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Blogs by Bill Flynn
I Like Writing Historical Fiction 2/28/2009 10:08:01 AM
Writing historical fiction takes the author on a trip back in time. He visits places and people and studies the way they were.
My second novel, The Feathery, took me to St. Andrews, Scotland in 1849. My research of that time and place told of the natives, their dress, their business ventures and yes, their main recreation.(golf)
My third novel, A Drumbeat Too Near, (in Process) brings me to Cape Cod, Massachusetts in 1942, during the second world war years. I wrote about the impact on a small town there... the human losses, sacrifices, and a war time atmosphere that brought on love affairs that would not have happened during the unremakable flow of peacetime living. Hours were spent going through the newspaper archives, circa 1942, to get a true feel for the time.
My writing in a, Drumbeat Too Near,took me to the cruel Atlantic Ocean aboard a German U-Boat "too near" Cape Cod. Also to its home port in occupied France. I went with this submarine deep down in a crash dive while menacing depth charges detonated all around. I wrote that all Germans were not monsters and driven by the ideals of a crazed dictator. I made the U-Boat Commander a kind man, not enthralled by the Nazi regime, but more interested in doing his job and protecting his crew. He tells his crew: "We started this war, let's get it over with. They're shooting at us and we're shooting at them. We're torpedoing their ships and they're bombing our cities with your women and children."
Historical fiction is rewarding, but hard work. The author must acomplish accurate research and blend it well into fictitious events. I am now an expert on German U-Boats, circa 1942, and Cape Cod at that same time.
Bill Flynn
Author of:
The Feathery
A Deadly Class Reunion
A Drumbeat Too Near (in process)
