Diversion: How to write in a historical setting

I was sitting up one evening, wrestling with the idea of why some people can write fabulous historical fiction and other authors, though story sound, cannot do any period justice. It led to the gradually culmination of several points.

* Style. This is very important when writing period. Look at Tolkein’s work: In Two Towers, during the Ride from Edoras to Helm’s Deep, Gandalf says to Legolas (this is a long quote!)”You have the keen eyes of your fair kindred, Legolas, and they can tell a sparrow from a finch a league off. Tell me, can you see anything away yonder towards Isengard?” Remember, you are not in your time but someone else’s and the language, though the same, maybe different as far as word usage. Good places to pick up style is in Jane Austen novels. Even if not the style, at least take the vocabulary. There were words used then, we hardly use now!
* Certain peculiarities of style in the 19th century is actually the brevity of language Simple changes in style actually seem more grammatical. Example: In the 20th century, we say “What do you say?” whilst in 19th century its “What say you?” Look we’ve lost a word! This goes on to “What have you?” “How goes life? Instead of “How’s life going?” Avoid the word “that” as well. You’ll find leaving it out makes your writing and speech, classier! In fact, you will no doubt notice, I never use it but for the mere mention no to.
* Rethink how you say things. Just because we say it this way doesn't mean its best. Do not believe that modern usage is superior because language "evolves". It "devolves" just as well and out version of English could be inferior. Nevertheless, what may seem good, could possibly reak of modernity and juvenile manners. Like, you know!?
* Person. Make sure at all times that mode is preserved. It does no good to slip from First to Third to second and back to third. If you're writing in first, stick to first! Also, avoid what I have done! (Ah, I could've said "What I just did."? I chose to sound more formal!)
* Conjunctions. They were vulgar and not considered words, the way ain’t is still a red headed stepchild. This is not to say the lower classes didn't but it is best to avoid them as much as possible
* Speaking of words, many were not used until such a time. Sideburns, for example, wasn’t coined until 1887 despite men having them for decades. Also, certain words are used here and not there. In England, the hood of a car is the bonnet! A flashlight is a torch!
* Learn different articles of dress, equipment, occupations and places. Do you know what a dublet is? Why are bayonets important and what is their purpose? What were musketeers truly? Where was the Underground Railroad? For this you must do research! Check facts when placing things in story. Martial history (the history of how to kill someone, really!) is very important. Make sure the Springfield rifle was around before putting it in the story.
* Forget what was in a movie. Film is notoriously inaccurate and this is not a new development so don’t try to fall back on John Wayne films! If you are trying to recreate the feeling from a movie, read up on the historical basis behind the film and use it over the film.
* Make note of religions and cultures and where they had settled, how they behaved, bias against them and within them. Catholics, Quakers, Mormons, Jews and Muslims faced stiff prejudice in Europe, Early America and later into modern times. The Irish really had it tough for a long time as did many other ethnic groups in ethnocentric America.
* Read a lot of history! When writing within its borders, It is not something to bend or break because you always wanted to Prussia to survive as a nation. These confines have to respected so a story can be believable and taken seriously.

More points may follow later as my meager brain remembers them.

News from Home

Mattie went to the door and opened the heavy wooden thing to the heat outside. There stood the young Corporal Pullin who saluted her sharply. “Ma’am.  The Colonel wished for me to escort you to his office immediately.”
 
“Oh!” Mattie whispered.  Her husband had hardly ever asked her to come to his office and she was alarmed.
 
“Please, Ma’am.  He said he’ll have my stripes if I’m not back in 4 minutes!” he said trembling.
 
Mattie smiled wryly.  Gard always gave orders in a way that made grown men and even his fellow officers afraid for their lives. Mattie reached behind the door for her bonnet and slammed it on her head.  She looked back at Cecelia and hoped with her eyes that competence would find Cecelia. The Corporal offered his arm to the Colonel’s wife and Mattie took it keeping with proper etiquette.
 
“Tell me, do you know what this concerns, Corporal?” she asked in the blazing sunshine.
 
