WRITING 101. Writing period stories, ie stories tied to a particular period. First, dont try to talk forsoothly. Youll limit your readership considerably, and frankly, most wont do forsoothly without mistakes. Second, dont think 20th century. READ a bit in the period. Read things written in the period. Eliminate any thought that relies on things not invented yet. A short list: William Harvey, 1600s, discovered that blood circulates. 1650-1700---discovery that germs, not bad air, cause disease. Wounds dont get infected, because theres no germ to infect, which means something like populate. They go bad. Explosions: few things exploded in the ancient world that did not involve a forge or kiln or something rotten. Gunpowder: China, 1000s; first cannon, Turkey, ca mid 1200s; also Seville, Spain. Understanding that the brain is the seat of thought: varies---heart as center of emotions persisted until fairly recently; brain and nerves understood by Galen, ca 120 AD; but thought as an abstract was poorly understood for much longer---one usually talked of wits instead of brain. Likewise concepts that depend on modern politics or modern philosophy are red flags. The concept of independence from a lord, or group, is fairly modern in Europe. The very notion of country is fairly modern. One held allegiance usually to a person. The notion of an afterlife usually strongly resembles earthly life. The notion of the world as round was available early as the Greeks, but the world was often described otherwise, be it flat, a land surrounded by a world river, or the like. On my web page [cherryh] I have somewhere buried a list of words to watch. But my advice to people trying to go period is divided: dont try to forsooth your way through the language: assume were getting it in translation. But the other part is---dont put concepts in peoples heads that are beyond their era. Hope thatll help some young writers.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Apr 2014 16:43:31 +0000
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