Starting a conversation
I am currently in the midst of a novel set in rural New York in 1885. I begin with a murder trial that attracted nationwide media attention at the time: a farm woman was convicted and hung for the death of her husband.
I am working from the viewpoint of an actual journalist who interviewed the woman before her trial.
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Janet Lynn Oakley says:
Historical Fiction
I have written several novels as diverse as WW II in Norway, the Depression and 1860s & 1880s Washington Territory. Still looking for representation, though I came close to getting one published. I am published with memoir essays.
I love working with court case files. I did a History Channel grant with high school students using 1850s court cases. Kids posted their essays at HistoryLink http://www.historylink.org. I write for them.
Tell me more about your case and how you are going about creating the story.
Michael Cooney says:
my current project
I was pleased to see several people had joined this club. As to my current project:
I've been interested for many years in the trial of Roxy Druse in Herkimer, NY, USA in 1885. She was a farm woman accused of murdering her husband and was the only person ever executed for a capital crime in the county, although there had been a long series of murders over the previous 100 years. Roxy, however, not only killed her husband but chopped up and burned the body, with the aid of her daughter, son and nephew. This added an element of horror to the case which poisoned the public mood against her. For a long time I sturggled with the depressing nature of the historical record (It was a nationally famous case in the 1880s, due to the appearance of the first national newspaper, the Saturday Globe)
Telling the story from Roxy's point of view, or from that of her chilodren, proved too difficult. Difficult in the sense of maintaining sympathy for the characters.
Then I found a long out of print work hastily composed in 1885 in order to cash in on the notoriety of the case. I began to rethink my story from the point of view of the author of that little book. Although he was unsympathetic to her, I began to envision him becoming sympathetic and setting out to prove her innocence. This unlocked the story for me and I finished a first draft.
Sarah U. Wisseman says:
Historical Fiction
After writing several archaeological mysteries set in the present, I have begun a historical set in my home community in Central Illinois in 1923. My protagonist is a physician and amateur archaeologist, with a German wife and a feisty 19-year-old daughter (a flapper).
The research is fun--prohibition, early medicine, early Champaign County. This WIP will take much longer to finish!
Michelle Wyllie says:
Historical FIction
I recently finished the first draft of a novel set in Aberdeen during the Jacobite uprising of 1745-46 and am now writing and researching one set in Kinneff, near Montrose in the 1650s. In this one, the protagonist is a 15-year-old boy who ends up falling for the feisty daughter of a local laird who unwittingly discover the Scottish Crown Jewels are hidden in the local church.
The reasearch for this has been enjoyable - English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell's Army as well as Dunnottar Castle and Old Kinneff Church. I've also been interested in history since I was about twelve but have learned more researching historical fiction than I ever did at school.
Genevieve Sawchyn says:
Jacobite era
Hi Michelle!
I`m in my final (I hope!) edits of my first novel, set in 1746 in both Scotland and North Carolina (where my antagonist eventually arrives).
I had no idea I would ever be interested in history, let alone become obsessed! I have absolutely loved putting this novel together (my first). I just finished my third novel, which is also set in Scotland, 1720`s.
Michelle Wyllie says:
Jacobite Era
Hi Genevieve
Thanks for the comment you posted on my blog as well as this. I had used Scots in parts of my Jacobite novel and made use of the Concise Dictionary of Scots (Edinburgh University Press) which also had English words in it and stated the provenance of words. The problem I had with this was if I get it published, which I hope to, Scots would be inaccessible to all but Scots so needed to use English as much as possible. I may have to change that when I get to the rewrite stage as the manuscript is currently being appraised by an authors advisory service recommended to me by a friend. I'm now working on something set in 1652 in Kinneff, near Montrose, where the Scottish Crown Jewels were buried under the local church to stop Cromwell's army from destroying them.
mary burns says:
The Internet = Lifesaver for Research, eh?
Hi All - Just joined RR and the HFW's group. My first historical, to be published in 2010, is Old Testament Biblical - J-The Woman Who Wrote the Bible - and I found SO MUCH information on the internet about ancient Hebrew writing, cuneiform, archaeological digs of ancient cities, etc., that I almost couldn't write the book for all the information! It's so hard sometimes to stop doing research and just get back to writing the darn novel, don't you think? I'm having similar procrastination challenges with the next book, one about the portrait painter John Singer Sargent. It's easy to keep thinking you "just need" to read a little more, and then you'll be done!
