Writing a historical novel requires research. Writing Members of the Cast taught me a great deal about the clothing and music of the 1950s. Being in grammar school during those years helped, but I was surprised about what happened in certain years. I pride myself on a good memory for the days of yore, but was disappointed to find that some songs I referenced were not written until the 1960s.
Facts and detail aside, historical novels must have the voice of the era. Members of the Cast is about a high school girl in 1959. The dialog needs to be representative of Margo’s world. I spent a good deal of time trying to determine if a word used in the dialog was accurate.
Our son is writing a fantasy set in a medieval-like world. An early read of his chapters showed a lack of consistent voice. I loved the grandeur of much of the language and recoiled when more “common” phrases appeared. His recent revision was a thing of beauty, and I remarked that he had found his voice for the book. He showed me a tool he used when revising.
The Tool
I am writing a steampunk novel set in the 1890s. It would not do to have my main character say, “let’s jazz this place up a bit,” because jazz was not coined until the early 1900s, but how would I know for sure?
In Google, type: “define jazz” and search.
Scroll down and click on More definitions and word origin
The expanded definitions are fascinating but can slow your writing progress as you bird walk through the ramifications of your word. However, it is necessary to be sure your manuscript usage is one of the definitions discussed in the search.
Scroll down until “Use over time use for: jazz” appears.
Sure enough, the word didn’t become popular until the Roaring 20s and has no place in my novel.
Words can fool us. “Scenario” is a popular word, but by using the “Use over time” resource, you may be surprised to find that the word came to English after 1900 and wasn’t used to any extent until the 1960s.
Sigh. I suppose this means that when planning their final attack on the Freebooters, my characters shouldn’t discuss possible scenarios.
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