True confession: I
started this blog post at 3 AM in a London hotel room, when I couldn’t
sleep. It was my third time in London,
and I was thinking about how much that first trip had broadened my horizons.
As a historical fiction author, I spend a lot of time doing
research. All the same, there is no way
to explain the way your understanding deepens when you see places, things and
people you’ve studied, up-close and personal.
I’d studied English history for decades by the time I made
that first trip to London. It was easy,
in my mind, to conceptualize what a Yorkist or Lancastrian castle would look
like. Yet, on that first visit to
England, climbing Warwick Castle’s “Mound” to see the ruins of the original
structure brought home that it was much smaller than I’d imagined – as well as
its strategic importance. You can see
for miles from the Mound’s vista.
And that is to say nothing of the humbling realization that
Richard III (my favorite, much-maligned monarch) had stood where I was standing
and had looked out across that same vista.
It was wonderful.
I can tell you that similar feelings arose in the White
Tower, Edinburgh’s Holyrood Castle and numerous other sites I’ve been fortunate
enough to visit.
Picasso, Sleeping Woman, 1952 |
So, why is this important?
Aside from discovering that I rather liked Picasso’s pre-Cubist works
(there is a small print of his “Sleeping Woman” at my desk), I found myself
better able to visualize peoples’ lives.
It’s about seeing furniture, houses, works of art … and even the
intricate carvings prisoners left on the walls of their Tower cells. Folk both wealthy and humble kept things that
we are able to study and comprehend.
Seeing a letter written in Rob Roy MacGregor’s elegant hand, next to the
man’s well-worn belt (which demonstrated him to be a small fellow) was another
enlightening moment; we think of heroes as larger than life, but this man’s
hands were probably smaller than mine.
Despite having studied the Palais Garnier extensively when I
was writing “In The Eye of The Beholder,” there was no real way to appreciate
the intimacy of the building.
Admittedly, the outbuildings (like the stables) are now gone, but the
five sub-basements remain – as does the Phantom’s Box 5 (with a commemorative
plate on the door).
Area Sacra |
All of this is the sort of thing that helps fill in the
picture when you’re dealing in historical fiction.
Now, maybe you’re thinking “I can’t just up and travel
abroad? What are you thinking with
this?”
What I’m really saying is that it’s important to take
advantage of any opportunity you get to see the things you’ve studied.
Maybe you’ve written a novel set in Ancient Egypt. I was fortunate enough, thanks to an academic
competition, to see the very first U.S. tour of King Tut’s treasures … and that doesn't come along very often. But if
you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, you can visit the Rosicrucian Egyptian
Museum any day of the week. It houses
the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts west of the Mississippi, and even
has a replica rock tomb. (Full
disclosure: I was a docent there for a while.)
My point is that there may be
fabulous opportunities right in your own back yard that will allow you to
better involve readers as you share experiences via your tale. When we take advantage of whatever
opportunities come our way to see what we’ve studied, I truly believe we are
changed for the better.
Sharon E. Cathcart is a former journalist who has been
writing for as long as she can remember and almost always has at least one work
in progress. Her latest book is “Through
the Opera Glass,” a collection of short stories.
Learn more about Sharon and her work at her website, http://sharonecathcart.weebly.com, or by visiting her Facebook fan page, http://www.facebook.com/sharon.e.cathcart.
Learn more about Sharon and her work at her website, http://sharonecathcart.weebly.com, or by visiting her Facebook fan page, http://www.facebook.com/sharon.e.cathcart.
Thank you for hosting me, Maggie, and thanks to your readers!
ReplyDeleteDelighted to have you, Sharon!
ReplyDeleteA lovely, insightful interview. Thank you.
ReplyDelete