“No, ma’am.  I know that the Colonel was in his office and then he yelled at me to come and get ya.” He said. “He scares me something awful ma’am,” he said.
 
“Considering how he is to you enlisted men, I don’t know how you put up with him.”
 
“Considering ma’am but how you, being married to him and all, do you?”
 
Mattie should have been shocked at the rudeness of the question and the young man realized his mistake. He looked apologetic at her but all Mattie did was pat him on the arm.  “You’ll do quite nicely in this army, I think!” Mattie chuckled. “And you’re quite right.  But as you will no doubt discover, Mr. Pullin, that a man is quite different in disposition when it is his wife instead of a corporal.”
 
Indeed, Mattie was right.  Pullin knocked on the door to Colonel Jordan’s office and was greeted by a gruff order.  He opened the door and walked Mattie in.
 
“That will be all, Corporal.” He barked.
 
“Thank you, Mr. Pullin,” Mattie smiled at the unfortunate young man.
 
“Sir, Ma’am” he said saluting them as he left.  Gard faintly saluted back and then came around in front of his desk to be closer to Mattie.  She looked up at him quietly expectant.
 
“What does thee wish to speak to me about?” she asked falling into her old Quaker habit that she reserved only for him.  He liked hearing it since it was an reminder of their childhood, their home.
 
“Mattie….” He said, his voice far different from the one that had shouted at the Corporal. “Are you feeling all right?”
 
“As much as can be expected, considering the circumstances, Gard” she said becoming concerned.  Gard was not a man at loss for words.
 
She sat cautiously in the small wooden chair in front of the desk.  Gard seemed to be pacing and almost unaware of her company.  When he turned to look at her she felt the pangs of love she still had when their eyes met. He stepped closer and knelt on one knee in front of her and took her hands in his. Mattie suddenly became worried that something awful had again taken place but what could it be? 
 
“Gard, please… thee are troubling me greatly.” She said.
 
“I’m sorry Mattie.  I received a letter from your mother this morning about your father.” He said and then stood up to retrieve the letter.
 
Mattie’s eyes widened in concern. Her father was getting on in years and though he was rugged and tough from decades of hard work he was also worn and tired from it. “I…I don’t…. I,” Mattie fumbled for words.
 
Gard held the letter and sat slightly on the desk and then handed the letter to Mattie who took it gingerly from him. Her hands trembled slightly as she held up to read. Gard sat and waited for her to read it.
 
“Dear Gard,” It began. “It saddens me to send word to thee of this nature.  I know thy position in the Army leaves thee little opportunity for travel but I’m hoping God will grant me this prayer.  Mattie’s father is not well and it seems that his life is soon coming to an end.  I hope thee may bring thy family back to Indiana for Jess to see all his living grandchildren.”
 
Mattie winced at the sentence which did not go unnoticed. She continued on. “We’ve never seen the boys and there is no better time to have the family all together with Josh getting married shortly as well. Please, send my love to Mattie and all the children.  I hope to hear from thee soon, Gardiner Jordan.”
 
Mattie handed the letter back to Gard who placed it on his desk. He then looked at the floor not wanting to meet her gaze now. “Living Grandchildren… If only she knew what that really meant.” He muttered.
 
Mattie herself couldn’t bring herself to say anything.  The pain of having lost the youngest, Nathan, was still very raw as it only been three weeks.  She doubted her mother’s pain would ever ebb or Gard’s paternal one. He was a very good man, husband and father and very loving.  He was also a very tough man who’d lived through the entire Civil War and many frontier battles but losing your baby son to something unpreventable and indefensible left her soldier husband feeling helpless for the first time in his life. She felt like something horrible was ripped from her and the hollow feeling was complicated further by her being pregnant yet again.
 
Mattie reached over and took his hand in hers.  Their eyes met and they smiled weakly at each other. “Well,” he said. “I think we’re heading home.”
 
“What?” Mattie exclaimed.
 
“My sweet Mattie, it is not inconceivable that I can travel home after being away for 5 years. We are not prisoners of the U.S. Army!” he said smirking at her trying to break the heavy mood.
 