Mary F Burns
Kathy Cummings says:
Herkimer
Hello Michael, your work sounds very interesting to me. I was born and grew up in upstate NY, but am not quite old enough to remember the case of which you speak. What I find most interesting is the brutality of the crime. In most cases when there is overkill, there is a very personal vendetta against the victim. I'm wondering if the man was a horrific abuser to have that many people participate in his murder. Don't want you to give away any pertainent information, but I'm sure looking forward to reading your book.
I classify my work as historical fiction based in the Vietnam/hippie era. I may be a year short by the standards, but time marches on and by the early 60s (nearly 50 years ago) advisors were marching in.
This is a nice group. I've enjoyed reading everyone's comments. kgcummings... Kathy
Michael Cooney says:
Published version of my Victorian murder tale
I published the first draft of my book on Roxy Druse, using the on-demand lulu.com. A preview is available at:
http://stores.lulu.com/wildernesshill
Carole Mackin says:
New Member
Dear Michael,
Thanks for starting a great club. I have dipped my toe into Historical Fiction in the form of True Montana Stories. Is there an inconsistency there?
After completing my third novel, I will start on a book based on the letters of Cephas Washbourne, 1819. I want to target young adults.
I look forward to gleaning good information from the experience of fellow club members.
True Montana Stories http://www.tofreeforall.info
Carole Mackin
Janet Lynn Oakley says:
Writing Historical Fiction and blogging about it
Nice to meet all of you here. I've been away too long. Your projects sound great. How do you go about your research? What resources do you employ?
I'm working on a mid-1800s novel set in the Pacific NW. The research is fun and fortunately something I know a bit about --the joint occupation of San Juan Islands Americans and Brits. For a time, Captain George Pickett was stationed there before he left for the Civil War. Had to change a scene though. The soldiers at their encampment rode mules and used their horses for racing! Had to put a lady in a sidesadlle on a mule.
I'm blogging about the NW and American History in general and writing at http://historyweaver.wordpress.net.
Fun fact: 146 years ago today, my greatgrandfather was a prisoner of the Rebs at Gettysburg. He was an assistant surgeon, and tended all.
Shouhua Qi says:
All about history
I guess I've been writing "historical fiction" from day one, from the very first short story I wrote in 2002, which was inspired by a news story about a young woman hair stylist being charged for prostitution. It was current history, history in the making.
My first novel, When the Purple Mountain Burns (2005), is about the Rape of Nanking, a tragic event that happened in my hometown in the winter of 1937-38. A "true" historical novel, I'd say. Told from multiple viewpoints, the novel focuses on the day the Japanese entered Nanking (Nanjing), the capital of China, on December 12, 1937, and the first six days of the reign of terror that followed. Quite a few of the main characters, e.g., John Rabe, Minnie Vautrin, Robert Wilson, are real historical figures, albeit many others are fictional. And for history and historical figures, I relied on letters, testimonies, survivor accounts, diaries, and other documents made available through the courageous work of many scholars, journalists, and others in China, the United States, Japan, and elsewhere.
Then, stories in my short story collection, Red Guard Fantasies and Other Stories (2005), are "historical" too, drawing from my own memories of the Cultural Revolution, what's going on in China today....
Joining this club would help me view (writing) historical fiction in perspective, and be inspired by like-minded travellers in time and space....
Shouhua Qi says:
Twin-Sun River: A new novel about an American POW in China
Just wanted to add that this is what I've been working on for some time: a novel about an American Korean War POW in China.
The novel is inspired by real historical events: 21 young American GIS (who were later called “Turncoat GIs") chose to go to China at the time of armistice (1953-54). The time span of the story is 1950s to Nixon's visit to China (1972).
Naturally, my own life experiences in China are an important source of material. Born in the year of the “Great Leap Forward” (1957), just in time to be hit by the Famine (1960-63), and soon to watch my father, principal of a rural middle school, being brutalized by the Red Guards during the "Cultural Revolution" (1966-1976).... so, working on the novel, oftentimes, is not unlike submersing myself again in deep, scarred memories.