Monday, July 27, 2009

Why Write Historicals?


(What's outside my window. Sunrise. I'm up by 5 am after a restless night. The birds are beginning to sing and I can tell the sky will be clear today.)

Over the last few days, I've been thinking about inspirational historical fiction. Not textbook, dates and famous names fiction, but inspiring love stories and why I write them. I have only ran across a few people who have said they will not read this genre, that they prefer contemporary fiction. But for the most part, the readers I know love it.

I can't imagine not writing in this genre, replacing it with another. Immersed in the story and the lives of my characters, is a form of escapism even for me, just as it is for my readers. My heart pounds and my imagination races when the story flows.

Historicals draw us back in time. Think of what we would miss if no one wrote them. Can you imagine a world without Jane Austen's novels, or Bronte's
Jane Eyre, or Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind?

What genre do you write and why?

3 comments:

Susan J. Reinhardt said...

Hi Rita -

I write Suspense because the elements of action and tension make my pulse race.

Blessings,
Susan :)

Jessica Nelson said...

My first one was a historical romance, which is what I love to read, but I'm not too good with research. LOL I mean, I like it, but I forget to think of things that I should research.
Anyways, so now I've been doing cont. romance.
Your book is taunting me! I haven't got to it yet but I'm excited to!
I got your bookmark thingy in the mail. Very nice. :-) Thank you!

Rachel Leigh Smith said...

Why do I write historical fiction? That's like asking me why I breathe. It's almost as if history is in my blood and if I don't write it I'm not being true to myself.