The Only World We’ve Got: Empowering Messages in Historical Fiction
Image: Rose window at Notre-Dame Cathedral
Hello, folks! Welcome back to the blog. I’m glad you’re here.
You know, it’s said that those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.
This is too cynical an outlook for me, even if it does often prove to be true. Holding onto unrelenting hope, I believe in our potential for goodness just as much as I acknowledge our shadows. This leads me to put a slight twist on this: I believe those who learn lessons from the past have the power to create a better future for us all.
It’s because of this that those who seek power attempt to seize control of the minds of the masses through revisionist history, and beyond that: the arts and storytelling.
Historical fiction spans between the two.
And because of this, there are so many historical fiction novels that have been thrown onto banned book lists. Because the most impactful historical fiction says something. It speaks truth to power. It stands up for what is good and right through stories. And it empowers us to create a better future.
Because stories say so much to our psyches. We communicate through stories. We understand each other through our stories. Humans have been sharing stories since ancient times, and they remain our most powerful means of expressing ourselves– and how we best learn about our collective past.
“Sing the Bells of Notre Dame—”
I look to 19th-century French author Victor Hugo as an example of someone who used stories to say something. Hugo was involved in French politics for years, working toward social justice. However, it has been his novels that have made the greatest impact over time.
His most famous novel was, of course, Les Misérables (1862), which many now know from the 1980 Broadway musical. But another well-known novel of Hugo’s was an earlier historical fiction novel. Published in 1831, the book was set in 15th-century Paris. Carefully researched and crafted, it made as much of a statement as his other works. The lessons from The Hunchback of Notre Dame still reverberate today.
Victor Hugo’s novels stand the test of time– because such stories hold immense power to teach us. They speak to our hearts. Even after Victor Hugo’s political work has faded from public memory, these two stories remain, still impacting us in modern times. Because such stories change with people’s needs– even taking the form of an animated Disney film. We still need their lessons. My hope is that we might listen.
“Morning in Paris, a new day appears—”
Storytellers often face backlash, as we still see today. Hugo himself was in fact exiled from France for many years for his radical views after Napoleon III seized power.
But we must continue telling the stories that mean something.
We may not always be doomed to repeat our most horrible parts of history if we heed the lessons of our stories. And stories that tap into our human condition do “say something” across generations.
Tell me: if you were to write a historical fiction novel in which you could truly “say something”-- what story would you write?
Thank you for stopping by the blog. I invite you and the young people in your life to join me in this incredible work.
When you subscribe to my monthly newsletter, you’ll receive free resources on writing historical fiction, especially for kids. Be sure to check out my latest posts about writing historical fiction, too. And stay tuned for more to come about my research process as a historical fiction author.
Ready to read more? My books are available online through both Amazon and Bookshop, as well as several libraries and shops across Central Indiana.
I leave you with some of the final lyrics from the 2015 musical of The Hunchback of Notre Dame–
"Finale Ultimo"
[STATUES & GARGOYLES]
The world is cruel
The world is ugly
But there are times
And there are people
When the world is not
And at its cruelest
It's still the only world we've got
Light and dark
Foul and fair
[QUASIMODO]
Out there
Live the Story: My Path of Writing Historical Fiction
Image: photograph of a log cabin at Spring Mill State Park Pioneer Village in Mitchell, Indiana. This cabin inspired the cover art for Going Over Home, illustrated by Kristin Mary.
Hello, folks!
Welcome back to the blog. I’m back with another post about my process of writing historical fiction, especially for young readers.
This week, I’m starting a new series on my research process as a historical fiction author. And I thought I’d start at the very beginning (a very good place to start).
My Beginnings as a Historical Fiction Author
I always knew I would be an author because I always have been. I’ve been writing books since I was very young. But my love of history first began with two things in high school. I had an incredibly inspiring U.S. History teacher (shout out to Mr. O’Hara), and I fell in love with family history (thanks to my Grandma Mary Andrews and great-great aunt Betts Fox).
I suppose the rest is history?
A number of years down the road, married and with a new baby, I found myself visiting a pioneer cemetery where many of my husband’s ancestors were buried. (Of course I started researching his family history shortly after we married.) And as we wandered among the old stones, something landed within me: a new story idea.
Following Curiosity: Asking & Answering Questions
That story idea became my first novel, Going Over Home. It took me three years to finish it, but not only did that story sustain me through a difficult time in my life, it set the stage for the whole of my creative career as a historical fiction author.
The story idea that landed in me while I was in the pioneer cemetery was more of a question that I followed and eventually answered with the novel. The question: What would it be like to go back in time to the days these people were buried?
This led to more questions: What would it be like to go back in time to when they were alive? What would it be like to meet them? To get to know them? To live alongside them, even?
This process of questioning is why curiosity is so integral to my writing process. I ask questions and then follow the trail, exploring the many possibilities of answers.
My first novel, Going over Home, ended up being my answer to that first question I asked one day while wandering the old Rogers Cemetery inside Indiana’s Yellowwood State Forest.
Writing My First Historical Fiction Novel
Writing Going over Home was truly an adventure– and I created my research process as I wrote the story. More questions arose, and I found new ways to answer them. I certainly dove deep into traditional research mode: reading Indiana history books and fiction set in pioneer times, as well as researching local and family history records.
