Drawing on the past: An essay on creating a historical narrative
It's very easy to underestimate the importance of things that have gone before us. Wrapped up as we are in the present, with our eyes firmly fixed on the future that awaits us all, just over the horizon. The fact that the horizon is a place that we will never reach is not even considered by those, straining as they are, to see what lies in wait. Every day it changes, yesterday's tomorrow becomes our today, and everything else that has passed us by is consigned to history. It seems at times that we have become too focused on the unattainable, which is unrealistic. How can we rely on anything that is in a constant state of flux?
The future is unwritten. That is an undeniable fact. There may be indicators, or signs that point towards a future that is determinable, but it is all illusion. To say otherwise is folly - anyone who has any sense must realise, as Matthew Stent (the protagonist in my CPR trilogy) states, that 'the world spins on a sixpence'. What is here with us in the now, all too often is gone seconds later, whilst other things that we expect to expire, conversely outlive us all. It is not fate that determines this, because the actual presence of fate is only discernible by studying the patterns created in the past.
Fate has been described as a predetermined path or chain of events, which directly affects one or more people, often resulting in a dramatic change of circumstance for all those concerned. Great. Except that as we are unable to see into the future, determining fate is as pointless as attempting to estimate the total number of grains of sand that exist at the bottom of the ocean.
There is a synchronicity - a form of continuous coincidence - that is evident by studying the events of the past. We know this because unlike attempting to divine the future, we are able to review things that have already happened because they have become events. We are able to notice aspects that become obvious retrospectively; we can look at those factors which are no longer possibilities or even probabilities, but the truth in cold, hard fact. In examining the past we can identify influences, determine inferences and in doing so create a clear, linear map that touches the lives of everyone who has ever existed, ourselves included. Only by referring to the past can such patterns and links be observed.
It might be said that some amongst us are able to do the same in the here and now, to be able to interpret the same patterns in the immediate. Absolutely, that is also fact. However, those able to perform this feat are nothing less than magicians, able to distance themselves from life and the world, everything and everyone at will, in order to take the requisite time out to study it. These mystics do not lead normal lives because normality itself relies on expectation and expectation exists only in the nebulous shadows over that futuristic 'horizon'.
So what relevance has this to writing? Everything. Understanding the nature of the past, the present and the future allows us as writers to create power in the words of every tale we tell. As writers, the world we create on paper exists beyond the rules that mere mortals must adhere to and for the time in which we create, we become gods - complete with the positive and negative attributes of such deities.
We give life, we judge, we become destroyers of worlds, of lives, of love and of lovers; we are ourselves loving, compassionate, fickle, vengeful, cruel, passionate, remorseful, forgetful, and forgiving. We test our creations, burdening them with unrealistic goals, stifling their achievements and constructing impenetrable barriers to thwart success and deny heroism.
We are also able to travel through time, backwards, forwards, even sideways...
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I used to admire certain writers of historical fiction. One writer in particular, George MacDonald Fraser (I cannot call him the creator of Harry Paget Flashman V.C., the eponymous hero of the Flashman Papers series of novels, as that accolade belongs to another writer by the name of Thomas Hughes). Fraser was my North Star. I looked at his work and marvelled at the richness of his story-telling, the ease with which characters were seamlessly woven into the fabric of the narrative and the breadth of knowledge and information contained within and wondered how anyone could ever match his peerless storytelling.
Many have tried since the first of the Flashman books was published (Flashman : Herbert Jenkins, 1969) copying the style, or rather the feel of the Flashman novels but never achieving anything other than the creation of pale imitations of what have become internationally respected as Fraser's masterworks. The difference as far as I am able to discern between his writing and that of those who followed him, is that the Flashman novels are character driven, set against a historic backdrop that is made instantly accessible to readers, some of whom only have a smattering of historical interest.
Harry Flashman is an immense character, a huge beacon that gives the reader more than just a glimpse into the past, it is illuminated for us. History becomes the plot device and the character becomes it's foil - suffering the high and lows of outrageous fortune as he attempts to swagger, lie, swindle, cheat, fornicate through (or run away from) every major event in Victorian history, from the genteel playing fields of Leicestershire to Rorke's Drift and beyond. I was and still am, in awe of George MacDonald Fraser.
