Five Reasons Why Historical Fiction Rocks

Selling a historical fiction manuscript to publishers sometimes feels as easy as performing amateur home dentistry. Readers young and old frequently view that daunting word— "historical"—as a literary party pooper.  There's an implication that a person might have to learn something from a historical novel, or characters might do boring things like sit and drink tea while talking about military strategies in pompous voices.

If you're one of the cool kids, you already know historicals can be just as hip as contemporary and futuristic fiction.  If you experience historical fiction phobia, however, here are five reasons why trips to the past don't have to equate to dullness.

Reason #1: Escape!!!
We read to slip away from our lives, right? Even if you're reading a realistic, modern tale, you're leaving your own surroundings to see how other people react to familiar conflicts.  I've always considered historical fiction to be a close relative of science fiction and fantasy.  A skilled historical author will submerge the reader into foreign surroundings and build a world that entertains all five of the senses.  History is bursting with oddball characters, eccentric beliefs, larger-than-life settings, and memorable heroes—the very ingredients of unforgettable books.

Reason #2. The Current Crop of Novels
Check out these recent young adult historical releases that will blast you into the past in ways you won't soon forget:

The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell: I just finished this 1880s-set, otherworldly novel last night, and I was blown away by the beauty of Mitchell's writing.  The love story at the center is just as supernatural as anything you'd find in Twilight or other paranormal romances, but the characters' magical abilities are highly unique, and the Victorian world pulsates with life.

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak: A WWII perspective we don't usually see—how the war affected regular Germans, including an adolescent girl (the titular Book Thief).  Oh, and Death is the narrator.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld: A fantastical, steampunk version of WWI Europe that involves the son of a real-life historical figure, Archduke Ferdinand.  The third book in the series, Goliath, arrives this September.  Historical action-adventure.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly: There are no vampires, explosions, or supernatural beasts in Kelly's Newbery Award winner, but the title character jumps off the page from page one.  More middle-grade fiction than YA, this tale of a girl who wants to become a naturalist in an age of anti-Darwinism and female oppression is hysterical, poignant, and perfect.

Coming in 2012: Libba Bray's The Diviners, which I'm told is the roaring twenties meets the X Files.  I can't wait!

Reason #3: Cool Historical Fiction Review Sites
Here are three virtual hangouts that understand the hipness of historicals:

Reading Rants! Out of the Ordinary Teen Booklists!
Featuring a section called "Historical Fiction for Hipsters: Stories from the past that won’t make you snore!"
http://www.readingrants.org/category/historical-fiction-for-hipsters/

YA Bliss's Historical Fiction Challenge
http://www.yabliss.com/2010/11/ya-historical-fiction-challenge.html

The Fourth Musketeer
http://fourthmusketeer.blogspot.com

Reason # 4: The Authors
This reason is true for YA fiction in general: the authors are amazing. Their websites are gorgeous and entertaining (check out Cassandra Clare's website for The Infernal Devices and Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown's www.picturethedead.com), plus many writers frequently tweet responses to reader questions and offer behind-the-scenes views of their novels.

Reason #5: The Costumes
I read my share of contemporary tales and futuristic novels. Characters dressed in modern jeans and drab dystopian garb can still stand out for their vivid personalities, but let's face it, historical characters get the best clothing.  The continued popularity of steampunk conventions and Renaissance Fairs goes to show that modern folks often fall in love with the look and feel of history.  Plus the addition of complicated undergarments and starched, stiff collars adds one more obstacle for a character to conquer.  Imagine Katniss playing the Hunger Games in a corset and petticoats. 

In other words, historical fiction isn't just for ancient professors and stuffy, old war memorabilia collectors.  The kids in historical YAs are just as savvy and confused and rebellious as modern protagonists, and the themes of good vs evil, love and loss are absolutely timeless.

BLACKBIRDS a Finalist in The Write Stuff Contest

I just discovered Blackbirds is a finalist in the Young Adult category of The Write Stuff Contest, hosted by the Connecticut Chapter of Romance Writers of America. Thanks so much, first-round judges! I'm thrilled to bits.

I learned about the contest through a tweet posted by one of the children's lit groups I follow. Unfortunately, I can't remember which group it was, but I wish I could thank them.

The contest was open to authors around the world, which is how a Pacific Northwesterner like me got involved in a Connecticut event. :-)

Fighting for a War That Was So Awful, It Caused Grown-Ups to Believe in Fairies

I'm planning to remain somewhat secretive about the plot of In the Shadow of Blackbirds until the book sells, but I'll divulge the setting for the sake of this post: WWI America.

