/May 27th, 2014

I'm covered in sand, still in my slightly-damp bathing suit after a day at the beach. My scratched up sunglasses are perched on top of my head and my legs are curled up beneath me on my seat. I've taken a break from Falling Dark for just a few moments, just to let myself write this tiny little idea down.
That tiny little idea turned into over 800 words of the first scene I ever thought of for Empty Alibi. Those 800 words led to Bethany, Elliot, and Harris. Jules and Chapman would come later.
May 27th, 2014, at 11:57 PM, I closed out the document after saving it as "Bethany Wilson and a Rather Gruesome Murder (Early Twentieth Century Mystery Idea Thing)".
I would spend that whole summer thinking of that story. It would be pushed to the back burner for a while, but I'd always come back to it. I drabbled for it over and over again, I tried to write the beginning. I started a Pinterest board.
In October I was trying to pick between that (which I was still just calling Bethany Wilson Story) and Project Orion (which has been put on what looks like a permanent hold - not my genre anymore, not something I really want to write). I was leaning towards Orion, and at the time, I didn't think much about historicals.
As far as I was concerned, Bethany was the exception to my streak of (admittedly, cliched) dystopian story ideas.
I wrote up synopses for both, though, and since I couldn't decide, I let my mom read them.
"Which do you think I should write?" I'd asked her.

She said Bethany.
Why?
It was outside of my comfort zone.
It was different than what I'd usually written.
And so I started pinning more onto my Bethany board. I came up with a title (Empty Alibi). I renamed Thomas Elliot as Elliot Henry, and gave the name Thomas to Bethany's older brother. Jules and Chapman were the product of character lounges with Sam.
Jules was created solely for the purpose of teasing/scaring/annoying Ashford Clarke (actual perfection) (jk) (not really). Chapman was how, in the Ellyn!universe, Bethany ended up bringing down the villain. He was a detective with the NYPD who helped her in the end.
I moved the story from 1913 to 1919, then to 1921. I can't remember why, now. It was probably a combination of Downton Abbey and various 1920s things I'd seen on Pinterest.
And just before NaNo started, I nailed down a year. 1924.
I documented my draft-one adventures all throughout November (here).
I'm spending the rest of the summer with Bethany and co. I've written roughly 136,000 words total for this story. I've spent hours on end brainstorming, developing, writing, thinking. I've made collages and written complete fluff just to make myself happy.
So here's to that hint of an idea I had on May 27th, 2014. And for once I'm going to congratulate myself for procrastinating.
Because if I hadn't been seriously stuck on Falling Dark, Empty Alibi might not have happened.

Historical Fiction: The Basics

     Hello everyone! Since the last time I've posted, I've finished the second draft of Empty Alibi (!!!), finished my read-through of the second draft, and started my third draft. In addition I've began plotting for Letters to the Dead (see the My Writing tab at the top for more info on that story).

     With the school year winding down and Camp Nano finished, I'm hoping to post more on here. I'm starting a series on historical fiction -- I'm not claiming to be an expert on writing it, but a lot of this will be what I've learned since I started and resources I've found. Wee!

         If you've been here since pre-NaNao last year, you'd remember a post I made talking about my NaNo project - a historical fiction mystery. At that time I had not written any historical fiction or mystery ever, so the whole event was one big learning experience.

     I went into my first draft knowing the very basics about my era and winging most of it as I went. A lot of late night research and frantic checking of EtymOnline and my trusty 1920s guide was involved. 

     Honestly, I could call this post Historical Fiction: How Not To Do It, because trust me, I know. I used to think I wouldn't write historicals for two reasons: a) I considered myself a dystopian writer (*cringing because PAST ME, ALMOST ALL OF YOUR DYSTOPIA IDEAS SUCKED, WHY DID YOU NOT SEE THIS*) and b) historical fiction, quite frankly, scared the crap out of me. 

      Research? Historical accuracy? What? Never? In any universe? It always seemed like such a big commitment. And for some reason I always thought of historical fiction as being set in the 19th century - and I didn't really want to write about corsets and courtships. 

       Again. *cringes at past me*

       So now that you know my background concerning historicals...we can talk about fun things, like deciding how to nail down location and time, and incorporating historical details into your story, and FASHION. Pop culture. Edumacating yourself on your era. 

       Can you tell I really love historical fiction?
      I don't even know what this post is gonna look like, guys, so bear with me.

