Why are readers drawn to historical works?

Many reasons exist for why readers are hopelessly attracted to historical fiction. Getting back to the basics—our roots—seems to be the most common.

What inspired our ancestors to emigrate or how did family traditions begin? Where did I get brown eyes and curly hair? Why did my great grandmother celebrate Celtic holidays or speak French fluently?

These are questions my friends have asked. With a little research, they found answers. But who wants the journey to end there?

Hundreds of history books exist. Wonderful resources we can use to piece together the places and people we’re intimately connected to.

As a person with a restless mind, I always craved more than straight facts. I wanted to see the events through the lens of the people who experienced history first-hand. Historical fiction provides endless opportunities for readers to live in those fantastical moments. Is there anything more exciting?

Pick a century or culture. Follow the events of a birth of a nation or religion. Taste the foods and wear the costumes. Fight the wars or dream their dreams.

I ‘m never satisfied with a linear link. The possibilities in historical works are endless. After all, is historical fiction really that far from the truth?

I think technology and modern thinking has stripped us of some of the values we miss most. In historicals, we’re able to catch glimpses. I’m not saying modern-day heroes don’t exist. But there’s something extraordinary about an 11^th century Viking avenging the death of his kinsman or presiding over criminal/civil cases in his court.

It’s a mixed up world out there. I prefer the clarity of the past. Call me a dreamer, but I know I’m not alone. That’s what inspired me to read, and now write, historical fiction. There’s magic on those pages, and valuable lessons to be learned.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it… George Santayana.

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Inspiration From Your Past

A couple years ago I started reconnecting with old friends, and more than a few former boyfriends, on Facebook. These things go in waves. You find one person who is friends with other people you once knew and next thing you know some guy is messaging you out of the blue and talking about how you were the first girl he ever kissed. How embarrassing when you don’t remember either him or the event.

Anyone who has read my books has surely guessed I was a tart in training in my long ago youth. Once I met my true love that path dead-ended. I’ve been mostly happily married for nearly twenty-three years. We’ve been together twenty-eight and I’ve been faithful the entire time, sometimes to my great frustration. But that’s not what I want to blog about.

When told of my writing profession, one of those old boyfriends passed on a question from his wife. Had I ever used him as a model for one of my heroes? The answer I sent back was a fast NO. I’m not sure if she was relieved or offended, but the subject dropped right there.

Lately I’ve been thinking about that. What I should have answered was, I’ve only used a boyfriend for a hero once and that book is not published because it’s really bad. It was the first manuscript I finished and it will never crawl out from under the bed. Of the other men I once dated, I’ve only used the one or two I had bad breakups with as villains. Those are the ones who should be shaking in their shoes!

So ultimately, I feel the wives of my former beaus should feel blessed when they don’t recognize their husbands in my books. As for my husband, he sees himself in every hero I write, and rightly so, as he’s my one true hero and always has been. And if one or two of my heroes have certain features, well, I do throw myself into research (Facebook) and find inspiration for my hot men in many places (the pics posted by women more dedicated to searching sites for pics than me). Of course a certain type of man will capture my interest more than others. Can’t be helped. Just hope my readers agree.

If you write, where do you find inspiration for your heroes? If you’re a dedicated reader -- just let me say I adore you -- what types of heroes attract you most? 

Morgan Q. O'Reilly

Romance for All Your Moods

http://morganqoreilly.com

Good Words Gone Bad

Today I wrote the same scene twice, once from the hero’s point of view, and then again from the heroine’s. This was not an intentional exercise to serve some purpose in characterization or a practice in sensory description. This was simply a process in my writing, and one that happens to me all the time.

I was writing a scene of sexual tension, which is harder than other types of writing for me. The first go round came across as creepy, a male thinking about a female in inappropriate ways considering the situation. The second version, in the female point of view, still didn’t feel right, and I couldn’t put my finger on why. And then on the drive home from the coffee shop, I had an epiphany. I have the action happening in the wrong setting. Time for the third re-write. I have no doubt that will require several passes before I get it correct as well.

To me, that is the crux of what it is to be a writer. “To write is to re-write,” so they say. I think I generally delete about 75% of my very first words on the page. Even this blog has been an exercise in deletion. My first words are always so bad, I refuse to even call them a “first draft.”

So why do I keep at it? Because that moment of epiphany is like a drug, a moment of extreme satisfaction that goes beyond merely putting words to paper. And because I can’t not write. Writing, even re-writing, is a joy for me. The weight of my laptop is like a favorite blanket as I puzzle out the words on the page. Each piece has to fit perfectly against the next, until the entire picture becomes whole. Between the epiphany and the puzzle of words, I love the satisfaction of finally getting things “right.”

To all you other writers out there, here’s to inspiration and to getting things “write.”