Writing Historical Characters part 2

Today on the show I am talking about developing historical characters that ring true for their time and how their environment can be used to help shape characters who are believable, interesting, and of their time. 

Transcript

Wendy Jones: 0:02

Hi, and welcome to the writing and Marketing Show brought to you by author Wendy H. Jones. This show does exactly what it says on the tin. It's jam packed with interviews, advice, hints, tips and news to help you with the business of writing. It's all wrapped up in one lively podcast, so it's time to get on with the show. And welcome to Episode 68 of the writing and Marketing Show with author entrepreneur Wendy H. Jones. Today I'm going to be doing another solo show. And I'm doing part two of the series that I promised on writing historical characters. And today I'm going to be talking about how the times affected the historical characters what was going on in the time. It affects how they would think and how they adapt and what they would do in different situations. Before that news and views from the bazaars while the most exciting thing that's happened in the Jones household this week, is that I now have copies of Bertie, the Buffalo. So if you would like a copy of Bertie, the Buffalo, you can get hold of me, Wendy at Wendy jones.com. Or you will be able to get it from any bookshop, as this podcast goes out on the fifth of may 2021, because that's when it's officially published. But I have copies in my hand as I record this the day before, and I sending out signed copies. So if you would like a signed copy, it's Wednesday at Wendy H jones.com. What else has been happening?

