Writing Historical Novels---Part 4

Dear all,
In this blog I plan to finish this series about writing historical novels by dealing with three remaining problems: dialogue, background and source material.

Dialogue
First of all, you must make your dialogue sound natural and authentic for the the period you are writing about. Therefore you will not be able to use such modern expressions as 'O.K.', 'cool' and 'yeah, right' when dealing with Tudor England, Abraham Lincoln or Davy Crockett. If you are not sure, have a look at some historical novels written by Philippa Gregory, Josephine Tey and Sharon Penman et al and they should be able to help you solve this problem.

And while we're talking about dialogue, if you use a local dialect, e.g. Cockney (working-class London) or Geordie, (Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Sunderland, N.E. England) or any other Scottish, Irish or American one, do not exaggerate. You don't have to remove every 'h' from your Cockney 'ave,' 'as' or 'ouse.' In the same way there is no need to remove every 'g' from 'goin', walkin' and talkin'. Similarly, overdoing such Geordie, or other local expressions such as, 'Ah wes palatick' (I enjoyed myself), and 'Wordaz on the buroo' (My father is unemployed) make it very hard reading for any reader who is not familiar with these dialects. This does not mean that all of your characters must speak standard British, American or Canadian English. All you need to do is include a few key slang or dialectical words to give the necessary flavour and whet your reader's appetite. 

Background
At the same time as you are trying to use suitable dialogue, you must also make sure that the same is true for your background.
This means you must know when certain technological features first appeared. Your heroes can't jump onto a train before the 1820s, and neither can they fly abroad until after the First World War when civil aviation first began. Similarly, they can't use computers to solve a problem before the 1970s or call someone on the phone before 1877. 

To make your background sound more authentic, it is useful to consult Google or to use books relating to the relevant time period you are writing about. Two books I have consulted in my writing are The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer, and Shakespeare's London On Five Groats a Day by Richard Tames. I have also found children's illustrated history books very useful. Furthermore there have been occasions when I have checked out souvenir books that I've bought at castles, cathedrals, battlefields and palaces.

Source material
Checking source material can be one of your biggest problems. This is especially true if you are writing about a period that is new to you or one that you are not an expert on. This happened to me when I was checking up some dates while writing my novel about England's medieval King John. As the following will show, even (allegedly) simple facts such as dates and places of birth can present problems. 

Virtually all the books and internet sources I consulted said that this king was born in Oxford in 1167. Not so, says Stephen Church in King John: England, Magna Carta and the Making of a Tyrant (2015). He says that John was born in the Tower of London at the end of 1166 or early 1167. On page 1 he says most emphatically: "The date of John's death is traditionally set as 24 December 1167 at Oxford...but this is wrong on almost every count." From here he goes on to quote his sources which explain why he disagrees with almost everyone else.

Another example concerning this much maligned king concerns the Treaty of Montmirail. This was an important document which referred to how John's father, Henry II, planned to divide up his English and French lands once he had shuffled off this mortal coil. Most of the books (including Stephen Church) and many internet sites state that this treaty was signed in 1169. However, Ralph V. Turner in King John writes that it was only after Henry had put down a rebellion among his squabbling sons that he signed such a treaty in 1174. 

Are these points important? Does it matter if John or anyone else was born in London or Oxford or that a treaty was signed in 1169 or five years later? The answer is a definite 'yes' if you want your readers to have faith in your writing. And after all is said and done, that is what you want. To write good stories and have your readers coming back for more, no?

I will be very happy to read your responses to this blog and the other ones on my website:   www.dly-books.weebly.com  or
wsdavidyoung@gmail.com

Thank you.