tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post109610756467221877..comments2024-03-23T12:38:46.260+00:00Comments on The History Girls: Treasuring history through fiction, by Gillian PolackMary Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-91461663203980073512016-07-04T13:00:34.298+01:002016-07-04T13:00:34.298+01:00Catherine, I've been known to teach writers th...Catherine, I've been known to teach writers that they can make whatever decisions they like about the hsitory in their novels, but that readers will hold them to account for those decisions. The degree is not essential, but the understanding is. And if writers can't tell a story, why would readers bother with them?Gillian Polackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07113321985223288302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-38762241156006103402016-07-04T12:51:09.116+01:002016-07-04T12:51:09.116+01:00Very interesting article - I've had so many qu...Very interesting article - I've had so many questions about the details of the events rather than the story I wrote at my last two events and also, at both, questions about my own academic background which was interesting. There was an expectation of a history degree (I have one but so long ago it's almost medieval itself) and surprise when I maintained that the story-telling skill was as needed as the research training, if not more so. The times they are a changing?Catherine Hokinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16251036106757891834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-37486527329479417102016-07-04T11:10:49.060+01:002016-07-04T11:10:49.060+01:00Thank you, Lorraine. Pleased to have you on board!...Thank you, Lorraine. Pleased to have you on board!<br /><br />One of the questions behind my research was this bridging the gap. I was a historian (PhD in Medieval History, and practising in my field) and a writer (of novels and non-fiction) and so I saw it from both sides and wondered what it looked like from a wider cultural perspective. This is one of the themes of my History and Fiction study.Gillian Polackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07113321985223288302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-81133703034179448362016-07-04T06:52:35.240+01:002016-07-04T06:52:35.240+01:00An excellent piece! I recall advice regarding my &...An excellent piece! I recall advice regarding my 'narrative' style when studying at Oxford. It wasn't so much a criticism (at least, I don't think so) as an observation, and it prompted me to think about where my studies would take me. As the end goal was writing accurate historical fiction, I decided to stick with my own style. I still managed an Upper Second and a number of novels, so it is possible to bridge the gap. Wonderful closing sentence - you can easily be true to historical fact when writing fiction. Historical question marks are a wonderful breeding ground for blending fact with supposition, and many great writers manage it well. I tend not to follow many blogs, but I will certainly follow this one. Thanks1Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07411926950629107947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-82113843957939700962016-07-03T13:46:32.623+01:002016-07-03T13:46:32.623+01:00Thank you, Penny!
Elizabeth, I think that a lot m...Thank you, Penny!<br /><br />Elizabeth, I think that a lot more writers will get formal qualifications in history (and are already) but another thing my research showed was that the writing an story are even more important than the history. This means that there will always be room for good writers, whatever their level of formal education. They have to research more, but they don't have to (and never should) choose history above telling a fine story.Gillian Polackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07113321985223288302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-52809747605204012612016-07-03T13:10:36.128+01:002016-07-03T13:10:36.128+01:00Just for the record, I write historical fantasy, a...Just for the record, I write historical fantasy, and I do a lot of historical research (and agonise over it not being good enough.) Do you think, though, that we're going to reach a situation where no one will accept you as a historical fiction author without a masters in history?Elizabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10404111400436001557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-36764721317241529842016-07-02T15:02:20.547+01:002016-07-02T15:02:20.547+01:00Enjoyed your analysis of all that lies within the ...Enjoyed your analysis of all that lies within the best "modern" historic novels very much. Thanks.Penny Dolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16386668303428008498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-47344817747175210992016-07-02T07:38:45.820+01:002016-07-02T07:38:45.820+01:00I found it interesting (when I did my study) that ...I found it interesting (when I did my study) that both historical fiction and spec fic authors do research for the history in their novels, but it really is a different kind of research and the outcomes are different. The words used to describe what they were doing are similar, however, so it wasn't til I delved deeply that I discovered just what these differences were and how large they are. They are fundamental to the differences in genre, which didn't surprise me at all.Gillian Polackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07113321985223288302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-52596835320566668482016-07-02T05:15:18.119+01:002016-07-02T05:15:18.119+01:00I was a member of the SCA many years ago. It's...I was a member of the SCA many years ago. It's mostly inhabited by SF fans, but they do take it seriously. Any personal device must be cleared by the group's herald, who then submits it to the College of Heralds in the U.S., to make sure nobody else has it. There are feasts with mediaeval type foods and I even remember someone making a subtlety once, shaped like a unicorn. I joined to learn how to write a fight scene correctly. That said, the armour is made in modern workshops, the clothes on modern sewing-machines, the food cooked in modern ovens, but what-the-heck! <br /><br />I believe even fantasy writers should do their historical research, even if they end up taking liberties - nobody should say, as one writer did on Twitter, "It's my universe, I'll do what I want with it!" <br /><br />I won't read self published historical fiction these days. I won one in a competition once. The author wrote quite a good blog post about it, but it turned out he had researched the big things - battles, politics, etc. - and neglected daily life, so that after one jarring scene after another full of anachronisms, I gave up. When he emailed to ask me if I was reviewing it, I offered him a guest post, just to be kind. Sue Bursztynskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09362273418897882971noreply@blogger.com