5 Ways to Enhance World-Building for Your Historical Novel
One of the biggest compliments a writer can receive is “I felt like I was there.” (In my mind, this is second only to “I stayed up all night to read your book.”)
(The Joys of World-Building in Fiction.)
When I describe world-building, the word I like to use is immersion. This word applies not only for readers but also for writers. What Robert Frost said about poetry—“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader”—is also true when it comes to world-building. You have to strongly believe in the world you are creating so you can virtually walk the streets and interact with the various settings.
Research, of course, plays a major role. But you must go beyond the typical research books to fully immerse your reader. Here are five ways to do that.
Use Contemporary and Primary Sources
When I was writing my most recent novel, Napoleon’s Mirage, I was fortunate to find al-Jabarti’s Chronicle of the French Occupation. This gave me a more rounded perspective on Napoleon’s military campaign through Egypt and Israel, allowing me to encompass the Egyptian Muslim point of view regarding these European invaders. It also opened a window into what life was like for a typical Egyptian scholar of the day.
For Beyond the Ghetto Gates, I used a Vatican document about a miracle portrait of the Virgin Mother in a cathedral in Ancona, Italy. It not only described how the painting affected the city that was facing an imminent attack but also included two real-life people who became important characters in the novel.
Find Books and Other Sources That Describe What Life Was Like
From Daily Life in the Middle Ages, to Fashion in the Time of Jane Austen, to Classic Italian Jewish Cooking, to The Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England—these are just some of the books that contributed to my knowledge of how people cooked and what they ate, what they wore, how they dealt with illness, and how they traveled.
And then there’s the web, which can be a great resource. Especially when you’re in the middle of writing and need to find a specific detail quickly so you don’t derail the creative process.
View Museums and Paintings
Museums are rich sources not only of paintings but also artifacts. Napoleon’s belongings seem to be scattered throughout European and American museums, so I’ve seen his tricorne general’s hat complete with Revolutionary cockade, his shaving kit, his linen shirts, glass decanters, medals, and more in various cities. (I wish I could have attended the exhibit with his camp bed.) Of course, it’s no surprise that Napoleon was painted over and over again during his career. As I mainly wrote about him as a young general, I described him using portraits painted during the Italian and Egyptian campaigns.
I’ve spent hours absorbed in period portraits and paintings to be able to describe the fashion, hair styles, musical instruments, and interiors and exteriors of homes of the time. Museums often will stage rooms from different periods, including furniture, wall hangings, paintings, and objects d’art. Standing in the midst of one of these rooms and imagining your characters moving about, sitting, leaning against a wall, etc., can be an exhilarating way to enter their world.
And then, there’s nothing like staring into a glass case and seeing a dagger from the Babylonian period that is perfect for your novel. I was incredibly fortunate that, when I was researching Babylon: A Novel of Jewish Captivity, the Metropolitan Museum mounted an exhibition, “Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade and Diplomacy in Second Millenium BCE.” The museum included some 350 objects, including a replica of the Ishtar Gate and the royal throne room, with a mosaic floor, both of which are included in the novel. But that dagger held a special place in my heart:
Ophir glared at the weapon in his father’s hand. Like most Amorite daggers, the tang was made of copper smelted with tin and hammered to a deadly edge, a thick layer of twine nearly covering the grip. A weapon for close quarters fighting, for plunging into a heart at near range. There had been more than fifteen years of such attacks, intimidating the returning Judeans.
Explore Maps
One of my most prized possessions is a map that my husband created, photocopying the pages from The A to Z of Elizabethan London and painstakingly taping it together. Having the ability to navigate the actual streets where Shakespeare and company walked was instrumental not only in my verse novel, In the Shadow of the Globe, but also to the novel I’m currently writing.
Of course, you may not always be that lucky. But even Google maps can help you figure out distances from city to city, which in turn can help you calculate how long someone would take—on foot, on horseback (I tend to use the time noted for bicycles and then add or subtract, depending on how urgent the trip is). And if your characters are making a long trip, Google maps can help you decide where they might find an appropriate inn for the night.
Extrapolate From Your Own Experience
In Napoleon’s Mirage, Napoleon’s soldiers have a merciless trek through the desert. They are wholly unprepared for the heat and sun, wearing woolen uniforms and carrying very little water. Having lived in the desert myself for a couple of years, I’ve experienced sandstorms—the sharp shards flying into your face, the grit in your eyes, sandy taste in your mouth, and the fact that it filters into every room, no matter how closed. So of course, when it came time to write that scene, I was able to fully describe it:
The world was suffused with yellow grains of sand that prickled his bare skin, crept inside his sodden uniform. Daniel raised a hand to protect his eyes against the itching as sand crawled inside his eyelids and stuck there, tenaciously. His men were coughing, bent over, some walking backward. Feeling tiny pellets slip down his throat, Daniel ached to cough but controlled the urge, somehow knowing once he started it would be impossible to stop.
Sometimes you can also recreate your characters’ experiences. I have a good friend who wrote a novel about a woman warrior on the Asian steppes, who bought herself a Mongolian bow and, while not nearly as skilled as her heroine, could feel what it must have been like to shoot with it. Other authors I know like to dress in clothing appropriate to their characters—which can be a charming marketing ploy when promoting your book!
While juggling many details while telling your story can seem daunting, it’s important to be as accurate as you can. There are rules you must create while creating your own historic world, and deviating from them can jar the reader. Do realize, however, that you won’t always get it right—simply because you may not always know when you’re wrong. But if you do the work required to bring the particulars to life—to immerse the reader into your world—you’ll create a world worth visiting.
Check out Michelle Cameron’s Napoleon’s Mirage here:
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