November 14, 2005

I have never written, or even attempted to write, historical fiction before. But I certainly have read a lot of it. Let me tell you now that writing it is actually quite challenging if you want to have any sort of detail or historical accuracy. Information can be hard to find, vague, or conflicting – and that can be very frustrating and easily cause writer’s block.

When I first started writing, I started with the kitchen scene. And it immediately fell apart when I had to go try to determine if stoves existed and what bloody kinds of native birds lived at the time that could be caught and cooked. Ok, so maybe I’m a bit of a control freak? But hey, I wanted it to be legit! I’m not really such a stickler for the books I read, I’m willing to give a lot to artistic license… but I wanted to hold myself to a standard. And I have really tried. I looked up what kinds of fish lords stocked in their ponds and how long to hang a pheasant out before eating it… which incidentally is until it turns green.

Over the course of time, I will post about my research experiences here. Perhaps you will enjoy, or maybe even learn something!