Getting the facts straight

One of the good things about writing a historical novel is that you are free to make things up: no one who reads the book has ever been to the place you are writing about during the time you are writing about, so they can't say 'h, you've got this and that wrong, there wasn't a big tree on that corner and it didn't rain on the 22nd of December, 1840'. One of the bad things is, I am a stickler for accuracy and I detest anachronisms in historical novels, so I always try to be as historically accurate as possible. I try to make my characters speak in an appropriate way, not using words that hadn't entered the language at the time (and it can be really interesting to find out when certain expressions came into use) and act authentically. I'm not really one for super-feisty heroines who defy society and find nothing bad happens to them! Also, my novel is based on historical events, so while I tend to tweak them a little bit from time to time for dramatic effect (and what historical novelist doesn't?), when I am setting a scene based around real events for which I have good descriptions and plenty of information, I like to try and include those things. But my GOODNESS it slows my writing down! I find that when I am writing purely from my imagination - on a scene which involves the central relationship, for example, or some aspect of the story that I have manufactured, my writing is free-flowing and I can get a lot more done. Today, however, I was back onto the based-on-fact stuff so I was able to write a lot less.

Wow, that was a pretty long-winded explaination for why I haven't written very much today, eh?

Also, today I had to prepare for this evening, when I am acting as MC for the celebration dinner for the Glenn Family Foundation Kiwi Cup, a yachting event for disabled sailors. A girl I have sailed with is on the committee and she asked me to help out, I think because she thinks I am never short of something to say! I guess it is also an opportunity for some self-promotion and to practise my public speaking skills. I have written about 1200 words of speech/intro notes today, so that should go on the tally.


Recent reading
Managed to finish whipping through The Lost Army while watching the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series off the deck last weekend - several really good twists at the end, including one I really didn't see coming. I am now onto Sarah Dunant's The Birth of Venus - speaking of historical novels, I wonder how long it took her to write this! It must have involved a lot of research, and superbly invokes the atmosphere of Renaissance Florence, through the eyes of a young girl.