Don't know much about WWI?  You're not alone.  For some reason, that particular war gets buried in our collective history beneath most other major American conflicts.  As you may have read, the last surviving American WWI veteran, Frank Buckles, just passed away. He was troubled that Washington, D.C., has never erected a national memorial for WWI. A website dedicated to his cause, www.wwimemorial.org, states the following:

"...while the later conflicts of the 20th century—World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War—rightfully have national memorials on the National Mall, there is no such memorial to 'the Great War,' even though more Americans gave their lives in World War I than in Korea or Vietnam."

Elsie Wright with a "fairy."

How did I personally become interested in this forgotten war? When I was around twelve years old, I saw a Ripley's Believe It or Not episode about the Cottingley Fairies. In 1917 two English girls, 16-year-old Elsie Wright and her 10-year-old cousin, Frances Griffiths, claimed to have photographed fairies near their home. Grown-ups believed them—including photography experts and Sherlock Holmes's creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—and the girls became famous. The narrator of Ripley's, Jack Palance, explained that the reason adults believed the fairies were real was because WWI was so horrifying. I wondered exactly how atrocious the era had been if grown, educated people were convinced fairies genuinely frolicked in the English countryside.

I later learned about the boom in Spiritualism during the early 1900s, which also came about because of the horrors of WWI. Long story short, I dove deep inside the history and came up with In the Shadow of Blackbirds, a ghostly vision of WWI America, as seen through the eyes of a sixteen-year-old girl.

If you find yourself rooting for Frank Buckles's dream of honoring the thousands of Americans who lost their lives in the war that was so awful, it caused grown-ups to believe in fairies, head to www.wwimemorial.org. If you want to learn more about the Cottingley Fairy photographs, you can visit sites such as www.cottingley.net/fairies.shtml.

And, of course, if you want to keep up-to-date with my adventures of bringing In the Shadow of Blackbirds to a bookstore near you, follow along at this blog, Twitter, Facebook, or my mailing list.

Sequels, Series, & Stand Alones—What's a Girl to Do?

Before I get into my main subject here, I thought I'd share a picture of some snowflakes we experienced this morning.  The photo doesn't do the flakes justice; those puppies were HUGE.  When I dropped my kids off at school, I thought a staff member was wearing a bow in her hair, but I realized it was a giant clump of snow that had landed on her head.  The flakes made loud smacking sounds as they hit my jacket.  It seriously felt like I was getting pelted on the losing end of a snowball fight with the heavens.

Anyway. . . the main thing I wanted to discuss this morning was the issue of sequels, series, and stand-alone novels.  What do you as a reader prefer?

Personally, I'm a fan of stand-alone books.  I think the creation and completion of a plot between the covers of one novel is an art form, and I love the thrill of working my way to a satisfying ending that blows me away.  However, I completely get the joy of a series.  Being able to continue a journey with beloved characters is also extremely gratifying, and I understand why both readers and publishers eat up sagas that stretch throughout several books.

I've been reading several young adult series lately, and I do have to say that I'm not a reader who can always handle the cliffhanger endings that won't get continued until a year later.  In the earlier days of fiction, when the works of authors like Dickens appeared serially, readers only had to wait a week or a month to receive the next installment of the series.  Today's readers typically have to wait three to twelve months.

On the one hand, waiting an entire year for a story isn't a bad skill to learn in our modern world of on-demand entertainment.  My eleven-year-old daughter isn't always the most patient person in the world, but even she can handle the suspense of a year's wait for a book.  However, if I'm personally not bowled over by the first installment of a series, I often won't seek out the second book—and I'm left with no ending.  I suppose that's the gamble involved in a series: you keep devoted readers, but you risk others falling by the wayside (others who might grumble about a lack of an ending).

As far as writing books go, I've been told that you don't want to necessarily sit down and write a series.  Write the first book with a potentially open ending, see if editors like it, and, at most, have an outline of ideas for further installments.   

My book that's currently out with publishers is a stand-alone novel.  It contains a definite ending.  Here's the problem, though: my main character won't get out of my head.  I think she wants me to tell more of her story.  She and I are a little at odds with another right now.  I've told her my opinions about the stand-alone novel as an art form, but she's a stubborn character and doesn't necessarily want to listen to my lofty views of literature.

We'll see what happens.  Perhaps her story will continue.  Maybe I'll play around with an outline and see if the ideas are worth pursuing.  For now, I'm reading both stand-alone novels and multi-book series and hoping the endings either leave me breathless for more or end with an unforgettable bang.