By Rodney Page
So…after authoring
several Beltway thrillers and whodunits, how different or more difficult could
writing a historical be? After all, plots are plots and characters are
characters, right?
Not so fast!
I took the benefits of
writing novels set in current time for granted.
A character must
communicate…easy, he picks up the cell phone, calls or sends a text. Problem
solved.
Another character needs
to travel…equally easy. She hops on a plane, gets on the interstate or calls a
cab.
What about ‘place?’ We
usually set our stories in environs with which we are familiar. We know where
the strip malls, highways and eateries are. Depending on the type scene, we
know how to describe a bustling airport or a secluded cove on the lake…we’ve
been there.
And there’s the blessing
of the Internet. A character needs to know something, anything. He sits at his
computer and Googles away. Better yet, he employs a nerd, or a hacker who can
research anything, break into any database in the world and presto, the facts
needed to advance the plot appear on the monitor.
Now, consider characters
undertaking those same activities…communicating, traveling and obtaining
information…and the narrator’s sense of place is the nineteenth century.
Hmmm…that’s exactly what I faced writing Murcheson County.
An entirely new mindset
was needed to write the book. In a sense, time slowed down. No phone call, but
a letter requiring two months for delivery. The trip to a wedding on the
Georgia coast, not a three-hour drive but a two-day journey by horseback.
Notification of an out-of-town death, not by email, but an obituary in the
weekly newspaper a month after the fact.
The challenge of
presenting a reasonably accurate sense of place taxes one’s imagination...and
research skills. Even if using familiar locales, what did they look like 160
years ago? Where now there are trees, were they once pastures? Was the road no
more than a rutted path? If the house or building remains, how has it changed?
And there’re the
bedeviling little details…If a character falls ill, what were the remedies of
the time? Exactly what was the process for cotton cultivation? Georgia seceded,
but what was the vote at the Secession Convention; what were the opposing
factions? Sure, Confederate currency was viewed as relatively worthless, but
what did a gallon of corn liquor cost? Of course, Sherman ravaged Georgia, but
what restrictions were placed on his foraging parties?
Needless to say, I have
a new appreciation of historical fiction authors. It’s a challenging genre.
However, I encourage anyone to give it a try. It will the stretch the limits of
your imagination, hone your research skills and force you to put yourself in a
time other than the present.
___________________________________________________________________
Rodney Page’s business career included a
variety of senior management positions and consulting engagements in companies
and industries ranging from startups to Fortune 50 firms. A graduate of the
Grady College of Journalism at the University of Georgia, in 2005 Rodney
authored Leading Your Business
to the Next Level…the Six Core Disciplines of Sustained Profitable Growth, a hands-on guide for companies
navigating the perils and pitfalls of a high growth environment. An avid
student of history and political junky, Rodney combined those interests with
his lifelong desire to write a novel. His first, Powers Not Delegated, was published in 2012. Rodney’s second
novel, The
Xerces Factor, and Murcheson County,
a historical novel set in Georgia in the nineteenth century was released in
2016. His short story, Granny Mae’s Journey appeared in Steps in Time anthology. He has a murder mystery, The Fourth Partner that will release in the Fall of 2016. Rodney lives in
Hendersonville, North Carolina. His passions include hiking, photography,
history, reading, and, of course, University of Georgia football. Rodney’s
social media links are:http://www.rodneypageauthoronline.com
https://www.facebook.com/jrodney.page https://twitter.com/JRodneyPage
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