Why I love Writing Historical Fiction

I spoke to my sister-in-law the other day and she couldn't understand how I could write novels that required so much research. I said "I love the research." Digging out those little gems of history and daily life, how people dressed, what they ate. Did women really not wear underpants in the eighteenth century (my preferred time period)? They didn't! Apparently this made it easier for the women to use the necessary (toilet) with all those stiff layers of clothing.
A fact that shocked me: the English washed their clothing in urine. They used urine for its acidic properties. I learned that on a visit to Shakespeare's parents' farm in Stratford-upon-Avon.

When I wrote my first novel, now titled Escape the Revolution, I wrote the story before my research and had to change so much, but found I enjoyed ferreting out the details. In my tavern I had a bar. I discovered there weren't yet drinking bars in 1790, so I had to change it. Pot-boys scooped out ale or beer from barrels in the kitchen and poured the drink into tankards to be served directly to the table. I triple checked these facts.
I still find many famous authors who put bars in their stories long before they appeared in history (the Victorian age).
I love the challenge of getting my details right. Of putting my heroines in a situation where they can't whip out a Smartphone to call for help. They must use their wits. Nothing is simple without modern conveniences.

In the days before the Internet (Yes, young people, there were those days) I utilized the library system for my research. I lived near Washington DC and traveled there to the Library of Congress Reading Room, an excellent resource. I was fortunate to be able to use their comprehensive library.

How fast does a horse travel in one day? (about fifty miles). Marriage rules and restrictions, the calling of the banns. All these things you must take into consideration when writing historical fiction. There were odd customs/fashions for women, such as mouse-fur eyebrows, and when they lost their teeth, a cork ball was stuffed in the cheek to fill out the face. Early in the 18th c. men wore rouge on their lips and cheeks, huge wigs--as did women--and high heeled shoes.

In one novel, Rose's Precarious Quest, I had a character who was a doctor in 1796. I had to request rare books by a Dr. Hunter to gain knowledge from that era. I also came across a fantastic website put out by Colonial Williamsburg on eighteenth century medicine. Domestic Medicine. I learned about the humors of the body (black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood) and how they must be regulated to keep one well. The strange, often deadly remedies (as in mercury and white lead) used to heal the sick. However, the poisonous Foxglove plant was turned into Digitalis to successfully treat heart disease.

For my Canadian Historical Brides story, On a Stormy Primeval Shore, I had to research the province of New Brunswick. I must applaud my wonderful research assistant, Nancy Bell, who found me reproductions of historical documents on the internet.
 I learned so much about who settled this territory, who the native tribes were, the Acadians, Germans, Scots, English and the Loyalist Americans who fled the American Revolution. The struggles these people went through in a harsh climate.

It's a good thing I love all these details, the thrill of research. However, it makes me a picky reader when I catch the historical mistakes made by other authors.

To purchase this book and my previous novels  Amazon and All Markets

For more information on me and my books, please visit my website: www.dianescottlewis.org

 

Diane Scott Lewis grew up in California, traveled the world with the navy, edited for magazines and an on-line publisher. She lives with her husband in Pennsylvania.

I Shoulda Kept on Writin'

I began to pen stories at age five, or rather I drew the pictures and my mother wrote in the words I dictated to her.
I loved telling tales, writing of ancient Egypt and Rome (I'd just watched the moved Cleopatra). I also wrote with my best friend. Together we concocted a murder mystery ala Alfred Hitchcock (we'd just watched the movie Marnie).

We drew pictures to go with our stories and that was half the fun. My best drawing had nothing to do with my novels but was of my favorite cat, Lucretia. I might have been fifteen when I drew this.

When I started working in an office at eighteen, and was so efficient I had time left over, I wrote more stories and kept some. I read them not too long ago and one was very good.

But at nineteen I joined the navy and traveled all over, married, had children, and let my writing slide.

I should have honed my skills, taken classes, and kept on writing. I had a workshop with bestselling author Sherryl Woods years later, and she said in the 80s everyone was being published. I missed my chance, because I hadn't written through most of the 70s and throughout the 80s. I only picked it up again in the mid-nineties.

When we were stationed in San Diego in the late 70s, I should have taken creative writing classes, but somewhere along the way I'd lost the urge to write. An urge I once couldn't deny or ignore, it had burned inside me, compelling me to constantly spin tales.

I forced myself to write again in the late 90s, to see what I could come up with. My story meandered all over the place. I researched at the Library of Congress, got library loans, and stuffed all the fascinating details into my book. No internet for the average person existed yet.
I thought I knew everything there was about writing, but soon found out I knew very little. I had rejections galore.

