Help Writing Historical Fiction Right

Hi there. You have A Way with Words.

Hey, my name is Judy, and I live in Fort Worth, Texas, half the year.

And in the other half, I live in a little town called Frankfurt, which is in Michigan, a harbor town near Traverse City.

Hi, Judy.

Hey, where are you now? Fort Worth?

I’m in Fort Worth, right.

So my question is about not a particular word or expression.

It’s more about reference sources.

I’m trying to write a historical fiction, and it’ll be located in Michigan.

My characters were living from Civil War times through the 1940s.

And what I’m looking for, I’m such a rookie at this, is the way they talked, their vernacular.

And I’m wondering, I imagine you guys have this huge reference library,

And I’m just wondering where does someone like me go look?

For that kind of information.

Well, we do have a big reference library, both physical and digital.

This is a great question.

Martha, I get so excited when we get this question.

Oh, yeah, we do.

I just love the idea that there is another writer entering the world.

It’s just a great thing to have one more writer launching,

So congratulations to you.

Yeah, I used to do psychological research.

It’s a long way from historical research.

I’m really having a great time looking up all these things to get the context right.

Oh, yeah. Well, that background sounds like it’ll come in handy for sure.

But yeah, you’re right. You don’t want anachronisms creeping in.

So, Grant, we can help her out with that.

Yeah, there’s a couple ways to stop that.

But the first thing I want to say is your goal should be effect rather than historical accuracy.

And by that, I mean that your readers aren’t going to know the earliest uses of the language you use.

And in fact, many things that you use will be older than your readers think they are.

And so even if you’re accurate, your readers may think you’re not.

For example, you might be historically accurate in having a character called the police pigs in the 1830s.

Oh, yeah.

But a lot of people would be surprised by that because they might associate pigs as slang for the cops with hippies in the 1960s.

So historical accuracy has its own traps.

So sometimes, again, it’s about meeting your readers’ expectations more than it is being exactly accurate.

Now, that said, one thing we would always recommend, Martha and I both, is the Dictionary of American Regional English.

The Dictionary of American Regional English allows you to search by region, and it includes dated citations.

So if you’re writing and a phrase comes out of your keyboard that you’re like, oh, I don’t know if that’s too modern, try looking at the Dictionary of American Regional English, also known as DARE, and see if it’s in there and see if there are dated citations for the period that you’re writing.

It’s not 100% foolproof because it doesn’t have everything, but it’s a good place to check.

It’s also online at daredictionary.com, and they often have sales where you can find an inexpensive annual price.

And many university libraries will also have subscriptions to it.

And another path is old newspapers.

And in Michigan, at the Clark Historical Library at Central Michigan University, there is a great project called Digital Michigan Newspaper Portal.

This includes links to its own set of digitized newspapers as well as digitized newspapers in the Chronicling America Project at the Library of Congress.

And these are all freely available.

Oh, great.

You go to these newspapers and you read like you’re a local or you’ve traveled back in time.

Read the personal stuff like letters and opinion pieces and society columns.

Get a feel for the times.

Read them like you’re interested in the news of the day.

And so phrases will leap out at you.

I took a little look here for you, and I found a couple quotes, for example.

This one from one newspaper from the Sheboygan Democrat on September 2nd, 1880.

Here’s a quote.

The crowd that came over from Petoskey last Wednesday to play ball was a mob,

And with very few exceptions composed of loafers,

Or else their actions at the hotel on the streets and in the saloons was a gross libel on their previous records.

Now, that’s that color, right?

Loafers, we know, and mobbed, and like there’s saloons.

I mean, we’ve got some things happening there, and we’ve got maybe a rivalry with Petoskey, right?

Sheboygan versus Petoskey.

And then there’s another paragraph on the same issue where we find Petoskey mentioned again in a negative context.

That says two people from Petoskey came to Sheboygan,

Registered at the Spencer House, got full of budge,

And foist their way into a room.

And budge, if you look it up, turns out to be a cheap alcohol.

So there you have a bit of slang.

And again, a Petoskey versus Sheboygan rivalry.

Suddenly, we have color and a vivid picture of something happening

In September of 1880 in Sheboygan.

That’s fantastic.

Right?

You know, I can get your, I love your advice about just getting the gist, the general feel for it.

I’ve been reading a lot of letters, Civil War letters, and firsthand accounts of old timers from this little county where I’m writing about.

And so I think I’m on the right track.

But your, the sources you mentioned are going to be hugely helpful.

So thank you so much.

Yeah, again, that’s the Clark Historical Library at Central Michigan University.

The project is called the Digital Michigan Newspaper Portal, and it includes lots of many free digitized newspapers.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Well, Judy, you’ll have to keep us posted.

Yeah. Good luck. And remember, the key to writing is your butt in your seat and your pen to the paper.

I can’t help it. I’m just having a ball.

All right. Well, good luck, and may the muses find you.

All right. Thank you again.

All right. Bye-bye.

Bye, Judy.

Call us with your questions about writing and language and reading, 877-929-9673,

Or send it to us in email.

That address is words@waywordradio.org.