The Perils of Writing Historical Fiction, by Jack Caldwell

Greetings, everyone. Jack Caldwell here.

As you all know, I’m the token guy around here that writes Jane Austen-flavored historical novels. That doesn’t mean that my wonderful cohorts at Austen Variations don’t write historical fiction. They do. But we usually come to it from different directions. I write historical novels with Jane Austen characters in it, rather than the other way around.

Let me explain.

I want to talk about the vast events that happened during Miss Austen’s lifetime. The Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna, and the Hundred Days; the War of 1812; Tambora and the Year Without Summer; the Corn Laws, Luddites, and Pentrich; steam power and the Industrial Revolution. That’s a lot. To make it digestible, I use Miss Austen’s characters in my stories. How these events effect their lives as members of the lower gentry and tradespeople.

I have also used Miss Austen’s characters to write about Reconstruction in Texas and Hurricane Katrina. I have found Jane Austen very useful.

The fun part about writing historical fiction is telling the stories of how we got to today. What created the world we live in. What made us what we are. It’s an easy and entertaining way to learn history.

The hard part is getting it right.

Research is the major effort. I spend more time researching the eras than writing the books. It’s vital, for often the reader knows as much or more about the subject than the author. But it’s worth it. Nothing thrills an historical fiction author more than when a reader says they learned something from the author’s work.

The great danger, though, is straying from the era.

In some ways, humans have not changed since the dawn of time. We still require food, shelter, and love/companionship as much today as we did thousands of years ago. Our inner impulses of selfishness versus generosity remain at war within us all. We have a need to be tribal, to belong to a group. These characteristics are universal.

(You don’t think you’re tribal? Do you have a favorite sports team or movie series or author? Are you a dog or cat person? Do you like hanging around with people who share the same enthusiasms? Guess what—you’re tribal, just like the rest of us.)

What has changed over the centuries are laws, customs, beliefs, and standards of common acceptable behavior. These are not universal, even today. They are diverse depending on the country. They vary, based on regions, or even city versus rural.

To write good, accurate historical fiction, the author must submerge into the time period one is writing about. They are obliged to take into account the common beliefs and prejudices of the day. The best authors actually disagree with some or many of their protagonists’s opinions and actions. I know I have.

For example, the late Patrick O’Brian created two fantastic protagonists in his series of naval stories, the Aubrey/Maturin series, dramatized in the film Master and Commander. Captain Jack Aubrey is a dashing English frigate commander, loyal and fearless at sea, and an utter fool on shore. He is devoted to his wife when he is at home, but is chronically adulterous while away. His best friend is Stephen Maturin, a rich physician, natural philosopher, Irish nationalist, and English intelligence agent. Maturin is a cutting-edge doctor and a cold-blooded assassin. He is also pathetically dedicated to his unfaithful wife, Diana. He is prickly and unpleasant. Both have some of the common prejudices of the Georgian period. O’Brian gives warts to his heroes, which make them human.

In the Regency period, the characters would have varying opinions about subjects such as the War with France, the Corn Laws, enclosure, the Irish problem, and Catholic Emancipation. The gentry and tradespeople would hold diverse views. Good people can think differently than we do now. What we call prejudice today was common belief 200 years ago.

Think of it — back then, by just being Roman Catholic you would not have full rights as an Englishman. It would not matter if you were loyal or you fought in the King’s army. You were considered a Papist whose first loyalty was to the Bishop of Rome (the Pope).

In my novels I have some of my heroes against Catholic Emancipation while others support it. I do not judge them; it would be natural for them to disagree.

Good authors do this, otherwise they fall into the trap of creating the dreaded Mary Sue.

The Mary Sue is an author’s idealized self-insertion into the story. In historical fiction, it is usually either one of the protagonists or a major supporting character holding the author’s opinions and beliefs, many of which did not exist in that time period.

In Austen fiction, the worse version of the Mary Sue is what I call PerfectLizzy©. She really cannot do wrong. She is a woman way before her time, a 21^st century woman in the early 1800s, often a near-genius, and all mistakes she makes are the fault of others, usually by a StupidDarcy©. The StupidDarcy© is an unique creature, intelligent and noble on one hand, while a near-Neanderthal and blindly oblivious on the other. Oh, and handsome and constantly forgiving, as well. It is remarkable that he can walk and chew gum (or whatever they chewed back then) at the same time much less than charm a lady without the assistance of his sidekick, the Loud-Mouthed-Plot-Device Colonel Fitzwilliam (also known as the Stud Muffin). StupidDarcy© is redeemed by the enchanting presence of PerfectLizzy©. Neither one exists in early 19^th century England.

Fortunately, the authors around here avoid the PerfectLizzy© and the StupidDarcy© like the plague. Thank goodness.

If you are still with me, let me say that your allegiance to Austen Variations prove you are superior beings. (Is that too much? I don’t think so.) You enjoy our offerings of Austenesque novels, dragonesque and magic-filled fantasy, and historical romance. This proves you have excellent taste. (No, that’s definitely not too much.)

So read away! We’ll continue to do our best.

(By the way, today’s my birthday. So do a guy a favor and please leave a comment.)

Until next time, this has been the Cajun Cheesehead Chronicles.

It takes a real man to write historical romance, so let me tell you a story…