My next move was to join critique groups and learn to edit my work. Busy with family and a job, years went by before I polished my first novel. A small press took it on, but their e-books were overpriced, and paperback prices outrageous. Finally, a good friend invited me to submit to my current publisher, BWL, and my first book, now titled Escape the Revolution, sold very well.

To sum it up, if you have a dream, pursue it!

My latest project is part of the Canadian Brides Series.

 

Blurb: In 1784, Englishwoman Amelia Latimer sails to New Brunswick to marry a man chosen by her father. Amelia is repulsed and refuses the marriage. She is attracted to a handsome Acadian, Gilbert, a man beneath her. Gilbert fights the incursion of Loyalists from the American war to hold onto his heritage. Will they find love when events seek to destroy them?

 

E-book and paperback are available at Amazon and All Markets

For more information on me and my books, please visit my website: www.dianescottlewis.org

 

Diane Scott Lewis grew up in California, traveled the world with the navy, edited for magazines and an on-line publisher. She lives with her husband in Pennsylvania.

An eclectic group of writing companions

The first time I tried to collaborate on a novel, a friend of mine and I decided to write a quick Harlequin-type historical romance to get our foot in the door of being a published author. I wrote the first and second scene and sent it to her. I said make any changes you like. Silence.
When I saw her at our next critique meeting, I asked what she thought, etc. She said, "I don't like heroine's who cry." (The girl was at her father's funeral.)

That was it. She didn't submit her view of the scene, or write a scene of her own-though I encouraged that. The collaboration crumbled to dust before it even started. I know she liked my writing, so that wasn't the issue. I just let it go. We're still friends.

Years passed. I found a publisher for my first novel. They overpriced their books. Then I was invited to join my current publisher, a wise move.

I have two fantastic critique groups that I run my chapters through on-line, so that's a bit like having partners.
Some will Beta read for me, too.

Last year I was asked to write a novel in the Canadian Historical Brides Series. Very exciting. Author Nancy M. Bell would be my collaborator. I hadn't cyber-met Nancy before, so I wasn't certain how this would pan out. Thankfully, Nancy was wonderful to work with. I couldn't have asked for a better partner.

Nancy M. Bell

I had researched the eighteenth century (mostly England) extensively. But now I needed to search Canadian 18th. c. history, to find an inciting incident. What better than the Loyalists who fled the American Revolution, but seen from the view of the French settlers in a land that was once New France, and an Englishwoman just arrived to marry a soldier, thrown into the mix.
Nancy found rare research documents, contacted the museum in Saint John, New Brunswick for info. And I ran each chapter through her for vetting. She was always there for support in the story. Not to mention, a very nice lady.

In conclusion, my dog, Fritzie, thinks he's my major partner, since he was a pup. Now he's fifteen. Don't tell him but he is more a lap warmer than a contributor to my writing; however, writers need comforting and he supplies that.

Recently released, my collaboration with Nancy- On a Stormy Primeval Shore

In 1784, Englishwoman Amelia sails to New Brunswick, a land overrun by Loyalists escaping the American Revolution, to marry a soldier whom she rejects. Acadian Gilbert fights to preserve his heritage and property—will they find love when events seek to destroy them?

Ebook and paperback is available at Amazon and All Markets

Visit my website: www.dianescottlewis.org


Diane Scott Lewis grew up in California, traveled the world with the navy, edited for magazines and an on-line publisher. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband.

Writing and Other Resolutions.

Like most writers, except for the rare hermit-type, I'd love a NYTimes best seller. Then I can hire a cutthroat publicity team to make sure my novels are out there, without me harassing my friends, and strangers, to review, buy, etc.

For this year, 2018, I hope for better family relations. Why are relatives so stubborn? They never behave the way you wish they would (tongue in cheek). And I hope that my ailing mother makes it past her 90th birthday in May.

Well, these aren't resolutions, only wishes. I resolve to be kinder, calmer, to think before I react.
To not want to throw books or keyboards across the room when miffed.

Stop writing in the Passive Voice, though often I don't know what that entails.
Convince people that I have no 'narrators' in my stories, those are my characters' thoughts. I was taught not to add 'she thought' in a critique group. When you're in someone's POV every detail is in your character's thoughts.

And the bigee of 'show' don't 'tell.' I love to show, but often get it wrong. I will work on that one.

Eliminate 'could', 'would,' and no 'should', when possible. Delete those 'there was' and 'it was.' Pretty soon, few words are left to form a sentence.

But every writer has their own voice, and I notice the majority of best-selling authors don't follow any of this advice. These writers even have the audacity to write in incomplete sentences!

