, Nimuë, and Morgan la Fey, are flesh-and-blood beings, without any special powers, who might actually have lived in post-Roman Britain. What do you think?

Alternative History

Alternative history takes the notion of speculative elements in an entirely different direction. These stories have the same starting point as historical fiction and follow all the “rules.” But their premise is based on asking what if the events we know had unfolded in an entirely different way. What might have happened, for instance, if Wellington had lost at Waterloo? Or if Nicholas II had been more progressive and had not been distracted by his only son’s hemophilia? Or if Lincoln had not been assassinated, leaving a dyed-in-the-wool racist in charge of Reconstruction?

Historical Mystery

Historical mystery is an example of where genres truly intersect. The rules of both genres apply. The historical details must be well-crafted in order for the mystery to work. One excellent example is Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael Chronicles.

Historical Romance

Historical romance is really a sub-genre of Romance and is defined by the Romance Writers of America simply as a romance set prior to the 1950s. There are, of course, whole categories within the sub-genre based on the time period of the story. Since the romance is central, these novels may take somewhat more creative liberties in their portrayal of the historical setting.

What about other types of stories set in the past?

Many genres have stories that are set in what would be considered a “historical” period. A detective story set in the Great Depression. A thriller set against the backdrop of the 1960s space race. Mystery or suspense set in the Roaring Twenties. Women’s Fiction set in the mid-20th century.

In these cases, the historical setting is not the primary focus of the story. But it’s always a treat for me when the authors of such novels take pains to ensure historical accuracy (including avoiding anachronisms) and give their readers a real flavor of the time in which their story takes place.

The “passage of time” factor

What may have been a contemporary setting for Conan Doyle is, from the 21st-century reader’s perspective, a historical world. And perhaps there’s a lesson we can all take from that. Perhaps it’s a very useful exercise for historical writers – whether of pure historical fiction or one of the adjacencies – to observe how real those once-contemporary settings feel and to strive to achieve that same degree of realism in our own historical worlds.

Pamela Taylor’s inspiration for her first book turned out to be that final straw that pushed her to leave the corporate world behind for the world of words and imagination. Now an author and an editor, she loves helping others polish their stories almost as much as she enjoys writing her own. She’s a member of the DFW Writers Workshop and the Editorial Freelancers Association and is in her fourth year on the judges panel for the Ink & Insights Contest. You can learn more about her books at secondsonchronicles.com, and about her editing services at editing4you.com. 

The post When Is It Historical Fiction and When Is It Something Else? appeared first on DIY MFA.

I saw an internet meme not long ago that went something like “2020 needs to decide if it’s being written by Stephen King or Michael Crichton.” To which any of us could probably add a list of other authors who’d have a field day with the events of this year. Those who write thrillers or mystery or espionage or suspense or even fantasy and dystopia can immediately spin yarns based on what’s happening around us.

Paying it forward

It will be 2070, however, before historical fiction authors can tackle the coronavirus pandemic (according to the conventional definition of the genre that events portrayed should have occurred fifty or more years in the past). By then, so much of what feels immediate and intense to us today will have been forgotten. Those future authors will have ample research sources for the data and the rhetoric and the overall impact on nation-states and broader societies. But what will they turn to for a deeper understanding of how individual people experienced this time?

In the past, men and women – both the powerful and the ordinary – wrote letters, kept journals, preserved family and household records and accounts, and generally documented their lives. Contemporaneous accounts are invaluable resources when an author is trying to create characters and their world with all the nuances that make it feel real to a reader.

I freely admit that I’ve never been much of a journal keeper. When travelling, I’m slightly better at it; but my attempts at creating a regular journal always seem to fizzle out after a few days. However, as I consider new ways to think about things, I wonder if we have an opportunity now, in 2020, to be of service to those future authors who will attempt to recreate the world of this latest plague. Perhaps we should make an effort to document not just what the experience has been, but how it’s affected our lives and how it’s made us feel.

Those things will differ by geography, by social strata, by age, by attitude – from one individual to another. But I can easily imagine future authors discovering such accounts and considering them a treasure trove.

Food for my thoughts, at least. Perhaps for yours.

Support in the present

As the pandemic continues, it’s a great time for us all to support our fellow authors, regardless of genre. But if you’re reading this column, you likely have an interest in historical fiction. There’s so much to choose from and new titles appearing regularly.

Special thanks to those authors who have already contributed their time to this column.

• Alison Weir’s newest volume, Katheryn Howard: The Tainted Queen, will be released on August 6.
• From Bernard Cornwell, the 13th volume in the Last Kingdom series, War Lord, makes its appearance in October in the UK and in November in the US.  (I’ve also been binge-watching the TV adaptation on Netflix lately. Cornwell, himself, has a cameo role in the series – no spoilers here ?)
• Karen Brooks’s most recent work, The Darkest Shore, is now in its second printing and receiving excellent reviews. It’s in my TBR collection.

