Today we have debut author, and fellow Tall Poppy Writer, Aimie K. Runyan, here to talk to us about writing historical fiction for today’s reader, how to make the values and sensibilities of the past resonate with present-day readers. It’s an interesting and insightful post that has given me a lot to think about as I dip into the past for parts of my WIP.
Please share your thoughts in the comments, and welcome Aimie K. Runyan to WFW!
Amy xo
by Aimie K. Runyan
Imagine you’re an attractive woman walking down the street in New York City. A man whistles low and makes a suggestive comment.
My personal reaction would be to extend my middle finger and tell him what to do with his inappropriate comment. I’d be furious at the man’s untoward behavior because I live in a time where such actions aren’t considered acceptable. Your mileage may vary.
Backtrack to the year 1956. How would a woman from that period react? More than likely, she would pretend she’d never heard the comment in an attempt to avoid confrontation. She was raised to believe ‘boys will be boys’ and that a woman ought to stay away from conflict if there is any option to do so. Her reaction would primarily be fear, not the anger many modern women would feel.
It may seem self evident, but people even fifty or sixty years ago had a different worldview than people today. If you’re writing a piece set in the 1950s, and character berates the cat-caller for his comments, that ‘s a unique choice that you would have to justify somehow or risk being called anachronistic. Perhaps she was raised by progressive parents? Maybe she’s had a negative experience with this sort of man in the past? If you want to escalate the argument, you need to provide some backstory or rationale for the woman to act in a way that contradicts the expectations for a woman in that time.
Now let’s kick it up a notch. Imagine that you’re writing about a woman born 350 years ago. A person so far removed from the modern time isn’t just a quaint, archaic version of ourselves. Their perspective is so different, they would be almost alien to us in their way of thinking. A woman from this time would not (necessarily) balk at her husband ordering her about. She would likely be minimally educated and probably illiterate. She would live with the understanding that her infant child had a one in three chance of dying before adolescence. Not only is it a challenge for a writer to remove her 21st century lens to encapsulate on the page the emotional realities of living in this era, but even harder still to make this character relatable to a 21st century reader who might prefer to leave those comfy lenses on.
One way writers make the characters more relatable to the modern reader is choosing characters from the upper classes. We see many more books about Queen Elizabeth I than we do about the villagers from her reign trying to ward off the plague. The nobility and wealthy merchant class had access to education and privileges that give them much more in common with today’s reader. But not every book needs to be (or should be) about the elite classes. A common girl with a convent education or a young lad who is sent to travel can be an excellent tool for showing the working classes from a more point of view that 21st century readers can still appreciate.
Childbearing and rearing is a particularly interesting topic to tackle. If your character gives birth in the 17th century, you must decide if she will force herself to have a detachment from the child because she knows that the chances of the baby’s survival is slim, or perhaps have the mother lavish the child with all the love she has to give, precisely for the same reason. Location, social class, and the character’s past will all play into your decision as well. For example, in New France, the pressure for women to have large families was immense. I have a character in Promised who has fertility issues, and clearly has no access to have them treated. Every miscarriage and loss she suffers is felt keenly because she knows that the society in which she lives judges her worth by the size of her family. This enabled me to let her feel the loss in such a way that makes the reader sympathetic with her plight. The woman who has a stillbirth and goes back to the field the same day, apparently unmoved by her loss because she has eight other children plowing by her side is a character that is much harder to relate to.
As with most things, the key is balance. If I make my characters too relatable, too modern, there isn’t much of a point in writing a historical novel. My characters had a different relationship with the world than my readers and I do, and it’s necessary to respect those differences. By making some strategic choices, the writer can create a character that reflects their time and appeals to modern sensibilities. In the end, the human experience is universal one, and despite the marked differences people had from us, 350 or even fifty years ago, there is still a common thread upon which the author can build a relationship between the character and reader that transcends the mores of the eras they inhabit.
Aimie K. Runyan is an author of historical fiction whose purpose is to celebrate history’s unsung heroines. Her debut novel, PROMISED TO THE CROWN, the story of three women sent by Louis XIV to help colonize his Quebec colony, released in April, 2016 from Kensington Books. She lives outside Denver with her loving husband and two adorable children.
