Writing Someone Else's Story

 

By Sharon Ewing

Writing a historical fiction novel about a real or imagined person becomes a journey of telling someone else’s story.  I use the word journey because like many of my trips, it’s one filled with anticipated adventure and unexpected pitfalls.

If the character is a different gender from the writer, the challenge is to stay true to a male voice, and this is where I draw on the many stories I’ve read and movies I’ve viewed portraying strong male characters. Of course, the tone of the male voice depends on the strength of the male character himself.  The same applies to the female voices in the story. 

Another pitfall is keeping my story and my emotions from becoming too much a part of any character.  Like all writers, I possess a lifetime of experiences and those events determine how I view the world. Universal emotions of love, joy, sorrow and pain are part of every life and of every story I’ve read.  But each character in my story must provide and process their own set of emotions and the resulting lessons from the obstacles life throws into their path, thus I can create a diverse, interesting and even thought-provoking cast where no one character resembles me.

I love reading and writing about characters in places and time periods other than mine.  Doing this draws me into research, another of my favorite activities. But I’ve learned I must limit my enthusiasm for information, taking only what I need for the story, refuse to be drawn into the next interesting fact. It’s my Achilles heel, both an adventure I love and a pitfall where I can lose all sense of time.

A sense of place, of course, is critical.  I get some of this from reading, but to actually be there adds a dimension of experience that inspires me in a way just plain research can’t.  On a trip back to my birthplace I was recently driven to write a personal essay about the layers of history there. A set of historical maps also helps create a concrete sense of place.  I have a map of Philadelphia tacked on my wall where I write, the setting of my current story.  It helps me see the physical lay of the land which hasn’t changed since the city was developed, and I’m planning a trip soon to walk the streets and inhale all historical aspects.

Another important aspect must be the correct vernacular of the time, including accents, brogues, regional language, vocabulary and sentence structure.  Exploring the many ways the Irish used words to express their feelings, expound on their superstitions and religious phrases, has given me some moments of amusement and has solidified the time period of the story. 

The more I immerse myself in creating this historical fiction story, the richer my life becomes.  I don’t think I’ll ever live long enough to learn everything I need to know to become a proficient writer, but the journey is well worth the effort.