But what ended up being the most important part of writing this book– and every book since– was diving into experience. I didn’t go back in time, but I did the next best thing. I spent as much time at local history museums as possible, using my imagination to experience the places as if I was truly there in the early 1800s.
I pretended I was my character while walking through the pioneer villages at Conner Prairie and Spring Mill State Park. I explored more pioneer cemeteries. I began listening to old folk music that my characters would have known. I drew pictures of my characters in traditional dress. I learned to cook and garden as they might have.
I experienced my characters’ lives in the past as much as I possibly could while living in the 21st century.
The Path of Historical Fiction
Going over Home was released in 2012. I wrote its sequel, Going Over Jordan, and released it in 2015. They are now out of print, but several local libraries still carry both books. These stories hold a very special place in my heart, and they set the stage for writing more historical fiction down the road.
Perhaps the most important thing about their writing process was learning how I write best. I need to experience my story. Experience my characters’ lives. Think their thoughts. Move how they might move. Speak how they might speak. Be in the places they would have known. Live their lives, in the best ways I possibly can.
As they say, “live the question”-- but for me, it’s: Live the story.
Be sure to check out my last post about writing neurodivergent characters in historical fiction. And stay tuned for more to come about my research process as a historical fiction author.
Ready to read more? My books are available online through both Amazon and Bookshop, as well as several libraries and shops across Central Indiana.
For more book news and writing updates from me, subscribe to my monthly newsletter below. I’ve got a free resource on writing historical fiction coming soon, plus a very special short story!
Thanks so much for stopping by! I’ll be back on the blog soon with more of the goodness that is writing historical fiction!
Katie
Writing Neurodivergence into my Historical Fiction
Image credit: illustration by Ethel Franklin Betts, from Little Orphan Annie by James Whitcomb Riley, The Bobbs-Merrill Company Publishers, Indianapolis, 1908.
Hello, folks!
Welcome back. I’m so glad you’re here, because I am starting something new and exciting on the blog:
Every other week, I’ll be sharing a brand new post about my process of writing historical fiction, especially for young readers.
I believe that historical fiction is so important, especially for young readers. In these difficult times, when kids are facing so much in the world, reading historical fiction helps them see how people of the past have overcome incredible odds. Historical fiction also helps kids make sense of history through the universal language of storytelling, which in turn helps them navigate the present with purpose and maintain hope for the future.
Writing Neurodivergence into My Historical Fiction
As someone who was late-diagnosed autistic and ADHD (commonly called AuDHD), I have begun intentionally writing my characters as neurodivergent. This especially applies to my protagonists, who all have some of myself in them.
I began writing my latest book, Little Orphant Allie, just a few months before I identified my autism. It took over three years and numerous drafts to complete the book. While I was learning to understand my own autism, I was also noticing it in my protagonist.
But this is a unique situation, because my character Allie, was a real person. Her name was Mary Alice Smith, and she became the subject of James Whitcomb Riley’s famous 1886 poem “Little Orphant Annie.” Of course, it can never be confirmed that Mary Alice was in fact autistic, since she lived at a time long before autism was identified. Still, as I grew to understand the autism spectrum more deeply, I could see autistic traits in her.
Who was Mary Alice Smith?
Mary Alice came to live with the Riley family during the winter of 1861-1862 when she was about eleven years old. As an orphan whose extended family could no longer care for her, she needed a place to stay. Mrs. Elizabeth Riley (James’ mother) agreed to take her in. She was welcomed as a guest, but also worked for her board and keep.
Mary Alice was described as a peculiar child. The Riley children, it seems, stood somewhat in awe of her. She was imaginative and bright, and told the most fantastical stories to the children. She kept rigid routines, moved repetitiously, and often talked to herself. It’s in Riley’s 1902 essay entitled “Where is Mary Alice Smith?” where I most clearly see autistic traits described.
In one section, it reads:
“It was not long, however, before her usual bright and infectious humor was restored, and we were soon piloting the little stranger here and there about the house, and laughing at the thousand funny little things she said and did. The winding stairway in the hall quite dazed her with delight. Up and down she went a hundred times, it seemed. And she would talk and whisper to herself, and oftentimes would stop and nestle down and rest her pleased face close against the steps and pat one softly with her slender hand, peering curiously down at us with half-averted eyes. And she counted them and named them, every one, as she went up and down.”
The thing I love the most about this is how much the Riley children were endeared to Mary Alice, and how Mrs. Riley accepted and welcomed her into their home. Sure, it seems she was deemed a little odd and different. However, she was not cast out, ostracized, ridiculed, or rejected by the Riley family. To me, that is simply beautiful, and telling of what is possible.
Read the Book:
My book Little Orphant Allie is a middle-grade novel-in-verse that tells the story of Mary Alice’s time in the Riley home. In its writing, I’ve drawn on extensive historical research as well as Riley’s own beloved poetics.
The book may be found in paperback or Kindle on Amazon, Bookshop, or locally in central Indiana, including the James Whitcomb Riley Museum Home in Indianapolis.
Thank you for stopping by the blog! I’m so glad you came.
For more book news and writing updates from me, plus a free short story for young readers, be sure to subscribe to my monthly newsletter below.
I’ll be back on the blog soon with more of the goodness that is writing historical fiction!