In approaching the writing of Tobias, the companion novel to the CPR trilogy, I had the unenviable task of delving into history to make sense of the world, my protagonist - the wily and manipulative Wiccan high-priest Tobias Greylock - inhabited during the 1950's, 60's and 70's. I had never considered writing a historical novel previously, believing it to be almost impossible to recreate everything that was part and parcel of the time. In my mind I believed that if the great writers of Hollywood could get history so totally and utterly incorrect, with all their unlimited resources, what chance did I have?
Which was why previously, until I wrote CPR: Conditional Positive Regard, I had always concentrated instead on inventing worlds where history did not need to matter. Writing Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Speculative fiction leaves the writer free from the constraints necessary for the discipline of writing a historical novel. Except... I quickly realised it does not. It is just that the constraints are different. The rules however, are the same.
Every character needs, in order to be believable, a history. It is essential. Instinctively we don't trust anything that we do not or can't understand, and this is echoed in literature: where every one of the great literary characters - even the darkest outsiders - have a history. It is after all what defines them; what allows them to arrive at a specific point in the narrative. Once a true history is established (or rather, created) the character - whether it is is male, female or something else - literally comes alive and begins to interact with all the other characters.
This is true in all genres, including historical fiction. In fact, in some ways the job is made so much easier for the historical novelist because of the proliferation of information available to provide a workable plot framework. Some prudence might be required however, as one historical account can differ significantly from another. Not every historian believes Hitler was a monster, for example, or that Alexander the Great was actually that great.
With this in mind I set to work, creating the narrative which is now Tobias with initially, a little trepidation, imaging that the all the knowledge required to create a plausible historical novel would be too difficult to compile and turn into something engaging. I was wrong. I remembered Flashman and returned to them to see if there were common rules within those pages that might assist me in my task. Reading them again was an absolute pleasure, despite my more clinical approach to the prose. The result? Read on...
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So where was I? Ah yes, gods and time travel.
Writers are the only people alive who can truly see into the future. Not because they possess any weird mystical power of prophecy but because they are the creators of their own universe, their own worlds and the characters that inhabit them. They must aspire to become godlike.
Not only do they need to know where each of their characters comes from and how they came to be, but also what they are capable of in the present moment and what will happen to them in the future. Condemning them to a cheesy fate that is both predictable or expected does not follow the model of the real universe we live in.
Things go wrong all the time. Plans fail. Armies are defeated. Cities - even empires - fall. Things sometimes go right too. Fortunes are made. The guy gets the girl. Everyone lives happily ever after. Sometimes. So if you are NOT writing historical fiction, be like the gods, throw a dice or toss a coin to determine the outcome or future of your characters occasionally; be unpredictable, just as the future is. If you ARE writing historical fiction, it's all in the past anyway, so write what you want, provided you abide by the principal rules below.
1. Define your character. Describe his/her origins. Be certain of their strengths and weaknesses. Be certain of their path from cradle to the grave and the influence / effects they have on every person they come into contact with, just as you would if you were reading about them from a history book, but obviously with a more literary flourish.
2. Define the period your character exists in. Describe the environment, the political climate, the characters who were prevalent at the time (or news stories, significant events, etc.) The most significant details in a historical story are often those that would have been overlooked at the time they occurred because they would not have warranted any more thought than was absolutely necessary. Here the idiom, the devil is in the detail, must be your watchword.
3. Define the attitude. Charlotte Bronte was not a feminist, she was a female. Acceptable behaviour in one time period is completely unacceptable in another and vice versa. Understanding the attitude can only be achieved by understanding the mores and norms of society at the time. N.B. These mores and norms were subject to revision periodically as fashion or public opinion dictated.
4. Define the language of the day. Congruence in terminology and phrase is essential for the correct vocalisation of any given time period. Edwardians did not think music was 'groovy' and happy punk rockers did not refer to themselves as 'gay'. Here, the devil is in the diction.
5. Define the popular culture. What were the books, the films, the songs of the day? Who was popular? Who wasn't? What type of food was 'in'? What did people drink? What newspapers did they read? What TV programs were popular? Which celebrities were in demand? Where did people go to enjoy an evening out? (Just like today, but obviously much, much cheaper)
And that is about it, except...
Remember, only the future is unwritten.
The present, is being written about as you sit reading this. We exist now. What we do not know about our world we can very easily learn, by switching on a radio, turning on the TV or picking up a newspaper. We can write about today. Tomorrow it will be history.
The past has already been written about and will continue to be written about until all the historians and revisionists agree fundamentally upon every aspect of the past. We can write about the past because we have all the knowledge and learning required at our fingertips in the form of books and other media.
Do take care whilst surfing however...
