Ask the Bard #27: Real People & Places in Fiction
Haly's answering your questions about basing fiction on real people, places, and things. Also, the entertaining answer to "Hey, Haly! How's it going?" in this week's worldbuilding advice column!
Y’all, had me fooled for a minute. I genuinely thought that I had solved the problem of worldbuilding, forever, in last week’s two-parter. Then, along came
in the community chat, asking this week’s wonderful little gem!
Q: What are the pros and cons of using real world people, places, and things as inspiration in your own world or story?
A: Historical fiction is for writers who love research, love writing fiction, and think that both should be made more convoluted and difficult by mixing them together.
Seriously, though, well-done historical fiction is one of the greatest ways to learn about historical people, places, and events.
Yes, I’m reaching for Neal Stephenson again. Yes, I’m pointing you all to The Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon. Again. That is because these are absolute masterworks of historical fiction featuring very real and very well-known people from history, including the King of France, several Kings of England, even Newton and Leibnitz.
So, what are my pros and cons to using real people, places, and events from history?
Pros
Because you've got a real history to draw upon, it can be easier to characterize real people as...well, a character.
When Neil Stephenson wrote about Louis and his court, he had a lot of information to draw upon, letters and journals and papers and biographies and accounts, etc. This made it very easy to portray Louis as the vain, manipulative genius that he was purported to be.
Using real events lends authenticity to your narratives as well as helps break you out of snow globe worldbuilding. (Yanno, where nothing exists except for what’s necessary to the story. Think Pleasantville, the movie.)
In her Anne series, Lucy Maude Montgomery peppered little pieces of history into several of the books, including a Canadian election. The last in the series, Rilla of Ingleside, is set during World War I. And Arthur Conan Doyle is famous for including real-world details into his stories, so much so that finding and identifying these historical easter eggs is known today as “The Game.”
Also, a large historical canvas, such as a war, the reign of a monarch, or the life of a notable figure provides much material for interesting plots and adventures revolving around fictional people in the general orbits of those places and people.
Cons
You have to do the fucking research, and if you get it wrong, then you're dead in the historical fiction community. As I said at the beginning, historical fiction is not for
Hope this helps!!
Q: Hey, Haly! How’s it going?
A: I’ve been feeling down about my writing lately.
In my day job, I make transmissions for things like school busses, ambulances, fire engines, and garbage trucks. On the other side of the wall from me…they make transmissions for tanks. And down the hall, they make transmissions for heavy mining vehicles. Is it any wonder why I’m so desperate to find an audience and break out of that place?
In my struggle to do so, I’ve made the classic mistake of falling into my own insanity: I’m doing the same thing and expecting different results.
Of course, I know this is not a sustainable thing! That is a part of the reason why I’m making such a sudden left turn with the structure of this newsletter for the next few weeks. It might be that I need a change of pace, and this brief interlude will reignite my passion for sharing worldbuilding advice. Or it could be that some creative fiction project is trying to burst from my brain like a hatching xenomorph. I might even look around, decide no one wants this, and start a coaching business!!
Truthfully, I think this is all the stress of the move, the winter blues, a mild case of burnout, and a heavy dose of PMS. This shift into worldbuilding and fiction mode will, I hope, give me some perspective while my mood sorts itself out, and some breathing room while I go through a tremendous move.
Oh. And WAWA voting officially opens on Saturday. I’m on the verge of a breakdown just thinking about it! So do me a favor and leave a comment to cheer me up. I’d really appreciate it, y’all are the reason why I do this!
Nothing like blowing up the next bridge to shake things up. What you do next could be the craziest or smartest thing ever!