Apparently, I live a bit of a paradox regarding time.
Whilst being notoriously bad at time management in my personal life, I am rather excellent at it in my working world.
For example, I’m that habitual “I’ll be ready in 5 minutes” person (20 minutes later, I am ACTUALLY ready).
Get this- I was once two hours late to a party, TWO HOURS! Granted, I’d pre-arranged that due to a work shift, but anyway. Despite being TWO hours late, I still managed to be the FIRST person there! (Like, what is that? True story!)
Over the years, this point of frustration in my family melted into joviality, resulting in this watch, which really sums it up for me:
BUT (how is this for a time paradox) I can work the shiznit out of a timetable, meetings, etc. in my workplace. Give me a deadline, I dare ya! I’ll smash it! A list? I’ll work my way down those tick boxes like nothing you’ve ever seen. I’ll devour a checklist like Tidalick, drinking all the waters of Australia. (If you’re not familiar with Tidalick the Greedy Frog, I recommend this as an Australian Dreamtime story.)
That’s my real-world, but my fictional world also loves a bit of time distortion. I LOVE time travel fiction. Outlander (dear Diana Gabaldon, BLESS YOU for James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Frazer!), Back to the Future (did you know that the movie inspired the band McFly?), and my favourite series in high school was The Ancient Future by Aussie author Traci Harding. I’ve been waiting over 10 years for those novels to be made into a kickass TV series (C’mon Netflix!) The film About Time (2013, dir. R. Curtis) and ITV series Lost in Austen (2008) are also among my go-to historical and time travel fictions.
Pondering it, I don’t recall my first ‘WOW’ moment, but I know that I have always been drawn to texts which play with time.
So, what IS historical fiction?
According to Masterclass: Historical fiction is a literary genre where the story takes place in the past. Historical novels capture the details of the time period as accurately as possible for authenticity, including social norms, manners, customs, and traditions. Many novels in this genre tell fictional stories that involve actual historical figures or historical events.
Under this, there are numerous smaller sub-genres. Celadon Books has a good explanation here: What Is Historical Fiction? | Celadon Books.
If you peruse the bookshops, you’ll recognise a majority of these books with either the woman in period dress, clutching some billowy-shirted or completely shirtless rake (historical romance is a HUGE genre) or the lady facing away, walking into a usually blurry middle distance (usually a historical drama). These are merely sub-genres, but their cover art is quite distinctive.
Myself, I am drawn to historical fantasy and historical adventure.
In writing for adults, I have focussed on historical fiction/fantasy, set in 1920s Detroit. Think prohibition, speakeasys, immigration and rasicm, flappers and social upheaval, industrialisation, and gangsters. Badass. Outlander meets Peaky Blinders with a dash of Home and Away. (Just kidding, I’ve never seen H&A!)
In my children’s series, writing under B.C. Dean, I was ridiculously enthused to write a series of historical detective adventures, where readers time hop across ancient and modern lands to solve mysteries.
The kicker? Only time will tell what becomes of my writing!
Acknowledgements:
Feature Image credit: What Is Historical Fiction? | Celadon Books
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