![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
abracanabraLack of sleep and the EST times listed made me miss the first session I'd planned to attend, but I got invited into the next one. That's pretty awesome, since it was a "limited attendance" session and the (free) "tickets" were sold out by the time I got there. So now I know to go hang out in one of the other chat rooms when sold out sessions are going on and see if I get invited (or can ask a moderator in, though that might be seen as rude, dunno).
Caroline Stevermer,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
1crowdedhour, did an excellent job (not at all "crushingly boring!") discussing researching and sinking into the time period.
Summary:
Research is important. Primary sources (autobiographical) from the time period are a good immersion tool. You should befriend a research librarian if at all possible (aw, yeah--shout out toda_wyf). Follow the trail hidden in the bibliographies of reference books. I chimed in with my recommendation of the "The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in [x}" series for general stuff and bibliography hunting and http://www.vark.com for getting answers to really specific, weird questions.
Highlights:
Seeing with the eyes of the past
[CarolineStev] 8:29 pm: With a story that takes place in the past, I try to
figure out what it is that is an equivalent to our cutting edge technology. For
example, looking at the light rail trolley cars here, I think, neato! I fully believe
that if I were standing on that same street corner one hundred years ago, I'd
have thought neato (or the equivalent) just the same. As far as the dump of
facts, I have been thinking a lot about electric lines. We see them all the time
but we (at least I) don't notice them.
[CarolineStev] 8:30 pm: They are intrinsic to our world but we take them
for granted. I try to get the things that are taken for granted in that place
and time into the story some how -- usually by having them malfunction or
be different in a way that surprises the viewpoint character.
[CarolineStev] 8:31 pm: Another thing is to really listen to the way people
talk about things -- I listen to friends talk about their technology (iPads,cell
phones) and they talk about how to get things to do what they want them to
do better, faster, cheaper -- I believe that is an eternal human trait. Ingenuity.
It's figuring out what the equivalent would have been.
Conjuring another time
[Oliver] 8:41 pm: When writing historicals, do you have any 'rituals' to
slide your mind into 'another time...'? Do you find you have trouble
coming back to the present?
[CarolineStev] 8:43 pm: Here's my big secret: I go to the local art
museum and hunt for an object from the place and time I have in mind. In
THE GRAND TOUR, a writing desk blows up while they are in Venice. (I don't
think that counts as a spoiler.) I picked out a table of the right approximate
place and time -- marble top, gilt legs, and I kept that in mind while I was
working on that section. I was never allowed to touch it, but having a real
object firmly in mind really helped ground me.
Wordplay
[CarolineStev] 8:52 pm: Here's the most horrible mistake I've ever made:
conversation in the early 19th century meant what intercourse means today.
So when I had Kate talk about her conversation with the bishop -- well, let's
just say that's not the kind of intercourse I had in mind. I was saved from
myself by a woman who has an advanced degree in English literature with a
specialization in the time period. She was very kind to me. I've never used
the word conversation in anything with that setting again.
Caroline Stevermer,
1crowdedhour, did an excellent job (not at all "crushingly boring!") discussing researching and sinking into the time period.Summary:
Research is important. Primary sources (autobiographical) from the time period are a good immersion tool. You should befriend a research librarian if at all possible (aw, yeah--shout out to
da_wyf). Follow the trail hidden in the bibliographies of reference books. I chimed in with my recommendation of the "The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in [x}" series for general stuff and bibliography hunting and http://www.vark.com for getting answers to really specific, weird questions.Highlights:
Seeing with the eyes of the past
[CarolineStev] 8:29 pm: With a story that takes place in the past, I try to
figure out what it is that is an equivalent to our cutting edge technology. For
example, looking at the light rail trolley cars here, I think, neato! I fully believe
that if I were standing on that same street corner one hundred years ago, I'd
have thought neato (or the equivalent) just the same. As far as the dump of
facts, I have been thinking a lot about electric lines. We see them all the time
but we (at least I) don't notice them.
[CarolineStev] 8:30 pm: They are intrinsic to our world but we take them
for granted. I try to get the things that are taken for granted in that place
and time into the story some how -- usually by having them malfunction or
be different in a way that surprises the viewpoint character.
[CarolineStev] 8:31 pm: Another thing is to really listen to the way people
talk about things -- I listen to friends talk about their technology (iPads,cell
phones) and they talk about how to get things to do what they want them to
do better, faster, cheaper -- I believe that is an eternal human trait. Ingenuity.
It's figuring out what the equivalent would have been.
Conjuring another time
[Oliver] 8:41 pm: When writing historicals, do you have any 'rituals' to
slide your mind into 'another time...'? Do you find you have trouble
coming back to the present?
[CarolineStev] 8:43 pm: Here's my big secret: I go to the local art
museum and hunt for an object from the place and time I have in mind. In
THE GRAND TOUR, a writing desk blows up while they are in Venice. (I don't
think that counts as a spoiler.) I picked out a table of the right approximate
place and time -- marble top, gilt legs, and I kept that in mind while I was
working on that section. I was never allowed to touch it, but having a real
object firmly in mind really helped ground me.
Wordplay
[CarolineStev] 8:52 pm: Here's the most horrible mistake I've ever made:
conversation in the early 19th century meant what intercourse means today.
So when I had Kate talk about her conversation with the bishop -- well, let's
just say that's not the kind of intercourse I had in mind. I was saved from
myself by a woman who has an advanced degree in English literature with a
specialization in the time period. She was very kind to me. I've never used
the word conversation in anything with that setting again.