Gnash Less, Write More: National Novel Writing Month 2010

November 1 - 30 a whole lot of hopefuls will be hitting the old keyboard to try to write 50,000 words of a novel during that month.  This will be my third year.  I thought it was mostly a good idea, and I liked what they said, that people give up to easily and better just to write and write and write than give up.  You can always apply the genius in December.

In 2008 I did not finish during the month.  I didn't make it anywhere near 50k words, even though there were lots of four letter ones in it.  I did not make it to 50k.  But nevertheless my historical erotic novel, Jack Random, got written, and the manuscript is just sitting in my hard drive waiting for me to get to it again.

It was a different story in 2009.  I wrote a novel!  I wrote the entire first draft in those 30 days, then spent  the next several months turning it into a pretty dang good novel, if I say so myself!  I managed to write 80k words that month, and the book, which is now finished and at an agent's office now, turned into 113k.

I think two factors can be thanked for my success the second time around.  One is a better story, of course, but the two I refer to here are the albeit admittedly artificial structure of aiming for a certain number of words a day.  The other and perhaps more significant was the fact that my husband got that I would be rather occupied for the month, and being my Number One Fan, sans sledgehammer thankfully, he honored my space.  It is a lot harder to get that if you are doing this everyday.  The parameter of a month worked wonders.

Now I am just waiting for the National Novel Writing Month site to reset to 2010 so I can get back to planning this year.  It will be even easier and more satisfying this year, I think, because I've done it now, have the proof in manuscript form, and I can't tell myself it's too hard. 

Join me for NaNoWriMo 2010!  When you do, look me up so we can be Writing Buddies!   My username is nan_hawthorne .

Burning Issues in Historical Fiction: Historical vs. Period Fiction

The topic this time is the difference between historical and period fiction.

Go to

Burning Issues Facebook page

to share your responses to some or all of these questions.

1.  Define historical fiction as opposed to period fiction.

2.  What must a novel be to be termed historical fiction?  Period fiction?

3.  Offer some examples of each type and explain why the book falls into one or the other category.

4.  Do you like historical novels or period novels better?  If yes, why?  Be specific.

Remember, you need to go to   and use the Discussions tab to make your response:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Burning-Issues-in-Historical-Fiction/145825782113525?v=app_2373072738&ref=ts

Thanks you!

P.S.  Please also suggest other Burning Issues when you bisit the page.

Historical Blogs: Fiction & Fact Receives One Lovely Blog Award

There are two terrific things about receiving an award from another historical fact or fiction blog.  First, there is a the honor and recognition.  It can be a lonely world out here on Cyberspace, but hearing from people who care about what you care about, specifically books, is the sort of connection for which one can really be grateful.

The second pleasure is being asked to recognize others who blogs are joyous, intelligent, fun, instructive, spirited and all those other good words one likes to have applied to one.

The "One Lovely Boog Award"  was just awarded to this blog's sister blog, Historical Blogs: Fiction & Fact, bestowed thereto by Danielle at The Romantic Armchair Traveler.  HB: F&F is really not a blog,  rather is a bloglist, but I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.  I accept!  Here is what Danielle said was the reason for choosing that blog:

Nan Hawthorne’s Historical Blogs: Fiction And Fact, which provides a regularly updated, inspiring list of blogs that deal with history in one form or another.

I also appreciate that given what my "blog" is about I learned about several other blogs that deserve their place in the bloglist!

Now I have the honor to bestow this award to up to fifteen other blogs in my chosen category, which is, not surprisingly, history and historical fiction.  All the ones listed below in no particular order are ones I check regularly and highly enjoy and appreciate.

There is one hitch... I am only to choose blogs I have encountered recently.  So if I have read your blog forever you won't be here, but you remain forever in in my heart.

1. Who Am I?  Where Am I?  http://qhistorical.blogspot.com/
2. The Medieval Chronicle's Blog http://themedievalchronicle.wordpress.com/
3. In Search of Heroes  http://dellejacobs.blogspot.com/ 
4. M/M Romance Novels  http://mmromancenovels.blogspot.com/
5. The Macaronis  http://historicromance.wordpress.com/
6. Pirates of the Narrow Seas  http://narrowseas.blogspot.com/
7. Two Nerdy Historiy Girls  http://twonerdyhistorygirls.blogspot.com/
8. Historical Britain Blog  http://mercedesrochelle.com/wordpress
9. Anglo-Saxon England http://asengland.blogspot.com/
10. The Wolf's Lair  http://christopher-spellman.tumblr.com/
11. Tea at Trianon  http://teaattrianon.blogspot.com/
12. Jane Austen's World  http://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/
13. Speak its Name  http://speakitsname.com/
14. medieval research with joyce  http://medievalresearch.blogspot.com/
15. Medieval Material Culture Blog  http://larsdatter.com/wordpress

 What I lack in detail I make up for in numbers.  Congratulations to every Man jack of you.

Now go spread the joy!

