On Writing

A real boon of researching by doing hand work   is that you find a rhythm when you're using your hands, and that can spin out nicely for    pacing a scene.  For example, you can have some grandmothers sewing a quilt of family events and discussing various family members, maybe relating personality characteristics or events to colours on the quilt. Or you could have a heroine weaving a blanket and thinking about all the threads in her life, the warp and weft of people and events and places. Or you can have a man making barrels in the back yard and have the heroine admiring his hands and the ease with which he shapes his barrels, and maybe think about how he has molded and shaped his children into beautiful works of art, too.  You get the idea. I would love if some other people pitched in with some ideas on this! As I mentioned at the beginning of this course, I spent a few years farm volunteering around Europe, and I've done this a little in...

This lesson seems very simple, but sometimes it doesn't seem so obvious, so I thought I would share an example. If you are struggling to understand something from a historical culture, sometimes you can ask modern-day descendants and modern-day experts! This weekend I was trying to understand Navajo names and Code talkers. The book I am writing has a Navajo Code Talker in France during WWII.... actually, I discovered by asking an online group who gave me some clues that I chased down through a few more layers, that Navajo Code talkers __were not__ in France. Comanche code talkers were in France, and the Navajo ones worked in the Pacific. Oops. Nonetheless... I really want to pair the concept of the phoenix (rising from the ashes) with the Acadian heroine (and the native hero), and Comanches didn't have the phoenix as part of their culture, so I'll have to make an apology in my footnotes. I thought I might make my hero have a Comanche mother and Navajo dad, or something, bu...

Here is another way to research your historical book plots and details without touching a research book or even the internet, if you prefer to get fully involved! 1. SCA  When I lived in a larger city, one of my favourite clubs was an SCA (as previously noted, SCA means Society for Creative Anachronism) historical cooking group. Each month we would choose a time period or theme, and all of the members would contribute something to a potluck. Before we dug in, we would discuss the ingredients, where they would have come from, where and when they would be available and maybe the trade routes that they travelled, substitutions that we made in ingredients for what might be no longer available or hard to source, and so on. SCA people tend to be VERY geeky, smart, incredibly thorough researchers, and simply wonderful people for writers to know. They’re willing to read your Renaissance or Medieval scene really thoroughly to make sure you got the dress right, talk at length with you...

Lesson 2: foreign and historical films and documentaries So here is a really easy entry point when you want to start to get familiar with a period of history or another culture: historical and foreign films. And, for that matter, foreign historical films! Many of these resources can be had for free on YouTube, particularly from the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), who has dozens of wonderful series. There’s no way I could list all of their historical and archaeological offerings, but here are a few of my favourites. - Victorian Farm - Victorian Pharmacy - Edwardian Farm - Wartime Farm — these series have re-enactors living in the historical building and conditions of the people from each time. They’re very accurate about their details, and they discuss the joys and difficulties of living each lifestyle for a period of months. They plant crops using tools accurate to the time, make cheese, weave cloth, go to market, make food — everything you would do in daily li...

Hello, All. I’m Christa Bedwin. I'm the only one I know of on the internet, so if you want to learn more about me, I'm easy to Google or find on Amazon. [I think I should add more detail since this is an intro, but not so relevant to this lesson at the moment: What I mainly write these days is time travel novels between two contrasting cultures: modern California vs. Enlightenment Era Edinburgh, modern west coast against Renaissance Venice, modern Toronto vs. Early Medieval Cornwall, WWII Arizona Navajo vs. 18th century exiled Acadian French mama, etc. I used to teach high school science, and I'm a technical editor, too, so I'm pretty rigorous about getting the historical facts right, and a professor I know this summer mentioned that my footnotes were entertaining. As a student once said about me... I am strict but fun -- one of my favourite compliments ever. Also, I was raised in the Rockies and have been to more than 40 countries. Enough about me for now, but I...