Category: Content

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What do You Do?

What do you do when you realize that you haven’t kept up on your writing? I just now asked myself that question because with what I’ve got going in life, I realized that I haven’t written a blog since May 8. Let’s see now … that’s 12 days ago!

Should I feel ashamed of myself? Only if I was just goofing around and wasting all my time – which I definitely was not.

So, what do you do? Don’t peak around the corner and wonder who noticed your lack of progress. Do the same thing I’m doing right now: just start writing again. Don’t get in a hurry and try to make up for lost time. Just start writing, and enjoy the process.

And while you’re at it …

Write Creatively.

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What’s Your Chosen Writing Genre?

Three days ago, I said “I’ll talk about Documentary Historical Fiction another time.” Well, this is the time.

The online Britannica defines historical novel as a novel that has as its setting a period of history that attempts to convey the spirit, manners, and social conditions of a past age with realistic detail and fidelity to historical fact. The definition is good, but that is rarely what we find.

That presents a problem for truly historical fiction writers because readers may not know whether our writing is credible or not. Allow me to introduce Dr. Maier.

Dr. Paul L. Maier (https://www.paulmaier.com) is the Russell H. Seibert Professor of Ancient History at Western Michigan University and a much-published author of both scholarly and popular works. 

Relating to his works of historical fiction, Dr. Maier said in the preface of The Flames of Rome, “I have not tampered with known facts in retelling it – unlike almost all historical novelist – nor invented characters that could never match the kind who actually lived in this area…. But here as elsewhere in ancient history, yawning gaps in the original sources prevent any telling of the full story. I have tried to fill these in by devising a genre which I call the “documentary novel,” resorting to fiction for such connective material as well as dramatization, dialogue, and sub-plot to flesh out the story and bring its characters to life.”

Every person Dr. Maier named was a real person, but every character he created received no name in his books. Unless noted in the appendix otherwise, every event he described was actual. He constructed “history” only where there was no evidence for an event, but he remained true to life in that time frame.

I’m adding documentary historical fiction to my favorite genre list. That will help me to …

Write Creatively.

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Are You Loquacious?

As a 10-year-old, I was having a difficult time explaining something to my dad. When I finished, he said, “Well, you certainly are loquacious.”

Later in life I learned that some writers are loquacious, but we often use the term verbose – using unnecessary words, filler material that does not help the story. Some time ago, I read a book and told my wife, “This author didn’t have much to say, and he spent a long time proving it.”

Writers – including myself – should not waste potential reader’s time with verbosity.

I’m not suggesting that we limit our words. What I am hinting at is to make our words meaningful. It isn’t the multiplicity of words that carry the story; the story is in the content of the words. We need to cut out the chaff, the fluff, the filler material, and let the readers feed on the meat. That takes time and planning.

Mark Twain understood it and said, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”

President Woodrow Wilson addressed this subject in 31 words when he was asked to give an impromptu, short talk. “If I am to speak ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; If fifteen minutes, three days; if half an hour, two days; if an hour, I am ready now.”

Don’t be loquacious … I mean, verbose. Make every word count. And be sure to …

Write Creatively.