“Gard! What about the Cavalry? Who will take command of it?  The Major can’t thee has told me numerous times.” She said.
 
“The major won’t be left in charge, Thank God. I shudder to think what that man would do if left in charge of the cavalry,” he said lighting a cigar. “No, there’s something far better: Another colonel.”
 
“Another?  Gard, thee are not making any sense” she said standing to look at him crossing her arms in consternation.
 
“I know, sweetheart. I was surprised by it myself.  The General received word yesterday about a recently made Colonel, Andrews, from Ohio. I guess the General doesn’t think he’s ready for his own command. I suppose on that premise alone I should stay but Andrews will be showing up with a Sergeant I served with and I respect.  Once he has arrived and I can talk to him, I think I can feel confident in traveling home.”
 
“My condition…” she said.
 
“I’m beginning to think you have an aversion to seeing your family. Your brother is finally marrying as well!” he said chuckling.
 
“Its not that I don’t want to see my family but things are different now; I have a family of my own.” She said.  “And this is not the best time for traveling.”
 
“It never is, Mattie. It’s the Frontier.  We all risk our lives out here.” He said. “I’ll contact my Commanding Officer about leaving the fort to Andrews.  It will be the test he needs. In the meantime, you and all the ladies should prepare.”
 
“Prepare? Whatever for?” she said as Gard stood closely in front of her.
 
“When the Colonel arrives, we have to welcome him right?  Don’t the ladies like to throw balls or what not? The General ordered that we throw one in honor of Colonel Andrews”
 
“Yes, we do but it is really necessary?” she asked.
 
Gard grunted in response and then looked back to his wife and smiled. “No, it never is.  Balls in an Army fort: what a waste of… It doesn’t matter what I think.  The General said to have one so we will and since he is a Cavalry Colonel you’ll have your place as a hostess.”
 
“Gard, I know how thee talk like thee hates balls but if I remember correctly, thee coaxed me to dance once,” she smiled.
 
“You still remember that, hm?” he laughed. “Dark moment in my life, really.”
 
“Oh, Gardiner!” she admonished him and then hugged him. “I do hope things work.  I do want to see my family again.  It would do wonders to get out of this wasteland and see great green things again.”
 
Mattie rested her head on his chest and Gard, who never resisted this show of affection, touched his cheek to her hair and closed his eyes. “It’ll be nice to be down by the stream again with the swing.” He whispered.
 
“Yes,” she whispered, her eyes closed.  Gard did not interrupt her and let her stay this way for a moment and soon she raised her head. “I think we need that again.”
 
The two held a silent moment as they kissed then they stood, looking at each other. “Yes, Mattie. We do.”

Mattie

Mattie was not herself. She hadn’t been for a little while now but found herself out of sorts particularly this morning. Quickly she dried her hands on the towel and looked at her children eating breakfast.  They were young and eager and she felt amused.
 
“Please don’t eat so fast, Sam.” She said to her eldest.  He stopped momentarily and then resumed at the exact same pace. Mattie smiled a little and shrugged. He never listened to her anyways and she wasn’t in the mood to argue.  Lately, she’d been in no mood for anything.
 
Mattie was really Martha True Jordan, wife to the Colonel Gardiner Jordan. She was of medium height and slender.  Her eyes were blue and her hair was a light brown color and very silky. Unlike the other officers’ wives, she dressed somewhat plainly owing to her Quaker upbringing and the strange lifestyle of Arizona fort life. Her husband really didn’t think anything of it.  It was a harsh life and he actually felt the other wives were rather impractical to worry about finery.
 
The children were all boys so far. There were three now and they were growing so quickly, Mattie jokingly proclaimed that she’d run out of food someday for them. Samuel was 4 and very authoritative.  He liked investigating the desert as much as he could despite the fact he’d never been off the fort. He looked like his father in many respects such as his auburn hair and chin. Sam was polite, honest and very well behaved.  Robert, the 3 year old was a crazy child who ran around causing havoc for his sweet mother.  She feared one day he’d find a way off the fort and be attacked by Apache.  Another officer and his wife had found one of their children to meet that fate and it weighed heavily on her mind.  Rambunctiousness was a trait loathed in the fort.  Robert was gangly but full of energy.  He was louder than his parents liked and usually had to be scolded in church.  He had his mother’s crystal blue eyes and her hair which stood up and out in odd directions from his head.
 
