As a writer, you're increasingly told to show don't tell . It's one of those phrases which has infiltrated all lessons from the highest ranked authors to the little primary school child taking their first steps into writing. Ironically, there are now so many clichés in this particular idea that it is now becoming something of a cliché itself! But one particularly significant area of inspiration and writing when this works at its best is when we are dealing with the supernatural. By its very meaning, the supernatural transcends the laws of nature. It's our job as writers of historical fiction not only to convey that but - and this is a real biggie! - to acknowledge and accept that these beliefs were true. Belief in these ideas (which, at best, now get you labelled as quirky) was commonplace in history, and you need not look too far back to find them. According to surveys run ten years ago, 34% of people in the UK said they believed in ghosts, and 42% of people in the USA
The history of the written word is fascinating. It is largely easy enough to come across in the form of books and pamphlets, and through these we can get an idea of how society was structured - at least from the top downwards!
But the best writing to tell you the truth about someone, comes in the form of letters.
Over the years, I've collected many letters - some personal to me, others from and to complete strangers. As you might have gathered, we are a family of hoarders when it comes to history. There are letters from businessmen to clients, from parents to children, and from partner to partner. They provide a wonderful insight into the normality of life, something which I feel has helped me to better form my characters in my head so that, although these letters might never make the page, I know the backdrop to their conversations: what they chose to write about and what matters to them when they are at a distance from one another.
One letter which did make it into my writing was from the physician Henry Thompson to his little daughter, Kit. For so accomplished a man, it was refreshing and magical to read his words on another level as he wrote to his child from his new position in Brussels. The humanity shines out of his words, as does his humour, and I feel I have come to see a side to him that few people knew, all from the letter.
And then there's the handwriting. When Day's Dying Glory went out to its Beta Readers (a very scary experience for a debut book!) one of the enduring comments made was in praise of the line:
‘Miss Imogen,’ she read, in a hand that was alarmingly angular and aggressive.
The artistry of handwriting can be used as surely as any other feature to tell readers a lot about the writer. Is the letter hurried? Are the words meticulously formed? Has someone toyed with new and interesting styles of writing?
Below are parts of a couple of letters I've collected over the years. Imagine the hands which wrote them, the eyes which read them, and the hearts and minds united over them... Instant characters, settings, and relationships!
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