Authority in Writing

When writing historical fiction I believe that the writing needs to have authority.  By authority I mean that from the writing alone the reader gets the impression or sense that it is accurate.  Perhaps rather than authority it could be said it is authentic.

Two historical novelists that demonstrate this concept are Susan Vreeland and Margaret George.  When reading Forest Lover the reader feels like they are also experiencing Emily Carr’s frustration at both learning her craft and expressing what she feels when painting.  Reading Margaret George’s Henry VIII so completely immerses the reader in 16th century England that you believe Margaret was there chronicling the King’s adventures.   

The key to mastering authenticity or authority is to reveal detail of everyday life and to have a keen sense of how the protagonist lived in their world.  The first element is to have the facts right on what people ate, how they dressed, what was the historical context of the times and how the protagonist fits within that historical context.

In Vreeland’s case the context is an emerging Canadian nation that finds it necessary to eliminate nature culture in order to create its’ own identity.   For George it’s presenting Henry’s view of living in a world where he has the power and will to do whatever necessary to express his will and have an heir.

In Murphy’s Troubles Ian Murphy is an intellectual attempting to rationalize the activities of the Provisional IRA and finds he is the person needed for that task.  Yet, Ian is conflicted by the violence inflicted on innocents in order to create a unified Ireland.

Blog 2-6-12

Writing a story about Ireland means that the novel must contain some dialect to make it authentic.  Irish dialect is well known and is lyrical.  As a writer I wanted to use dialect to reveal something about the characters.  Irish dialect varies throughout Ireland and the setting for much of the novel, Cork, has a reputation for ending sentences with a question.  For that reason, characters living in Cork will end sentences with a question while those in Dublin won’t.

I struggled with how much dialect to use.  Obviously, every bit of dialect couldn’t be in dialogue otherwise readers would be distracted and may lose interest quickly.  For years, I wrote with too much dialect.  Finally, one of my writing teachers, Laurel Yourke, explained that there should be a “smattering of dialect” rather than whole paragraphs of dialect.  For example, in a page scene with dialogue maybe 25% would contain dialect.

The other problem is to make the dialect authentic.  When visiting Ireland in 2008 I was surprised at how fast they spoke.  In particular I talking with a cabbie giving us a driving tour of Limerick I asked repeatedly for him to repeat what he said.  I don’t know if there is a way to capture on the page how fast a person talks.  I decided in the end not to attempt it.

So I depended on critique groups and beta readers to suggest when to either add or delete dialect.  Their advice consistently was for less rather than more.  There is not standard rule but if you’re going to use dialect it’s critical to have readers and listen to their suggestions.