The youngest was 2, and a bright little boy who clung to his mother’s apron strings when she cooked following her about the kitchen. He was named Jess after her father back in Indiana where she and Gardiner were from. He was a quiet boy whose eyes were slightly darker than his brothers’ and rather short for his age.
 
Mattie sat down on the chair at the head of the table in the kitchen.  The furniture was good and bare like so many frontier furniture.  The table and chairs were from Indiana as was their bed, armoire and chest.  Most of the furniture in the parlor were gifts from the wedding or bought since then.  These were very fine and expensive especially out in the frontier.  There was a very nice inlaid table made from rosewood that had been a gift from the Church ladies at Gard’s church back home. The sofa was covered in silk jacquard and a very elegant blue color. The chairs were covered in a similar fabric and otherwise the same wood and color as the sofa.  There were many expensive things here like photographs, a lovely music box and an ivory bird. The bird had been one of the wedding gifts from Gard to Mattie in honor of her maiden name, Birdwell.  He had brought it back from the Civil war and Mattie had thought it wonderfully beautiful. 
 
Gardiner’s study had newer pieces in there.  His desk was a fine thing with ornate gilding and leatherwork on the top where the main amount of work was done. They were fine oak chairs for visitors and a round table with French chairs on either side. There were a few sabers on the wall, one was Gard’s first issue saber from West Point, and other were those he’d collected or been given.  A couple of bookcases filled with other collected objects, books and journals rounded out the room. 
 
Also in the study was something that Mattie had difficulty with considering her feelings on war.  It was a gun display. It was like the bookcases with their glass mullioned doors and locks. There was only one shelf to hold various bullets and shells.  Displayed there were two muskets, a rifle from Gard’s childhood, another one that belonged to his father, a black Remington Cane Gun, and a few others that had been gifts.  There were several handguns including his Civil War revolvers.   
 
The Gun Case had always been a sore spot for Mattie that she declined to discuss with her husband.  She loved him more than she ever thought she could love another human and she’d known when she, a Quaker girl married an Army officer, that some things had to be less important.  Her pacifism was smothered in respect for his profession. Even now, the ongoing battles with the Apache didn’t so much bother her but the amount of violence.  The protection of the families and other settlers was important but the way both sides went about it spoke of madness to her.
 
Mattie folded hands daintily onto her lap. Her dress was a dark blue color which she favored.  It was also tradition for Officers’ wives to have a few dresses the same blue as their husbands uniforms.  It was also practical since it was massively available.  Each of them dressed it up the best they could. Mattie, who had never worn fancy dresses until after her wedding, still tended to make her dresses plain and “ordinary” according to Mrs. Atherton. It was a topic that that came up in discussion often. Her dresses unusually were tight fitting and had some semblance to the current fashion. She had a wide flowing skirt bustled in the back and a lace trim at the collar but otherwise, her dress was that of a young frontierswoman.
 
She looked out the window to the hot Arizona sunshine and thought about her girlhood in Indiana. Cecelia came downstairs looking tired and Mattie looked at her reproachfully.  Cecelia, the teenage daughter of the Brigadier General Whitmore of Kansas, had to live and work as a nanny for the Jordans in hopes to learn to be a lady in Arizona.  There wasn’t much hope for the girl since her disposition was unbecoming.  Her looks were well enough but she was not good company.  Mattie tried her best to soften her countenance and temperament but was met with utter rebuke.  Cecelia would help Mattie take care of her growing family and she had much to learn. Otherwise, for the most part, they’d had little to say to each other. Mattie hoped this would soon change.
 
Mattie stood from the table and looked directly at Cecelia who yawned openly and unladylike. She went over to the stove and got herself some porridge and after sitting down did she even look at her mistress.
 
