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Three Ms of Historical Fiction That Will Help You Nail the Zeitgeist of the Past Contributed To Bookpleasures.com By Ben Wyckoff Shore
- By Ben Wyckoff Shore
- Published May 6, 2020
- Improving Your Writing Skills & Marketing
Ben Wyckoff Shore
Ben Wyckoff Shore is the author of Terribilita, a historical novel set in Italy at the time of the Italian unification movement (Risorgimento). Ben’s experience as an EMT in 2017 inspired the novel’s storyline about Henri Dunant, the Swiss humanitarian who co-founded the Red Cross. An aerospace industry sales and marketing VP, Ben is an avid reader with a penchant for writing about very flawed, very human characters as well as stories about rebellion and self-sacrifice. He enjoys the sports that nature provides for: skiing, sailing, hiking, and loves all sorts of dogs but especially underdogs. Ben holds a B.A in economics from Tufts University and an MBA from Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business.
View all articles by Ben Wyckoff ShoreBy zeitgeist, I don’t
just mean atmosphere: I also mean the outlook and perspective
of those who lived a hundred, two hundred or even five hundred years
ago. History may be written by the victors, as the maxim goes,
but there are countless other historical perspectives to present.
Understanding and conveying these will add depth to your characters, giving you the tools to portray history from their varied, complex perspectives and world views. It will also inspire your characters’ visceral motives, their challenges and their fears-- enabling you to craft a story that will truly transport your readers.
To dig up these treasured perspectives we must get as close to the horse’s mouth as possible. During the process of writing and researching my novel, Terribilita, set in 19th-century Italy, I found that very best way to burrow back in time is to tap into primary resources by delving into what I call the three “Ms:” Memoirs, Museums, and Media.
Memoirs
Most memoirs are fantastic
primary sources that provide an extraordinary amount of detail into
the day to day of your time period. However, to get that illusory
“historical perspective” we must really focus on memoir selection
as not all memoirs are created equal. Some of the best memoirs are
not from the prominent and the powerful of the era, and in fact, some
of the less famous accounts from the era will be more aligned with
the everyman perspective.
In preparation for writing
Terribilita and specifically writing a mercenary character, I read a
memoir by a British Army Officer who was embedded with a renegade
portion of the Ottoman Army called the Bashi-Bazouks. Twelve Mouths
with the Bashi-Bazouks by Edward Money (1857), gave me a tremendous
amount of insight into what motivated these fighting men, what honor
codes they obeyed, and their exotic styles of combat.
The author
Edward Money is not a household name and his book won’t show up on
any best seller lists but this read allowed me to crawl into the
skull of a soldier of fortune.
The best way I’ve found to find these insider memoirs is through Google Advanced Book Search. This free tool allows you to search by subject using keywords and more importantly, publish date, which will yield authors that were alive and kicking during your chosen era. By the way, Bashi-Bazouk is Turkish for crazy-head.
Museums
While my wife
and I were in Italy last summer for a friend’s wedding, I hijacked
our vacation and dragged her to the Island Caprera. This raw, rocky
island off of Sardinia is where Giuseppe Garibaldi lived out his
final years. Garibaldi was the Risorgimento General who helped unite
the many Kingdoms of Italy into one nation. He is a major influence
for the characters and the time period of Terribilita.
By walking his island and through his house, now a beautiful museum, I was able to get a better sense of the man who led a movement, which created a country. The museum holds his clothes, his weapons, his letters, and his grave. Take any opportunity to get up close and tactile with history: it will make your composition all the more vivid. Another word of advice with regard to museum mongering: talk to the people who work there. I’ve found they know a whole lot more than what is shown in the exhibits. Museums may be closed for the moment, but they will be back.
Media
Finding contemporaneous media is an excellent way to tap into your chosen epoch. I found a July 15, 1859 edition of the New York Herald, which reported on the Battle of Solferino (critical to the story of Terribilita) from the varied perspectives of each of the warring nations. Napoleon III is hailed as a genius, a scoundrel, and a lucky S.O.B. in different sections of the same publication. This newspaper also featured a map of the battlefield and the troop movements. Thanks eBay. Although I was set back $35 dollars - a large markup from the original price of 2 cents - I now have a memento to frame and hang on my wall as fond memory.
It may well be true that the victor’s truth usually becomes the lasting version of history most of us tell and retell. But there are other versions out there waiting for writers to bring back to life. We just need to know where to look.