Author Website: www.aimiekrunyan.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
Twitter: @aimiekrunyan
Blog: aimiekrunyan.com/blog
Goodreads: goodreads.com/AimieKRunyan
GREAT post. I don’t ever anticipate attempting anything historical myself as an author but I love reading it. Your perspective on it makes me appreciate how much more challenging writing in that genre must be. Congrats on your debut novel.
Cheers,
Liz
Thanks so much, Liz! There are times I wish I wrote contemporary (though it has its own challenges), but Historical has always been what calls to me. Thanks so much!
Thank you for this excellent post. I hate it when a character does something completely foreign to the period. As a reader, I normally catch that in dialogue or slang. But I hadn’t thought of the attitudes or nuances you mentioned. Now, of course, I’ve added Promised to the Crown to my reading list!
It’s hard to catch it all, but I did endeavor to be true to the era. Thank you so much for the compliment of a place in your TBR stack! Please let me know what you think of it!
~Aimie
This is great, Aimie, and like Liz it instills a deep respect for you historical writers who go to sue lengths. But it begs the question: what would the woman 350 years ago have done if the lewd guy called out to her? I’m dying to know!!!
Sorry—”such” lengths. No coffee yet!
Oh the woman 350 years ago, depending on social class, may have either
a) called him out and punched him square in the face or
b) had her champion of choice beat the crap out of him.
Dealer’s choice.
I like option A myself 😉
Love this post, Aimie! Making characters relatable in any time or society is a challenge, and it’s why we return again and again to the authors who do it well. Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to reading Promised to the Crown! 😀
Thanks so much, Christine! Getting into the head of historical characters is a bit of a trick, but it’s so rewarding. I hope you enjoy Promised!
~Aimie
Aimie, this is a fantastic post, and I can’t wait to read your book. I’m just starting a novel with twin plot lines–present day for one, mid-19th century for the other–so it was a timely one for me, too. I especially love what you said in the last part of your post about building that relationship between readers and characters using the common threads of human experience. Thank you!
Glad you liked it, Holly! Your book sounds fascinating! I love dual narratives. Be sure to let me know how you like Promised when you get to it!
~Aimie
In my books I proceed on the belief that while conventions and social mores may change over time, basic human emotions do not. Anger is anger, pain is pain, etc. whether it’s the sixth century or the sixteenth. The biggest single obstacle for me is dialogue. No one living today knows exactly how people talked to one another two hundred years ago. Literature of the period helps only so much–as noted, most of it is written from the POV of the upper class. I strongly suspect, humans being humans, that they spoke as we do with a slightly different vocabulary. Avoiding obvious anachronisms (airplanes, pizza, penicillian)is about the best we can do without sounding ponderously quaint.
In essence, you’re absolutely right. Emotion is emotion and that’s what makes it possible to write historical fiction and make it work. I think that world outlook and how people dealt with their emotions was, however, vastly different. What we do is conjecture, but so is most of what we do in fiction. Great points!
Excellent post! Thanks for sharing. Although I’m currently writing a Viking character (she was a real woman) who was known for taunting and challenging men, I realize she’s not the norm. Then again, the historical culture does play into character outlook, as well. I always try to remind myself that although societal norms may change over time, the human heart/emotions and family situations can always present something relatable to our readers. Tweeting this post now!
Yes! A woman in Victorian England was different from a woman in Costa Rica in the same timeframe… culture is HUGE and we can’t impose our anglo-centric ideals on other parts of the world. Excellent, excellent point! Also? I love me some vikings!
Aimie, thanks for this. And hi from a fellow Kensington author! I write two contemporary series for them, but also have an historical Quaker Midwife Mystery series from Midnight Ink, set in 1888 Amesbury, Massachusetts. It’s always a balancing act between wanting my midwife to be independent (she’s 24 and rides to births on her “safety” bicycle) but not to stray too far from the customs of her era – and her faith. My sister is a long-time Quebec resident – I need to find your book for her (and for me).
I hope you and your sister enjoy the book! 🙂 Yes, I like to infuse my characters with more spunk than may have been the norm, but then, I am a spunky woman! Thanks for stopping by, fellow Kensingtonian!
I really liked your advice to make sure that your characters are behaving the same way that people during that time period would act. That way, your story seems much more authentic. The last thing you want to do is make your characters not very believable. At the same time, you don’t want to worry too much about making a mistake. Do you have any other tips about writing a historical novel?