Why Historicals?

[Flicka]

Originally Posted by gothicangel

Yes, and the Cadfael books are wonderful [some of the first adult books I read.] I also like Shirley MacKay and Suzannah Gregory. Lindsey Davis' I enjoyed, until I could no longer get past the Americanisms.

I think this is another extension of the 21st century character mindset, escaping into the 1st/12th/17th century. And something we must be wary of. I'm writing Roman spy thrillers, so it is something that I'm wary of, not allowing 20th century Cold War style language in, and of course there are no phone-taps etc, but extensive networks of informers, and cloak and dagger [maybe toga and dagger ] stuff going on.

Mine seems to become murder mysteries with a side dose of early 20th century spies. I have a hard time wrapping my head around how amateurish they were...

ETA: The funny thing is that Lindsey Davis is British and I read a rant from her somewhere where she was upset because Americans wanted her to translate the books into American English because they found them hard to read. She said that British people have no problem reading American books and she couldn't see why vice-versa shouldn't be the same.

[gothicangel]

Originally Posted by Flicka

Mine seems to become murder mysteries with a side dose of early 20th century spies. I have a hard time wrapping my head around how amateurish they were...

ETA: The funny thing is that Lindsey Davis is British and I read a rant from her somewhere where she was upset because Americans wanted her to translate the books into American English because they found them hard to read. She said that British people have no problem reading American books and she couldn't see why vice-versa shouldn't be the same.

I read up on Walsingham [Elizabeth I's spymaster.] A lot of amateur historian's talk of the Frumentarii as Rome's 'secret service,' which is a load of BS, because it was never that organised. Each legion did have a cohort of 'speculatores' [which is what my MC is], who officially were imperial messengers, but are know to be involved in spying, and assassinations.

I don't mind Americanisms, in my American books. But Romans calling a girl 'cute,' not so much.

[Flicka]

Originally Posted by gothicangel

I read up on Walsingham [Elizabeth I's spymaster.] A lot of amateur historian's talk of the Frumentarii as Rome's 'secret service,' which is a load of BS, because it was never that organised. Each legion did have a cohort of 'speculatores' [which is what my MC is], who officially were imperial messengers, but are know to be involved in spying, and assassinations.

Mine are all sprung from the last dying twitches of the Great Game. Kipling's Kim actually depicts a much better organised Secret Service than the reality, and that's saying something...

[bulldoggerel]

It seems to me, the further we get from the past ( and I can only judge this by reading those who wrote within their eras) the further we get from a healthy fatalism. I miss fatalism in today's culture. I find it only by wading around in various forms of the past, music, writing, even architecture.

[mayqueen]

Originally Posted by gothicangel

Each legion did have a cohort of 'speculatores' [which is what my MC is], who officially were imperial messengers, but are know to be involved in spying, and assassinations.

That sounds really neat! I believe the love interest in Gillian Bradshaw's Beacon at Alexandria was an imperial messenger. Before reading that book, I had no idea about their existence. I thought that one would make a great character for a historical mystery.

[Hip-Hop-a-potamus]

Obviously I love history, and I love reading it, but I'm not as far into the past as some of you.

The early 20th century to me, is fascinating. All the changes that were going on-- the upheavals, the world wars, the advances in medicine, technologies like telephone, telegraph, moving pictures...

I enjoy the promise of that era- the big dreams and luxury attained by some, and nothing gives me greater pleasure than experiencing it from a firsthand perspective, BEING that person, like fp said, then tearing it down. The melancholy and "what could have been" nostalgia intrigue me.

And yeah...the clothes were amazing.

[Lil]

Because historicals are fun to read and fun to write.

[gothicangel]

Originally Posted by mayqueen

That sounds really neat! I believe the love interest in Gillian Bradshaw's Beacon at Alexandria was an imperial messenger. Before reading that book, I had no idea about their existence. I thought that one would make a great character for a historical mystery.

I discovered them in a real obscure way too. I was researching the obvious frumentarii option and saw a reference to speculatores and exploratores [military scouts.] A little more research, and discovered the Praetorian Guard had a whole cohort of them.

Thanks for the book tip, I'll have to hunt it out.

[LaceWing]

I'm not a great reader of historicals per se, but am very interested in pre- and early-industrial times. For instance, I just couldn't figure out why so little attention was paid to all the damn noise machines make -- until some book made the point that clopping horses, especially on cobblestones, were pretty noisy. (Not to mention that mistreating the serfs was de riguer at the time.)

I want to know "What were we thinking!" and "How did we go wrong?" It's a balance to a long interest in dystopian/utopian concerns. Plus, I'm getting over a strong distaste for eras drenched with religion and can better get past all that when I want to.

[ishtar'sgate]

I'm an avid reader of historical non-fiction and when I find gaps and discrepancies I love to play 'what if'. Right now I'm playing the game in ancient Babylon. There are huge gaps so lots of room to play.

[Eddyz Aquila]

I love traveling in time, honestly, if I could become a "time travel ghost" and just float around in space during history... you'd probably forget me there.

I'm also a military history nut - anything that has to do with swords, Crusades, knights, longbows, you name em... It rings with me.

And plus, there's things that some of us couldn't do in these years - namely covert operations and all of that. There's a deeper sense of mystery and unknown when it comes to history.