So before we get started, allow
me to stand on my soapbox.
I strongly believe in “Literary
Citizenship.” It’s a term I coined a couple of years ago. Basically, it means
we are all members of a strong and diverse community of writers in Colorado
Springs, the Rocky Mountain Region, and across North America and the world. As
a member of this community, we have to constantly earn our place through
service. But it doesn’t end there.
To keep our place, we have to
continue to be of service to our fellow writers. The good news is that service
renews our hope and revitalizes our art, and anybody can serve.
It could be telling a friend about
a great craft book we’ve discovered, or writing a review for a friend’s
published book on Amazon. It could be as simple as celebrating our peers during
their successes. (This may also mean swallowing our jealousy – hard!) If you’ve
been in the writing game for a while it may be volunteering at the Pikes Peak
Writers Conference by leading a panel or seminar. It could also mean mentoring
someone new to the craft. I myself have been humbled by the support I’ve
received from pros like Aaron Michael Ritchey, author of the Never Prayer and
Dandelion Iron. Or, my dear friend Mary Wine, author of Highland Heat and
Highland Spitfire.
The point is, wherever you are in
the writing process, whether you’ve published a book, or struggling with your
opening line, you too can help others along the way. There is room enough for
everyone and this is not a competition.
I get the impression that
historical fiction scares a lot of people. That the idea of writing a
compelling story, (whether it’s a novel, a novella, or a short story,) somehow
should be the province of the professional historian, or at least the master of
historical trivia.
I also get the impression that
some people believe that you can’t write historical fiction with diverse
characters. Whether those characters be women, minorities, transgendered or gay,
nothing could be further from the truth.
Let’s take two popular eras for
book writers, for example: Regency and Tudor England.
The formal English Regency, when
Parliament declared George III unfit to rule, occurred from 1811-1820, when
George III died. However, many artists, architects and historians use the term loosely
to refer to period from 1795-1837.
Regardless of how you define it,
this was a tumultuous period in British history. Want strong women? How about
the Quaker reformer Elisabeth Fry, who worked tirelessly to make British
prisons more humane for both men and women. Growing up in a family of bankers
and politicians, she used her
influence to wage a nonstop battle against corruption and the abuse of women
for more than 30 years.
Or how about the Irishwoman
Elizabeth Conyngham, an Irish noblewoman by marriage and mistress of King
George IV. Born into a wealthy Irish banking family, she climbed the social
ladder using her looks to her advantage until she gained the attention of the
prince-regent. Weak women don’t manipulate kings like this woman manipulated
King George IV.
Intrigue and social reform not
cool enough for you? OK. Remember this, the American War of 1812 and the
Napoleonic Wars occurred during the English Regency. Native American tribes
fought on both sides of the War of 1812. Tribes like the Shawnee, the
Winnebago, Delaware and Miami fought for the British. And, the largest
emancipation of African slaves in North America, before the Civil War, occurred
when the British freed and enlisted 4,000 slaves. Many of these former slaves
chose careers in the British armed services as sailors and soldiers, earning
ranks as high as sergeant. (Officer ranks were reserved, mostly, for the
British nobility.)
During the Napoleonic Wars,
revolution ravaged Latin America, too. In Latin America many of those who
supported revolution from Spain were Mestizo
or Creole with Native American
and European heritage – although this was not always the case. Again though, we
have the potential for diverse characters!
Let’s also remember that during
this period, women controlled noble titles, estates, farms & businesses
while their men fought on both sides. Let’s also remember that women worked as
spies, as did men of all heritage. And, while I personally have never researched
the appearance of transgendered or gay historical persons from the English
Regency, that doesn’t mean they weren’t there.
The Tudor period, on the face of
it, seems like it would be a much more homogenous time in European history.
Diverse people lived all throughout the British Isles during this period, too.
But let’s define our terms, shall we?
The Tudor period was 1485, when
Henry 7th killed Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, to
1603, when Queen Elizabeth I died, ending the Tudor line of monarchs. While
this was a much more peaceful period, it was still a time of cultural and
ethnic interaction and appropriation.
For example:
Pocahontas visited England and
actually had an audience with Queen Elizabeth I.
Sailors and artisans from Spain
routinely settled in England for business reasons before and during the
Anglo-Spanish War. Some of these were of Arab and African descent.
Visitors from the Ottoman Empire
visited England during Elizabeth’s reign in an attempt to build an alliance against
Philip II’s Spain.
Onyeka Nubia published Blackamoores: Africans in Tudor England,
their Presence, Status and Origins, in 2013. He
argues that Africans existed in small numbers in Elizabethan England as
artisans and craftsman. That the evidence shows they married into English
families and were a part of English culture, however small.
So let’s review:
Arabs, Africans, Native Americans and Turks. I see diversity of characters
here!
Did I mention the
Irish pirate Grace O’Malley, scourge of the Irish Sea?
Not convinced?
Look at these three
medieval paintings. In each one, a woman is participating in a traditional male
craft. One is butchering – a man’s job.
Not convinced? Look at
the woman sculpting a statue with a hammer and chisel.
Still not convinced?
Look at the woman in the back of the third painting, she working as a BLACKSMITH!
Diverse people and
strong women lived in all periods of western history, you just have to look for
them.
So what do you do with
the information? WRITE YOUR STORY! Write strong women characters. Write
characters who are Black, Arab, and Latin Americans. Write gay and
transgendered characters.
Now, this is not
license to ignore the historical record. No African prince proposed to Queen
Elizabeth I. No Muslim-Arab became Duke of Somerset. Women were still
brutalized and oppressed in many situations. Homosexuals and transgendered were
sent to prison or murdered when discovered. But the evidence points to their
existence in both the English Regency and Tudor England.
Tell the awful,
horrible truth, in your historical fiction. People of diverse origins lived,
worked, and thrived in the past. Sometimes they struggled and were treated
unfairly, but they were there.
The past was more
diverse than we imagined.
So what are you
waiting for? Go write!
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