Some more titles that have recently come to my attention and been purchased for the TBR collection:

• The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williams
• The Invention of Fire, Bruce Holsinger
• The Book of Lost Names, Kristin Harmel
• The Ragged Edge of Night, Olivia Hawker

Why not add your own favorites – or some titles you’re looking forward to reading – in the comments? (Just remember, this community is not about marketing our own work.)  But we can share ideas to provide mutual support and to find delightful new stories to entertain ourselves as we social-distance. 

Now there’s a thought . . . I wonder if “social distancing” will make it into the Oxford English Dictionary this year?

Pamela Taylor’s inspiration for her first book turned out to be that final straw that pushed her to leave the corporate world behind for the world of words and imagination. Now an author and an editor, she loves helping others polish their stories almost as much as she enjoys writing her own. She’s a member of the DFW Writers Workshop and the Editorial Freelancers Association and is in her fourth year on the judges panel for the Ink & Insights Contest. You can learn more about her books at secondsonchronicles.com, and about her editing services at editing4you.com. 

The post Pandemic Potpourri appeared first on DIY MFA.

Pamela brings her love of history to the art of storytelling. An avid reader of historical fact and fiction, she finds the past offers rich sources for character, ambiance, and plot that allow readers to escape into a world totally unlike their daily lives. A history major in college, with minors in French and Spanish, she is also a classically trained musician and believes this has given her a special feel for the rhythm, dynamics, and phrasing of the written word.

In addition to creating her own stories, Pamela is active in multiple writing communities. She is a member of the DFW Writers Workshop and is in her third year on the Judges Panel for the Ink & Insights Writing Contest. In 2018, she joined the team at DIY MFA where she writes the Historical Fiction column, “Past Perfect.” She is also a freelance editor and a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association.

She shares her home with two Corgis who frequently remind her that a dog walk is the best inspiration for that next chapter.

In this episode Pamela and I discuss:

• Techniques to craft compelling secondary characters. 
• How research and travel can help writers build a realistic historical world. 
• What a style sheet is–and why it’s an important part of the editorial process. 
• How to guide new readers into the second or third book in a series. 

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About Pamela Taylor

Pamela Taylor brings her love of history to the art of storytelling. An avid reader of historical fact and fiction throughout her life, she finds the past offers rich sources for character, ambiance, and plot that allow readers to escape into a world totally unlike their daily lives. A history major in college, with minors in French and Spanish, she is also a classically trained musician and believes this has given her a special feel for the rhythm, dynamics, and phrasing of the written word.

In addition to creating her own stories, Pamela is active in multiple writing communities. She is a member of the DFW Writers Workshop and is in her third year on the Judges Panel for the Ink & Insights Writing Contest. In 2018, she joined the team at DIY MFA where she writes the Historical Fiction column, “Past Perfect.” She is also a freelance editor and a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association.

She shares her home with two Corgis who frequently remind her that a dog walk is the best inspiration for that next chapter. Visit her website and the website for the Second Son Chronicles, and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Goodreads.

Second Son

It is the dawn of the Renaissance, a time when new ideas are just beginning to emerge. Alfred — the eponymous second son — comes of age in the enlightened court of his grandfather. Alfred is convinced that his life will be unremarkable, spent in diligent but mundane service to king and kingdom. His grandfather, however, foresees for him a special destiny.

It is also a time when peace and stability are tenuous and threats can arise from unexpected quarters. Taken captive while on a mission for the king, Alfred is held for ransom and taken ever farther away from his home. With his prospects dwindling, he must find a way to survive if he is ever to fulfill that mysterious destiny.

My Father, My King

It was inevitable that the new king would be very different from his father. What no one could foresee was where his penchant for action would lead. It was equally inevitable that Alfred’s brother, John, would do something outrageous. What no one would have predicted is just how far he would exceed the bounds of royal decorum.

At a time when the world is changing faster than anyone expected, Alfred must try to create a role for himself that lives up to his grandfather’s vision of his destiny. And Ralf is still out there, knowing that his plan for Alfred’s death has failed and that vengeance for his father has yet to be achieved.

Pestilence

The unthinkable has happened: Alfred’s brother, John, is king. And it isn’t long before everyone’s worst fears are realized. Traditional allegiances are shattered under a style of rule unknown since the grand bargain that formed the kingdom was struck over two hundred years ago.

These will be the most dangerous years of Alfred’s life, forcing him to re-examine his duty to personal honor and to the kingdom, while the threats posed by his brother constantly remind him of his father’s final words of advice. What choices will he have to make to try to protect the things he holds most dear?

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via the above Amazon affiliate links, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 310

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The post Episode 310: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at an Historical Fiction Series – Interview with Pamela Taylor appeared first on DIY MFA.