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A Writer's Retreat

~ Author Candace Robb chatting about York, medieval history, and the writing life.

A Writer's Retreat

Tag Archives: writing the historical novel

Why I Do What I Do

03 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by Candace Robb in Shop Talk, The Writing Life

≈ Comments Off on Why I Do What I Do

Tags

historical fiction, historical mysteries, Medievally Speaking, writing the historical novel, writing the middle ages

In case you missed it, Michael Evans recently interviewed me for the Medievally Speaking blog. He caught the flavor of the exchange so well in the title, using a quote from one of my responses: “My fiction is the natural outgrowth of my fascination with the times.” So true!

You can read the entire interview here: http://medievallyspeaking.blogspot.com/2015/01/my-fiction-is-natural-outgrowth-of-my.html

I’ll be exploring some of the issues that arose more fully here. Stay tuned!

And, in case you’ve forgotten who Michael Evans is, here’s a link to the Q&A he did for my blog: https://ecampion.wordpress.com/2014/08/11/interview-michael-evans-on-the-mythic-eleanor-of-aquitaine/

A Moment in Time: Focusing the Historical Novel

17 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by Candace Robb in Conferences

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

A Moment in Time: Focusing the Historical Novel, historical novels, Lisa Cron, PNWA Conference, Wired for Story, writing the historical novel

On Saturday, 19 July, 4:00-5:30 pm I’ll be facilitating a workshop at the annual summer conference of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. Details of the location are on the events page on my website (emmacampion.com).

A workshop is a workshop, not a lecture. I do talk a bit, moving from general ideas about writing to the topic at hand, in order to give everyone a chance to arrive, physically and mentally. And then we begin. In this workshop, “A Moment in Time: focusing the historical novel,” I’ll introduce the prompts, giving some examples, and then invite each person in the room to formulate a story concept using the prompts. We’ll then workshop them, talking about what works, what doesn’t, and why.

So here’s the “handout”. I begin with a bit of background information:

current reality of what publishers want in historical novels

  • tight focus
  • an emotional experience
  • a clear protagonist
  • 100-110 k words

The panoramic historical novels of, say, Michener and Renault, are out except for authors who have track records of high sales.

Knowing that, here’s a way to narrow down your concept:

focusing

  • involve your protagonist in a transitional moment in history
  • show your protagonist swept up in it
  • show your protagonist profoundly challenged by it
  • the story is about how your protagonist changes, grows in dealing with it
  • no matter how exciting or famous a fact or event, if it moves the story away from your protagonist’s struggle, take it out

Try it:

prompts for this workshop

  • think of an event or a character in history you find fascinating or puzzling
  • choose a protagonist—can be the historical character or a fictional character caught up in the historical event
  • find a transitional moment leading up to the event or in the protagonist’s life that will result in entangling them in a momentous event

Not going to be at the workshop, but trying this out? Feel free to share your concept in the comments.

 

Here’s some general background that might help:

Some key ideas from Lisa Cron (Wired for Story) in a TEDxFurmanU talk this year, The Power of Story:

Brain science has revealed that we use story to make sense of our experience; it’s a cooperative effort of left and right brain.

We turn to story to navigate reality. The brain learns by feeling something subjectively.

Hence the “power” of story: You can’t change how people think about something until you change how they feel about it.

All stories are a call to action.

I highly recommend, Wired for Story by Lisa Cron (10 Speed Press 2012)

 

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