By Niki Turner
Everyone has a favorite fictional time period (or a few) to read about, whether it's medieval England or America's wild west. The Inkies have covered multiple time periods in the last eight years.
In the last few years I've noticed a move in fiction toward exploring new eras, ones which haven't been the subject of as much romanticization in fiction... World War I and World War II, the Great Depression, and so forth.
I'm at work on my next Christmas novella. The setting lends itself toward a western-themed romance, but I'm leaning toward something later...
As I write this post, my husband and I are watching the first episode of a television series about Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and we've just had a conversation about which war they're talking about. At my "other job" every week I peruse our local newspaper from 100 years ago, so I'm entrenched in the early years of WWI and dreading next year's Spanish Flu epidemic. These were eras I never would have considered writing about a decade or so ago, but now it feels like everything is an option.
So what's your favorite time period? Why?
What time period would you like to experience in fiction?
Niki Turner is an author, newspaper publisher and editor. You can find her at www.nikiturner.net or visit her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/nikiturnerauthor/. All her books are available on Amazon at amzn.to/2hWOsLV
I enjoyed my early 20th century stories set in 1914, 1930 and 1933. But then, I like the research. My unpublished stories are set in 1812-1814, 1837-39, 1907 and 1915 (the ones I remember) and a contemporary. I'm contracted for one set in 1956 and one in 1764. Contemporaries still have research and maybe you have to be even more explicitly correct in setting. I'm not interested in anything before the Colonial period, or in the future, but that still leaves me about a 250 year window! I'd say I'm not as interested in westerns but, ahem, my books are all set in AZ and TX so far! Long answer to say... I think I still love the Victorian era best.
ReplyDeleteDo you find it difficult to jump from one time period to another? I'm noticing that's a problem sometimes for me.
DeleteOh yes! I need transition time. Even if all my stories were in the same setting and decade, it would take me just as long to get out of old characters' heads and into the new ones. But setting... There's so much of culture, dialect and education/world view involved.
DeleteGive me just about anything from 14th Century England to WWII and I'm happy. Before that is, for me, too hard to research. After that is too modern for me, and there's plenty of modern around all the time anyway. I do enjoy seeing some of the less-common eras covered. I hope to get Drew up to WWII if possible. :D
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering when the mid-20th century will start being considered historical. Writing about the 1950s was almost more challenging than writing about the 1800s, because it's so similar to today (cars, TV, etc), but still so different culturally.
DeleteI want 'historicals' to be BEFORE I WAS BORN. Is that too much to ask? apparently!
DeleteI've tried just about every time period (even read some Jean Auel). My favorites are 1600's to late 1800's (which, incidentally, just happens to cover the periods I've tried to write in).
ReplyDeleteMy favorite book I've written is set in 1610. For some reason, editors don't jump at the opportunity for that setting. It's kind of a "bridge" time period between medieval and modern -- it's after the Reformation, European discovery of the Americas, and development of modern (gun-powder based) weapons, but soldiers still wore armor.
That's interesting, C.J. I hadn't thought of those "bridge" eras. There are probably quite a few.
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