Feat. one of my favorite 1920s photographs. Because. '20s.

Historical Fiction: The Basics

     So you have a historical fiction idea. Or you like the idea of historical fiction, but don't yet have an idea. 

      Honestly, the thing I'd say is most important is to immerse yourself in history. I am a huge history nerd. I love it. I love history. 

      Pay attention during history class. Look up things that seem interesting afterward. 

      Something I've always done (even before I knew I liked his-fic) was to think about what people my age were like during that time. What was it like to be a fifteen year old on the American Homefront during World War 2? How did girls my age spend their time in the '20s? What did teens do for fun around the turn of the 20th century?

      Historical fiction - at least to me - is about bringing history to life. The best historical fiction I've read makes me feel like the people in the story could have been real.

      Code Name Verity. I can see Maddie and Julie. I can see them being real, I can see girls in the '40s who had lives similar to them.

      Mattie in A Northern Light. How many other Matties were there? She felt alive.

      Henry in Across a War Torn Sky. There must have been a thousand other Henrys, right? What was that like? 

      So now that I've waxed poetic about history...

      What happens next? (Or, in my case, what should happen next?)

      

       You have the idea. You have a character, or two, or three. You might not have a plot yet, but it's a story, and it won't leave you alone. 

       What next?

        If you don't already, start trying to pick a decade for this story to take place in. Eventually (obviously), you'll need to narrow it down to a year, but right now, a general idea is all I ever need. I knew I wanted Empty Alibi to be set in the '20s after seeing some of the dresses from that era. Letters to the Dead was set in the 40s because the music from that decade really seemed to fit the characters. 

      Start reading about your era. Watch films from it if possible. Pinterest has a History section - take advantage of that! Start yourself a Pinterest board, if that's your kind of thing. 

      More than anything, start trying to get to know your decade. I don't know, maybe I'm weird, but I love getting to know eras of history. It's like making a new friend, if you can pardon my strange analogies. 

       What was the music like? The fashion? What movies, TV shows, or radio programs were popular? 

        My advice would be this: do not do what I did in November. Seriously. Take your time with your research. Find out what your characters are like, and how their culture and time period affects them. Get to know your setting and era before you write. 

        I mean, it will turn out okay in the end. Empty Alibi is on track now. I have my research done. 

        But it will save you a lot of time, headaches, and late nights spent researching. 

        So that's it. That's the 'basics' of historical fiction. I'm not sure how much sense this post made, but I am hoping to continue this series. I've got several posts planned following this same idea -- if there's one thing I love talking about, it's history and writing. 

        

        

      

64,000 Words Later

Story time, guys.
It's the beginning of the month. I'm hopeful and sort-of on target, maybe a bit behind, but hey, no biggie, right? I can catch up, totally. And I'll still be blogging once a week with an update like I said I would.
But wait!
I get sick.
Twice.
Family stuff happens quite a lot.
And I'm steadily getting more and more behind.
At this point I'm not thinking about my blog (sorry, guys), only thinking of catching up and getting ahead on my word count so I don't have the NaNo sight mocking me and saying I'll finish on May 11th at this rate. (The joke's on it, guys. I broke 60k a day and a half early.)
So anyways. This NaNo wasn't quite as carefree as November's; maybe it's because my word count was 10k higher?
I don't know. But even though I completely failed the blogging thing this month, I did some stinking awesome things writing-wise.
I wrote just under 3k as much words as I did last November, and in less time.
I accidentally made the book bigger (like, 15-20k bigger .-.).
I seriously developed some of my minor characters.
Foreshadowing, guys. I can totally see the advantages of actually knowing what's happening and when in your story now. Foreshadowing rocks.
Dramaaaaaaaa.

However, I've still got a bit left to write. Well. I say a bit. 20k is my lowest estimate, but I'm scared it's going to end up closer to 30k. Ow.
Oh, did I mention? I've got to have this done by the 5th. Hahahhaahahahahaha *cries*
That's roughly 4-6,000 words a day for the next 5 days.
That's going to hurt.
I don't even want to think about that.
But I've got the weekend to get ahead, I suppose.

So. 64,000 words later, here I am. I have an almost finished second draft and a renewed love for this story that I'm sticking with all summer long. I'm quite proud of myself.

I'll see you all after typing The End for the second time.



(Also look, I made a shiny MBTI type chart for my characters.)

Who are you? I'm the same as Samantha.