All right, here is a new game for you. Take five amazing writers. Put them in a room and let them talk with one another. See what sort of notes you come up with.
Here are the results from the first time I played this game:
Making History. Non-fiction author Anthony Dalton moderates this panel of historical fiction superstars as they share their secrets of bringing real history to life in fiction. With authors Diana Gabaldon, Robert McCammon, Anne Perry, and Jack Whyte.
DG - Her favorite book is the one she is working on.
JW - History has unchanging elements. The writer must demystify it. They need to make it relevant to current readers.
Do you need to write a glossary?
JW - Have to do it for editor.
AP - Having a street map is useful.
JW - (On writing accents) Change as few vowels as possible to differentiate each accent for character. Write in normal, idiomatic english otherwise.
DG - Loch Ness smells like cold mud and dead fish.
Maps, small alleys, bylanes. (Not sure. Describe them? Get historical maps to be more accurate? I don't know.)
JW - Nelson's navy in the 16th and 17th century cut down (clearcut) the oak forests in the Highlands to build the navy. They never grew back.
On including real people in historical fiction
Allow real people to cross the street in front of fictional characters, etc. Otherwise, unless you know they do it (it is written down somewhere), don't make them do it.
And this is all I wrote down.
It would appear I ignored Robert McCammon. I didn't. The man was absolutely spell-binding. He spoke quietly and everyone leaned forward in their seats to catch every word. What I found most interesting is what he didn't say. He took a ten year break where he did no writing. Then he started again. What did he do during these ten years? He went for a lot of walks.
Then he wrote The Queen of Bedlam, a book Jack Whyte described in a later session as a book so beautiful (I'm paraphrasing here), it spurred him to invite Robert to the SiWC. A book with an amazing example of the use of dialogue in one of the opening scenes.
I know they discussed editors. I know they answered questions from the audience. I doubt I blinked more than once a minute through the entire sitting. Like all the other SiWC seminars, it was a truly amazing experience. Bravo to the SiWC planning committee and if anyone is still on the fence about whether or not to attend, I vote you do. You are taking votes, aren't you?
Websites
Diana Gabaldon (Did I mention I love her podcasts?)
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