Tag: historical accuracy in fiction
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The Trouble With Online Research: What’s A Gal to Believe?
AI is making us lazy… and maybe even stupid. Remember what Socrates is said to have said? To paraphrase, written text makes us lazy because we don’t remember anything, so our minds atrophy… even though we still think we’re smart. Or something like that. Today, I went online to research “inserting” as a sewing technique.…
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Reconstruction Diary Meditations: Fashion Can Be A Quaker Passion
Because I’ve posted so many Sunday entries, today, I’m skipping ahead to the upcoming Wednesday in Mary Jane’s diary. For context, at the time of her writing, she and her sister Lizzie, my three-times great-grandmother, have been home in rural East Central Indiana for six weeks since returning from their first stint teaching freedmen in…
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Where to Even Begin?
Hmm: A runaway mule team that nearly mows down two women? A quarrel between two sisters who claim to be pacifists? A public argument between a female Northerner and a male Confederate sympathizer? For several months, I debated about the best narrative hook for my novel based on the real family-heirloom diary of my ancestor,…
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The Biggest Mistake Historical Fiction Writers Make – And How to Avoid It
Writing historical fiction is the dream of so many aspiring authors – but it requires real research! Back when my high school juniors were writing stories related to the American Civil War, it was the little details that tripped them up. One student wrote about a doctor reaching into the medicine cabinet and pulling out…