Unknown: 1:36

Well,

Wendy Jones: 1:37

we're out of lockdown a bit more. And it's been quite nice. I've been out for a meal that was pleasant. Just to be able to do that, because it's not really been possible for the last year. We're still got some restrictions, but we are moving on. Also, you might be able to tell that my voice is getting coarser and hoarser. As I do these, I've got an appointment, which I'm very pleased about next week, too, with any anti doctor, so we'll see what that is. It might just be old age, who knows. But it could be something else. And we're just get it checked out. I don't think it's anything too serious. But it does mean that I'm getting more hoarse. And I do struggle a bit to do these podcasts. What else has been happening? Well, we apparently in the 17th of May, which is just an over a week's time to eat just under two weeks time, should I say we do get to go further. And I have a little holiday booked at the end of the month. And I really am taking a holiday I'm taking five days off. So it's been a good month really may enjoying it. And so before I get on with the actual part of the show where I talk about the historical characters, I would like to say it's an absolute pleasure to bring you the show every week. And I do it willingly. However, it does take time out of my writing. And if you would like to support that writing, then you can do so at Wendy, Wendy h jones.com. And I would be eternally grateful, you can do that for just $3 a month. And I would appreciate it and it would mean you enjoy the show and wanted to go on. So what about writing historical characters? Well, today I'm going to talk about how the times might affect the way that they react and act and the way they look at things and view things. For example, I will go to talk first about men and women. Now at the moment men and women are in most of the globe are fairly equal. And that's well documented in the 20th century through the 20th century, there's been more and more equality. And it's extremely, extremely important. However, if you're looking at characters historically, they're not going to look and act and behave and feel the way we did No, because society's norms were different. For example, in the early 18th century, I'm writing a book set set, then women pretty much knew their place, then they were subservient, very often they needed their husband's permission to do anything. They couldn't just go off and do it without his say. So men were seen as more important as having a greater role. My that might not be the case. We all know know that. Women and men are capable of doing the same things. But that wasn't believed in those days, women was seen as being the weaker sex. So you know, there was a lot of caring and nurturing for women, or even domination of women. So how would women think then, how would they feel then? Now you may want to character that wants to break out of society's norms and that's brilliant. You know, that's a character but you need to be aware of what society's norms were and are so you can't you can show your current As breaking free from that, you need to know what they were. So you can see your other characters reactions to that. So it's extremely important that you understand that if you're writing about a male, you may be giving him attitudes, and you may be giving him having him say things that you would never have him Sarah to now be in a character now, because that would things were different, then things were much different. And there was also a different between the classes, you know, depending on your background, women may have heard a bit more, say so. But on the whole, not, you know, they were still subservient, they were still expected to, you know, bow to what their husbands thought was acceptable at that time. And if they came from a poor background, they might be a single parent, with a husband who responded or a husband who had died, how were they meant to support their children when they were seen as being lesser beings in those days, you know, so there are things that you really need to take into consideration when you're considering historical fiction. Now, if you move into the mid 20th century, and you look at Dundee where I'm from No, Dundee, it was a huge jute area, that with lots of jute Mills, and the women were needed to run the one the mills, they were actually the ones who did the weaving. And Weaver's could make a lot of money, they made good money. And because of this weavers, we're bringing because we're bringing in good money, they had a bit more of an equal say in the household, because very often, the husbands might have been the ones who got home first. You know, we call them kettle boilers here, because they would get home first, and they would get the wife's tea ready, which was unusual in those days, it was usually the other way around. So the fact that they were in a stronger room, and they were stronger and more confident in themselves and were happier in their skin. And they had, they didn't have real equality, but they had a lot more equality and a lot of places. Now, that's important if you're writing a book set in the 50s 60s, in Gandhi, because you need to portray the fact that the women were more confident, they did have more equality, they were feisty, as we say they were feisty women and Don D in those days. And that's important. But also, one of the things that we'll say about it as well is that regardless of what age you're writing your historical fiction and where they are in the world will have an impact as well. Because different countries have different ideas of what was the norm. So you need to take all of that into consideration. It's something you need to research so that you know that you're getting it right. So that's important, really. So what else do you need to be aware of? Well, you need to be aware of things like the working age, what time what time, what age, do children leave school lots, and start to work? And schooling, the type of schooling the heart would have been extremely important. Because would they have had schooling? Would they have actually been going to school as children, depending on where you are in the world and what century you're writing in, they may not have had any schooling. But again, in Scotland, we believed in schooling, we believed in the written word we believed in education. So children were encouraged to go to school, they were encouraged to read, they were encouraged to write, and they were encouraged to explore and know more than what was just around them. So if you're writing something in Scotland, you need to know that sort of thing. So that you can, can bring this over in your books. But of course, even in the in a country like Scotland, where we really championed education, children would have to leave school a certain time. Now that no that's it teen in the 21st century, 21st century should say. But it was younger. So for example, when my mom was young, she left school at 14 now my mother was an extremely intelligent lady, and could have gone on to university and everything but she came from a working class background. She left school at 14 and she went and she did some she became a secretary. She got a lot of different jobs in the that were the one in the jute Mills, you know, because very often girls went