Like most writers I am always interested in the processes used by other writers. Since I started working on my 1939 historical thriller I've been reading blogs and books and watching podcasts about historical novel writing.
I know how to do historical research. One of my areas of academic research is crime history. I even teach a research course for grad students But writing a novel set in a historical era is more complex. A series set in the recent past that I lived through (2000-2004 in the Lizzie Stuart mysteries) or a recent "near future/now alternate history" (in the Hannah McCabe police procedurals) hasn't been difficult. Even the short stories set in the late 1940s (with Jo Radcliffe, my former Army nurse) has gotten easier now that my fictional setting feels familiar.
But in the 1939 book -- with multiple characters and a year to cover -- I've still trying to decide what to include. I've finally decided to stop struggling to decide what to include. Although I'm a plotter, I'm going to write the scenes that come to mind from the POV of any of the characters. I read that one famous -- unnamed -- author of romantic suspense does this. Then she goes back in the second draft and sorts through the scenes and uses the ones that work together to form a cohesive whole.
This makes sense as I try to deal with the fact that my villain keeps insisting on narrating certain scenes from his point of view. I'm been writing the scenes even though I plan to delete them. But I realized yesterday that one of my other POV characters is up to something I hadn't anticipated. So, instead of the maximum of four POVs that I have been striving for will be five or six, and then I will decide when the first draft is done who has a perspective that provides information or serves some other purpose.
Of course, the other issue is whether I will give into temptation and include cameo appearances by real-life people. I have a scene when my FBI agent is called down to D.C. for a meeting with J. Edgar Hoover. I could have Billie Holiday interact with one of my primary characters, who has a job at Cafe Society. Or, wouldn't it be fun to include Eleanor Roosevelt during one of her visits to the World's Fair. Or, one of my characters who is in Atlanta for the premier of Gone With the Wind could cross paths with Clark Gable while a crucial incident is happening in the background.
I've already tried this in the scene that introduces Jacob Baldwin, my sleeping car porter. He is in the crowd attending Marian Anderson's performance on Easter Sunday. There are students there from Howard University. He hears one of the young women call one of the men "Ossie." This works if you think of "Ossie Davis" (actor, civil rights activist, and husband of Ruby Dee). He attended Howard. But do I need to explain this? If Hoover appears, do I need to discuss this in the "Author's Note" that I always include?
I'm tempted to do footnotes. Yes, footnotes -- or end notes (putting all of the additional information at the end of the text). I know this sounds odd when I'm writing a novel. In fact, the only time I can recall reading a book in which this had been done was a novel by African American writer Ishmael Reed. Mumbo Jumbo (1972), his detective novel featuring hoodoo investigator Papa LaBas, includes citations.
I'm thinking of including footnotes because if I were reading my novel, I would be stopping to look for more information about the time period. If, for example, readers could glance at the footnote at the bottom of a page and have the most obvious question that comes to mind answered, this would keep them from leaving the book and maybe not coming back. But, on the other hand, if they are immersed in the world of my book, my intrusion with this information might have the opposite effect and be an annoyance. They might not care what is true or false. Or, if they are interested in that, might prefer to wait until they are done and read the author's note.
But this is fiction even thought I am rooting my story in truth. Maybe I'm overthinking. At any rate, I need to finally get the first draft done. I'd like to be finished by December 31. That would be a great way to begin a new year.
