Writing Historical Fiction

I thought that the project was really difficult. It was really hard for me to come up with the initial idea. I think the hardest part was trying to decide how I was going to start finding a time period to deal with. After I had my first idea (the one I used) things got easier. (Just a note: Once I had already turned in my proposal I also considered writing about the Soweto Uprising and Hector Pieterson during the end of Apartheid in South Africa or the Tsavo Man eating lions. I may pursue one of these as a blog post....)

OK, so at this point I had my topic and had to figure out how I was going to proceed with the execution of the story (LOL punny). I thought narrative style would be a simple place to start but I soon found that there were just too many choices. I could see my story taking shape in so many different ways. It was surprisingly overwhelming. I started and stopped and drafted and redrafted until I finally had a tone I liked. My story actually had three possible starting chapters and it wasn't until the night before the draft was due that I could commit to one. I am not a decisive person and my indecisiveness led to way more wasted time than I had bargained for. My ending was pretty set in stone. I just wasn't sure how I was going to come to it.

I think it was also a little frustrating in the beginning when I was just blindly researching because I didn't have a clue what I was looking for yet. When I got into my topic more I knew the kind of things I needed but at first I had no agenda. I like to organize my time very carefully because I don't have that much free time to waste but it was hard to to make a schedule for this project. My initial plan was also shattered when I discovered that much of the information I knew about my topic was blatantly falsified to turn Henry Morant into a hero. The legit research I turned up actually created a much more nuanced story so it's ok.

I also found myself a little uncomfortable with writing history. I feel like it's easy to push things too far in historical fiction, especially for an inexperienced fiction writer, like myself, and because these people really existed and really struggled and died I was uncomfortable putting words in their mouths and thoughts in their heads. (Even though SO MANY people have already lied about what happened....) I stayed very close to historical truth, even about Morant's wife becoming a cannibal. I added Michael though so I could have a character to work with in the aftermath of the trial and as a symbol. Also, I didn't feel odd putting words in his mouth because he's mine and there is no danger in disrespecting the historical record. I did feel bad, however, when I (SPOILER ALERT) killed Michael at the end. Inexplicably bad, in fact. But, no matter.

So, anyways, I thought this was a hard project, although I did enjoy it and didn't dread working on it. I like writing fiction and I think we don't get enough opportunity to in school to write fiction. I think by writing fiction one learns how to use language connotation more effectively. It's just a different style and helps you see writing in a different way, which encourages growth as an author.