into the jute mills in the factories in those days. But my mother was intelligent and she managed to get jobs elsewhere but she still had to leave school and money to come in to the family. So that's important. What was the working age for them? I mean, there were times when boys had to go down the pits, and they would be dragged out of school, certain age to go down the pits, you've also got to remember that there are things to do with age that have shaped what happens now. So for example, in Scotland and England, Scotland and England, the summer holidays are different dates. The reason they're different dates is because originally, they were set around the raspberry picking in Scotland, and the hot picking in England. So the raspberry picking here was held earlier, that happened earlier. So that was when the school holidays were. And they did that, because in the working class families, they would pull the kids out of school to go and pick the berries. And they were needed, the farmers needed them to go and pick the berries. So that was important. So the school holidays were earlier, it's important to know things like that, because it can help to shape your narrative. And in England, the same thing happened, what was around the hot picking, and the hot picking was slightly later. So hence the reason, we now have different school holiday dates, but that was how it first started. And you need to know when that first started, would children be given the holidays? Were their holidays a certain time because of that. So that's an important sort of detail to research so that you know what you're doing. And again, you need to research things like holidays for boarding schools, because, for example, my character in my historical book, who was a real character, he went to boarding school, when was his holidays have been? When would he have got time off? Well, he went to a private school should i say i'm not i don't know where it was boarding school. And I'm still looking into that. But he went to a private school. But when would his holidays have been what would be been expected to do during those holidays. And was he expected to work in the father his father's business was he expected to go and work in the fields was he expected to do anything that's important, and that can shape your narrative. Another thing that's important to think about when you're looking at historical fiction is attitudes to sickness and to death. Now, we have very good health service here. Now, as I alluded to earlier, I went to see my GP a week ago, and next week, I have a consultation with an EMT consultant Two weeks later, all free in Scotland, it doesn't cost me anything. So free at the point of access. And that that's important, because that was not free at the point of access until the 1950s, I think it was, it was either late 1940s, or the 1950s. In Britain, I can't remember when an iron Baron brought in the National Health Service, and it was free to everybody. So if you're writing books set before then people might have died, or they might not have been as many treatments and people might have died of things that we would not expect them to die of. No. So what we're gonna attitudes to sickness and death, was it more accepting? I don't know, I can't say it was more accepting, but wasn't one accepting because people died younger people died of things that they would not die of now. Whereas our attitude now is that everybody needs to be treated for everything, quite rightly. So I'm not seeing any other way. However. And that may not have been the case in the past, and people in the UK would be dying, because they couldn't get access to health care, because they didn't have the money for it. So we get free prescriptions in Scotland, we get free medicine. So again, you need to think about things like what medicine was available, then. What medicine could be afforded, then, how much did it cost? How much did it cost to go and see a GP? Now, I actually have a list of GPS costs for the early 18th century in Scotland, because I needed that for my character in my book, because it's early 18th century Scotland, it starts in, but I needed those details. And I have got information about what medicines were available, what what was used in terms of techniques for operations, and you know, the other things that you need to be aware of are things like when did anaesthesia come in? If your characters are having anything done, you know, with anaesthesia before that was brought in, then what did they do? I mean, to my knowledge, and I've not researched this, this is just over the top of my head, and I think it was the case but I'm going to research it properly, but they use whisking something for them to bite on. So they got them drunk, gave them something to bait on and then cut the leg off. It doesn't sound like a very Chiti way of doing things. Plus it also doesn't sound like it's very healthy for you because probably, and you know, you wouldn't be infection would have been been high. So these are all things that you need to take into consideration. people died younger, your character may have had several siblings die. So they know that life is precious and that life is fleeting. Because they've seen it, they know that there's been that death is around and illnesses around, and how is this going to affect your character? It could be that they have a real fear of death. Or it could be they have a fatalistic attitude to death to sickness, and they just think, come what may, I just have to look after it. And again, that is dependent on their class and the class system as they had in the past. sanitation is also another thing that you need to think about with your character. You know, what was the availability of toilets? What flush toilets available in the time you're writing about? What are they going in a privy? In the back garden? Where are you? Right? Are you writing a book, even setting the 50 6070s in Scotland, we still had the old tournaments with them platys, which was a platform that was outside that just basically a landing, the older open air landing, that all people could get to their individual tenement flats from, but they had one toilet on the stairwell for everybody to use. And that was still in the 50s 60s and 70s in Scotland. So these are things that you need to think about, you know, whether you're living in a rooming house where there was one toilet outside for the whole landing, and they had a, they were sharing a room with someone else, and they had a drug and a basin, in their room to wash with. So how would that affect them? How would that make them feel? Would it make them stronger? Would it make them more ill? You'd also thinking about, you know, where did the water come from was outside taps was at Wells? And, you know, when did soap come in? Would they be using salt? What did they do before soap came in? These are all things that you need to research and get right in your, in your books, because they affect the way your character behaves. And the way they think, for example, at one point, it was actually considered bad to have a bath too often, it was considered unhealthy. And that you would get more ill if you had a bath more often. And that was before people's understanding change. So if you have your character, having a bath every day, during that