Today, in Caithness, the sun is shining and the air is clear. I'm sure it will come as no surprise to anyone reading this blog that, certain weathers and certain times of the year ignite certain music in me. And, on late winter days which are filled with sunshine, I am usually to be found singing the songs of The Spinners . Inevitably, I start humming different ones of their songs (and of course adapting them to be about Orlando and Jess) as I go around doing different things. But I remember almost all the words to them. I haven't heard a lot of them in years, but they are all there, rooted in my memory. It is truly fascinating to think about how these songs have passed through history. They are part of my own nostalgia, which is why crisp sunny mornings make me incapable of ignoring the temptation to sing them, but they are part of something much bigger. There are songs amongst them which are a newer step in the folk music movement. Songs like Silver in the Stubble are amongs...
It's been quite a year! I'm delighted to have shared a post with you all on every Thursday of 2022 on the theme of Historical Fiction. I've loved spreading the word about some of the fantastic historical writers (as in writers of history!), shared a few ideas of my own, and looked at a few of the Horrible Histories songs along the way. While #HistFicThursdays will be continuing into the new year, this will be my last Horrible Histories blog (but take a look at some of the other songs which I didn't get around to, as well, because they are brilliant, too!). And it had to be this one...
The great thing about historical fiction, is that it doesn't matter what period you want to write, each one of them offers something new to the world we live in today. Whether you're delving back into prehistory where this song starts, or just heading back to the World Wars where it finishes, there were major discoveries and personal stories along the way. With so much pull back into history, it's tricky to keep our feet firmly rooted in the 21st century. From my own writing, I've leapt through ten centuries in short stories and novels: a whole millennia. I'm as guilty as the next person for being swept away on the ideas of chivalry and heroic deeds - and these definitely happened - but there was a fair share of nastiness along the way too.
Finding that balance in writing and understanding history is so important. This song goes a little way to showing that. Whether it's the Romans building roads and slaughtering Christians, or the Renaissance of "progress in science and arts" whilst simultaneously burning and beheading people. But, depending on the genre your historical fiction takes place in, both things may appear in your writing.
And then there are those stories - or collections of stories - which span centuries. At the millennium (yes, I'm old enough to remember that!) my sister got a selection of children's stories featuring one from each century since that mystical Year Nought. I often think of that, and this song always make me think of it. What would it be to time-travel from that time to this, picking up on those groundbreaking and horrible moments, sharing in everything which came with them? Watching this song, it makes me want to emulate the spirit of that book, to write something which will tell those stories across all time. There's a new goal, then - something to keep me busy in the New Year!
Happy New Year, Readers and Writers, and may all your historical books feature great adventure with just enough "horrible" bits to keep it interesting!
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