Auntie Deborah is back at her advice desk...
I’ve been told that as a new writer I should write what I know. How can I
apply this to writing a historical novel?
Auntie Deborah: First of all, that old saw
about writing (only) what you know should be consigned to the dustbin of bad
literary advice. If we all followed it, all fiction would be trite and
unendingly boring. We’d write about writers staring at blank screens, unable to
summon the enthusiasm to describe their morning cup of coffee. All our
characters would be exactly like us. There would be no science fiction, no
fantasy, no romance, no mystery, no historical fiction, no sweeping love
stories across two continents…
Better,
write what you are passionate about.
But
do your research. If your main character is disabled, talk to disabled folks
and read what they have to say about ableism. If your story is set in Regency
England, head for the library (or better yet, the nearest university) and delve
into the history, culture, social mores, language, everything you can learn to
bring your story to life.
How can I create an amoral, despicable, sociopathic villain, without
making him too cartoonish?
Auntie Deborah: Why would you want to do
that when complex characters who do bad things for good reasons (or good things
for bad reasons) are so much more interesting?
Look,
no one worth reading about gets up in the morning and goes “Evil! Evil! Rah!
Rah! Rah!” The best villains have heroic, majestic qualities with tragic flaws.
They’re a whole lot harder to write well than cardboard characters, but if you
put in the work, they’ll steal the show.
Auntie Deborah: The short (but brutal)
answer is that your characters behave the way you created them. Their
histories, personalities, goals, and motivations are all part of that creation.
So if you — like so many of us! — find your characters resisting the demands of
the plot or going off on their own adventures, it’s time to take a step back and
delve deeper into what’s on the page and what’s in your creative imagination
that isn’t explicit but nonetheless exerts a powerful influence over the
character’s behavior.