time, you can bet your bottom dollar, you'd better have a jolly good reason in that book as to why your character is doing that, despite the fact that society is saying otherwise. You know, did they have a bath in the house? Or were they using the tin bath in front of the fire, where everybody use the same water because you were hitting your heating water up on the stove and a kettle to fill it up. And everybody would use the same water. These are all things that you need to take into consideration because they shape the way your character behaves. They shape the way your character feels, they shape the way your character thinks. And it's important as well, because my character became a doctor. And I mean, what did he think about this? You know, he might have been told in his medical training, that having a bath every day was unhealthy. So he'd be telling his characters this. Now I'm characters, his patients this. Now, I may not want to say that from my 20th century perspective. But you're looking at an early 18th century or whenever I'm not just seeing that character. How would they think and what advice would they be giving at that time? That's what needs to make it to your book. You've got to view it with your character's eyes, not your own 20th century eyes, you're looking at it to your characters historical eyes. Again, what food was available? Was food plentiful? Was it difficult to get ahold of? Was it did it? Was it expensive? What was your character unable to afford it? This would shape the way the the build, you know, for example, a rich character may come across as being corpulent, being large, perhaps obese, because they have the money to buy the food. They have the money to buy the things that they were able to in those days. You know, when was sugar brought in? When was tea brought in. If you're having your character drinking tea, and there was no tea in the country at that point, you can bet your bottom dollar somebody is going to tell you so so you can't soothe your character's feelings. With a nice cup of tea, unless a nice cup of tea was available, so your characters are shaped by what is happening around them, because they're going to reach for something different, they may have reached for a brand instead. Because it may be that that was considered fine. In those days, my character joined the Royal Navy as a doctor. And trust me, he would be using rum. And he might be using rum on the boat to get the sailors drunk shoving something in the mouth of them to bait on and then cutting the leg off. Or they might be having a stiff rump to get over having to do that, you know? And also all these sorts of things, what cleaning stuff was available in those days? How did they clean the decks of blood? Or did they just wash it down, solicit down with a bucket of water and hope for the best. These are all things that your character needs to be comfortable with. Now, your character may not be comfortable with it, and maybe thinking there has to be something better than this. But you need to describe it to bring in that your character is looking and thinking about a different way of being. And that will set it into context. So again, the food and everything like that, and availability of cleaning fluids, etc. everything like that will shape how your character is how your character develops, the person they become if they were starving their whole childhood, and they now got a job where they can afford food or the hoarding food. Are they looking out for other people? Are they realising that, you know, children that come from poverty need some food? And they set up a soup kitchen? Because of that? Or do they not care? Because they think Well, I've clawed my way out, you can as well, you know, there's different ways things like that can actually shape your character, the claws of the award at the time. And depending on where the where clause could be really restrictive. So you're not going to have on the whole a woman who is, you know, dressed in a hoop to dress running across a field in a hoop dress, it wouldn't have happened, you know, that would not have happened, it might have happened. But you need to be seeing why it happened and why they thought that was acceptable. So the clothes that they wore would have shaped the way women behaved. However, you can also use clothes as a way to shape your character because they may find it That was too restrictive. And they want to break free. And your female character decides they're going to wear trousers and a shirt and join the army and pretend that a man which actually happened and they got away with it for their entire career. They were there was a male dog. It was a female doctor who passed off as a male for her entire career and to my knowledge she finished as a colonel. So she did quite well on it. And so they may have changed the way they feel based on their bucking back kicking back to the society's norms at the time of what was acceptable for women, or even what was acceptable for men. The families they had in those days was a large family. Obviously most people had large families, but most of them may have died at childbirth or died of diptheria or died of whatever disease was prevalent at the time, the plague or you know, I know we have Coronavirus No, but you need to think about what might have happened in the past and how that affected the families. And how did their family affect the way they think and feel, the way they act, their expectations, what society expects of them. And because the family would have had a large part in bringing that to the fore. Now, for example, somebody may have had a young boy may have had a drunken father who came home and beat the mother and all the children up every night. But he could go one of two ways he could become exactly the same, take a drink and then come home and beat up his siblings or beat up his wife and kids. Or it could make him a better person. He could say that he wants to change he wants to be different. And that he is going to do so do something different make better life for himself and does and moves forward changes his life completely because of what happened in the past. So I hope that's helped you. That's just another overview today. It's not meant to be extensive. And I am going to do more of these and I will go into things in more detail. I just hope that this has helped you. And I hope you're thinking about writing historical fiction because historical fiction can be Exciting, it can be interesting. It can be fascinating and it can be lots and lots of fun. So enjoy your week and I will see you back here next week for another exciting episode of the writing and Marketing Show. That brings us to the end of another show. It was really good to have you on the show with me today. I'm Wendy h Jones. And you can find me at Wendy H jones.com. You can also find me on Patreon where you can support me for as little as $3 a month which is less than the price of a tea or coffee. You go to patreon.com forward slash when the H Jones. I'm also went to h Jones on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Thank you for joining me today and I hope you found it both useful and interesting. Join me next week when I will have another cracking guest for you. Until then, have a good week and keep writing. Keep reading and keep learning