The rules for the "One Lovely Blog" award are as follows:

1. (If you) accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered.
3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know that they have been chosen for this award.

Why Did the Historical Chicken Cross the Road?

I just got a clever little list of what famous people would say was the reason the chicken crossed the road, things like Barak Obama saying the chicken wated change, real change, and was going to get change, Jerry Falwell because the chicken is gay and that's why they call it "the other side" and we must guard against the chicken's sinful influence, and Bill Clinton denying that he went across the road with the chicken...

So what would some historical figures  say?  Try these on for size and add your own, if you can come up with better ones!

Why did the historical chicken cross the road?

Alexander the Great - It came with me to help me cut through that Gordian knot with its beak.

Sigmund Freud - To confront its feelings about its mother.

Oscar Wilde - A chicken who crosses the road is like someone who borrows money from you.  Once it is on the other side, you never see it again.

Joan of Arc - St. Margaret and the Archangel Michael told it to.

Harold Godwinson - Damned Norman chickens just can't stay put.

Louis Braille - What chicken?
Napoleon Bonaparte - It was that or coq au vin tout de suite!

Jack the Ripper - I'll tell you after I follow it into this dark alley.

Julius Caesar - I don't know, but I do know why I crossed the Rubicon.

James I of England - Like it says in my book about demonology, it was bewitched!

George Washington - What street was it?  Delaware ?

Nostradamus - Let me check its star chart.

Richard III - Who let it out of the Tower?

Lewis and Clark - Who cares?  It was one little road.  We crossed the whole damned continent.

Sacajawea - Tell me about it!

Your turn!

Historical Fiction Roundup for September 2010

Use the Comments link below to tell our readers all about your recent or upcoming book release or simply about a historical novel  you don't want anyone to miss!

See the right hand column for a list of earlier "Historical Fiction Roundups".

What You Said About "When Is History""

Here is what you said in the Discussions section of  Facebook about "When is history?"  Find more at Burning Issues in Historical Fiction.

To link to the authors and their books, go to the Facebook page link abouve.

Nan at Burning Issues in Historical Fiction i was at a used bookstore today and had a pleasant conversation with the owners. The fellow was puzzling over when a book is considered historical rather than another genre of fiction. He meant, when does historiy end and today start? Yesterday? twenty years ago? Outside living memory?

What is your opiniion?

Aleksandr Voinov In gay fiction (as we deal with it on Speak Its Name http://www.speakitsname.com/ ), anything before Stonewall is historical - which works quite well.

I think "everything beyond living memory" works, too. At university, the cut-off date was the 1950ies (or end of WWII), after which it became not history, but part of political science/sociology.

Suzy Witten I think the "when" is in the "detail." Constructing a world that no longer exists.

Richard Denning I have certainly heard beyond living memory as one definition.

But I suppose its a matter of who we are talking about.
I was born in 1967 so for me a novel set in say the Korean War of the 1950's would be beyond living memory and pretty much anything before the mid 70s really be before I was much aware of the world.

I would generally argue that a historical novel is one where the author had to go and research it because its before his/her time. IE If My grandmother wrote about life in Britain during the Blitz it would not be historical fiction really would it?

Historical fiction is as Suzy said about building/ recreating a world that is no more and making us believe we can feel/ see and smell it just as if we were there.

Patrick Campbell But if it happened yesterday then surely its history as it cant be affected by anthing happening today. Tho to be accepted as being history someone would have had to record it, stored it in an image or written word and in turn stored with other records of events.
So what is history for me it the recorded happening of yesterday.

Laura Vosika Interesting question, and there probably is no perfect answer. I would definitel consider anything about the Viet Nam War historical fiction, partly because it uses a major historical event as its backdrop, partly because it's outside my memory.

I like the definition of anything requiring research.

I do have a complete novel set in Boston in 1990. I have considered updating it to reflect the current time, but decided against it. I don't feel that it's historical fiction, because I wrote it in '90-'92. But now, 20 years later, it reflects a Boston and world that is no longer what we kow. Fashions, the cityscape, possibly the laws (which are important to the story), technology, all sorts of things have changed. Although I'm still not sure I'd consider it historical fiction, it will be soon, in part because it shows a world we no longer experience.

Nan Hawthorne from Burning Issues in Historical Fiction I suppose I would add that I distinguish between "historical fiction: and "nostalgia". Something written now about the 1960s to me is nostalgia, since there are plenty of people who remember that era.. usually well embroidered! Even WWII is teetering on the edge of nostalgia.

I will quibble with "yesterday" being historical.. it is almost indistinguishable from today and while it may be history, a novel set last Tuesday would not fit most people's idea of histocal fixtion.

Bruce Macbain Maybe the best definition of historical fiction should be what some judge once said of pornography: I can't define it but I know it when I see it.

Bruce Macbain
ROMAN GAMES

Laura Vosika "I know it when I see it" is very much how I feel.

Check back for our next Burniong Issue in Historical Fiction!