I dislike that everyone wants stories to be fast-paced, no nuance, no in-depth characterization. Just action, action. I guess I was born in the wrong era. While writers of yore can be too flowery, or have inner thoughts that run for pages, the classics are classic for a reason.

 

Most of all I resolve to keep writing and learning and becoming a better person all around (how is that for too many 'gerunds'?)

 

My just released novel is On a Stormy Primeval Shore:

In 1784, Amelia sails to New Brunswick, a land overrun by Loyalists escaping the American Revolution, to marry a soldier whom she rejects. Acadian Gilbert fights to preserve his heritage and property—will they find love when events seek to destroy them?

Purchase on my BWL Author page

Or on Amazon

Visit my website: www.dianescottlewis.org

Diane Scott Lewis grew up in California, traveled the world with the navy, edited for magazines and an on-line publisher. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband.

 

Writing Resolutions - Or Not by Victoria Chatham

It's that time of year again - time to reflect on the year that has passed and to plan for the year ahead. The Canadian Historical Bride authors have been asked -What writing resolutions do you have for 2018?

If you were hoping for words of wit and wisdom in this post, sorry, it isn’t going to happen because I just don’t make resolutions anymore. Every year for many years it was the same thing – take more exercise, be more organized, save more money, plan my writing time, and the list goes on. You probably have a list of your own and, like me, you’ve started with great intentions only, at some point, to have a wheel fall off the wagon and been sidetracked.

It probably won’t surprise you to hear that in my writing I’m more of a pantser than a plotter. I write by the seat of my pants, and I tend to live my life that way too. It might sound chaotic and unproductive but, for me, it works. I get to do a bit of all the things I really enjoy on a day to day basis, whatever it is.

When January 1^st comes around, it’s almost like receiving another Christmas present. The clock strikes twelve and hey! you haven’t turned into a pumpkin but instead received the gift of a whole new year in which you can enjoy the company of old friends and maybe make new ones. You might try new things, whether it’s that new Thai restaurant you haven’t quite plucked up the courage to experience or the art class you always wanted to sign up for. It might be a new place, like that little coffee shop around the corner that you’ve never made the time to visit, or a new country in which to vacation.

Rather than making resolutions, my intention is to continue enjoying my life as much as I can for as long as I can. After all, every single moment I experience might one day finish up in a book in one way or another because, when all is said and done, I am a writer with many more stories to tell. Watch this space!

AVAILABLE HERE AND THROUGH ALL GOOD BOOKSTORES

 Victoria Chatham

www.facebook.com/AuthorVictoriaChatham

www.victoriachatham.com

http://bookswelove.net/authors/chatham-victoria/

One Thing I Would Change by Victoria Chatham

 Each time I’ve started to write this blog, I’ve had to stop and think. What would I change, if I could? I’ve virtually run my life before my eyes and considered many milestones but have come to the conclusion that I wouldn’t change anything. Not. A. Thing.

Do I wish some things could have been different? Yes, for sure. I would have loved to have grown up in one place, instead of moving every year because of my dad’s military service. I would have loved to have had more contact with my cousins instead of the annual visit to my grandmother’s house. I would have loved to have had more opportunities to be with horses.

Not having had those things made me come out of myself and look at what I did have. New homes and schools meant learning about new places and their environs, most of them in South Wales, the most exciting being Pembroke with its castle and the Sunderland flying boats based at Pembroke Dock. 

Spending those summers with my cousins made me appreciate them the more and I got quite inventive about finding people with horses and then helping out where I could – including on the baker’s cart drawn by a chestnut mare called Lizzie. I did the rounds with him on Saturdays and even got a free loaf of bread to take home with me at the end of the day. Although my parents could never understand from where my interest in horses originated, that loaf of bread was always appreciated.

As an adult, I would have preferred to not have two divorces in my personal history, particularly the first one for the effect it had on my children. But what I learned from both of those relationships set me up for a third marriage which, although that husband passed away sixteen years ago, continues to sustain me with so many happy memories. I would also have preferred to not have had breast cancer twice. But because I did, I met many wonderful people and benefitted from them in so many ways. I really cannot imagine what my life would have looked like if I had changed anything along the way. All my life’s experiences have molded me into the person I am today, someone who is healthy, happy, and looking forward to whatever tomorrow brings.

Not long after I came to Canada I heard the author Gail Bowen being interviewed on CBC radio. She commented in the interview that people who lived a varied and exotic life often make the best writers as they had so much material to draw on. I’m not sure if I could say my life has been exotic, but it has certainly been varied so, if Ms Bowen’s comment holds water, then I guess I’ll be writing for a long, long time.

AVAILABLE HERE