“Mrs. Jordan, are you well today?” she asked.
 
Mattie looked down at Cecelia in surprise.  The girl had rarely asked her anything. “I’m fine,” she replied quietly.
 
“Well, you seem preoccupied,” she said eating porridge.
 
“So it would seem” Mattie said standing to take her apron off. It was her luck there was a knock at the door. Mattie and Cecelia looked at each other.  Rarely did anyone visit the Jordan home since they would rather take their business to the Colonel at Headquarters than try to negotiate with three boys, a hellion of a teenager and a soft spoken mother.

Friendly Persuasion: An Introduction

I recently watched this again for the first time in years and found myself intriqued on several points.  First, I'll explain a little about the film for those that may never have seen it. Its an older film from 1956 and stars Gary Cooper, in one of his finest roles, as Jess, Dorothy McQuire and then unkown Anthony Perkins. The film is about a family of Quakers in 1862 Southern Indiana.  The Civil War is distant but not too distant.  Gard Jordan, son of Jess' friend and horse racing competitor Sam, is a Union cavalry officer and a Methodist, and is a friend to Anthony Perkins' character of Josh and suitor to daughter Mattie (nickname for Martha), presents a frequent reminder.  There are delightful stories about the family and how they deal with everything from horse racing to dancing to the ever closer war. 
 
What I took from the film were several things.  First, Gary Cooper was an excellant actor.  Second, so was Anthony Perkins, who unfortunately, his private life overshadows his performances for many people which is a shame.
 
Thirdly, I know very little about Quakers. Most of what I know is actually stereotyping.  I always imagined the Quakers as very uptight people who are spiritless and joyless.  In the film they are not.  They work hard just as any other family in Indiana but they still have friendships and enjoy life.  They occasionally stray into things they consider vices just as other religions do. Forgiveness is also not unknown to them. The events at the fair are a perfect example: Little Jess gets involved in gambling, Josh and his friend Caleb, watch wrestling and get into a fight, Jess sings and plays music with Sam, and Mattie dances with Gard. After their stray, they are still forgiven though. 
 
Fourth, this film managed to make me feel interested in that dark chapter in American History: The Civil War.  I'm a history lover, and even military history, yet I never cared for the Civil War.  Even as a child I called it the Silver War but never cared that I was wrong.  I even lived in the South and was taught many things that many Northerners probably weren't and even consider myself a bit of a southerner (you should hear my softly southern tinged accent mixed with a little minnesotan!).
 
Together these two facets come together in the love story of Mattie and Gard. Something about Gard caught me and I can't lay my finger on it.  He's interesting character.  He get along very well with the Quaker family despite the many traits "against" him.  He's methodist.  He's a Union Army officer who has more than likely killed and even been wounded himself.  Yet the family still embraces him, blesses him and has him over for dinner.  The film treats the courtship as a minor story making Josh's internal conflict between religious beliefs and his desire to join Gard in fighting the Confederates as the major one.  Mattie's love for Gard blinds her to the harsh reality of what he does.  She thinks him brave and he is (The Civil War was horrible in so many ways) but she knows little of the horrors he witnesses. Its bacause of this I've begun to read what I can about the Civil War.  Also, the love story between the two is fascinating on many levels. It isn't the normal civil war love story.  A soldier and an innocent girl is enough contrast but what would the dynamcs be between a Soldier and a Quaker? What would happen when (if!  The man still has to live through three more years of war!) they marry and start their life together?  If Gard continues in the military after the war, how would this affect Mattie and the non resistant beliefs she has been taught? Maybe its just the epitomy of romance that has grasped me.  The idea of a man being brave and leaving for war not knowing if he'll live, pouring his heart to a young girl and her returning it in kind. Its earnest and touching.
 
I started writing an after story.  My contemplation of the relationship between Mattie and Gard is just to damned compelling. I'm going to post it here just cause, I don't know, fanfiction. net isn't cool enough.  Most people on there have no grasp of charater and the writing style of 10-year-olds.