Rebels with a Cause

You push boundaries.

You’re suspicious of rigid ideas about “truth”.

You question the need for perfect realism, 100% of the time.

What are you going to choose? Historical fiction all the way!

Historical fiction often gets a bad rep because almost everyone has a dull history teacher in their past. But I’m here to tell you that history is not merely about “naming 3 main causes of the First World War” and killer coffee-breath.

Real history – the kind that sucks you in, makes your brain tingle, and changes the way you understand the world – is dynamic. Our understanding of it changes all the time. Scholars feud about it. History can also bleed into dystopia, exploring a nightmare past that we might otherwise fail to remember. Totalitarian governments, secret societies, rebels with a cause – they already exist. There’s no need to invent them from scratch, although there’s always room to elaborate, explore, and challenge.

Here are just 3 of the many things I adore about writing historical fiction:

1. Know the rules. Break the rules.

One of the stereotypes about Victorian England that frustrates me is the idea that everyone spoke beautiful, formal English without contractions (“can’t”, “don’t”). England was (still is!) a country of a thousand dialects, and Victorians were much less uptight about “correct” accents than their twentieth century descendants. I refuse to believe that in everyday, casual conversation, they spoke like etiquette manuals. So when I wrote the Agency novels, I chose to have my characters speak in casual, vivid, even slangy phrases – especially characters like Mary and James, who know each other well and have a lot to argue about.

2. Start with a foundation. Then smash it up or build on it, accordingly.

Once you know the bare bones – big events, social customs, political climate – you’re free to play about as you wish. Want to crack jokes at the expense of celebrities? Steampunk your way into a fantasy-tinged parallel past? History is your playground. For my debut novel, A Spy in the House, I chose the Great Stink of 1858 as my setting. It’s a fascinating few months when the industrial revolution’s trampling of the environment meant that the River Thames stank, very literally, of poo. Social functions met bodily functions. And all of London had to deal with it. This is a perfect starting point – especially since you don’t have to breathe the air in real life.

3. Talk back.

There’s often a shouting history pedant insisting that he or she is, indeed, absolutely and perfectly correct. Fortunately, there’s usually also evidence to the contrary. History is about competing stories, rival interpretations, and detective work, and the historical novels I love best are the ones that uncover “lost” threads. This is something I try to do in my own books, and one reason I include a community of Lascars – Asian sailors – in my vision of Victorian London. Hundreds of Lascars settled in England, married English women, had families, and left little trace of their existence – in mainstream history, at least. By talking about them, we see that Victorian England was more diverse than stereotypes suggest.

Historical fiction is a chance to push boundaries. Play with truth. Stretch ideas about realism. It’s nothing less than a chance to rewrite the past.

Call it the best of both worlds.

For more information on Ying and her books check out www.yslee.com