I’m going to be speaking at NOLA Stars one day workshop on June 11 on just this very topic and although I have some ideas I’d love to hear yours.
Remember the Duke of Slut and the Regency Police?
For me the divide between Regency Fantasyland and history is becoming even wider and I think that’s a shame. Did all the hot young dukes in London really own private distilleries from whence they obtained their never ending supply of whiskey? Apparently they did, but that’s not my point. Really. We’ve created an alternate history with its own conventions and characteristics but I think providing this comfort zone is a mistake. Don’t we read historicals to go to a time and place unlike our own and wonder at the differences in manners and behavior we find there?
From a structural crafty point of view, I think the conflict established by the standards of the time regarding love and marriage should provide as much tension as anything else the hero/heroine might do or feel. The emotions should bridge the gap of two centuries and those emotions, since we write romance, should be what makes us identify with the characters. We must make the assumption that falling in love is pretty much the same whenever/wherever you live.
What do you think? Do you enjoy those familiar points of reference, or do you want to feel that shiver down your spine when you realize that you are indeed in a different country?
I really hate it when 20th or 21st century ideals are placed in an historical novel. I want to read the history part, but I am led to believe that nowadays publishers want “history lite”. Is it Margaret Frazier who recently said her publishers told her “less history please.” I can’t imagine a Margaret Frazier with less history.
I like to read historical fiction because I get a good story and some real facts. Then I can research those real facts that I find most interesting. Although occasionally I will pick up a history lite if it’s a romping good read.
For me, it’s only too much history if you have an info dump (especially one that is not germane to the plot, a la a certain best selling author’s multi-page lessons in how to milk a cow or make a candle). But this is clearly not true for everyone, as readers love the books in question and I got a review this week that basically said she there was so much history in my books (which I think of as history lite) that she couldn’t understand them (this from someone who supposedly reads and likes historical romance). Colour me baffled.
There’s no pleasing everyone, so you just have to please yourself and hope the right readers find you.
It does seem there’s a demand for “Regency Lite” or even “Fantasy Regency” with a whole set of tropes that aren’t very realistic. But if readers like that, hey! Fantastic.
There’s room for both. I like more history than less.
LOL on the Duke of Slut etc…! Somehow I missed it the first time around.
Maybe some readers want to escape to a different time/place and some want to escape to a place that is safe and luxurious, populated by gorgeous wealthy men, whether they’re dukes or billionaires. I’ve read some contemps that didn’t seem any more realistic than some fantasy Regencies.
Sometimes I enjoy a gritty historical (such as those that deal with the war). When I want something lighter, I’d still rather it was real, like Jane Austen’s country village settings.
OTOH I can read past some errors. Living in a glass house, you know. 🙂
we lost our comments from yesterday. Blogger was experiencing technical difficulties.
My pet peeve about historical detail is when young unmarried heroines engage in sex without even a passing thought to the chance of becoming pregnant.
Had a nice long comment the other day, which of course I couldn’t post.
I want the history of the story to be accurate. If you are writing a piece of historical fiction, the fiction is the story you are building within an historical frame- work. That framework should be constructed with details correct for the time and place in which the story is taking place. It doesn’t have to be done in the form of a lecture. Details woven in will enhance the characters, setting, and the tale. There are many differences between the Regency era and contemporary times. Those differences are important to the actions of your characters, what options they have, and what will happen to them. What was happening in the world had an influence on their lives.
I read in a post once that some readers want to read historical FICTION not HISTORICAL fiction. They don’t want to be bothered by those details. Historical romance is the same as contemporary romance, they just get to wear fancier dresses and go to great parties. They want the fantasy. There is nothing wrong with that, but I think the majority of us who read historical fiction are reading it in a large part for the trip back to a different time & place and a chance to experience life as it was.