What I'm Reading
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Friday, January 8, 2010
Well, that lat post was more than a drop of vintage whine. Thanks for indulging me.
One of my goals is to blog more about the things I'm reading. And to that end, this seemed like a good time.
I'm plotting out an alternate history story. It started as pure
Steampunk, but as I got into all of the details I decided that label
might not fit. (Oh, what's a label, anyway? Don't get me started down
that path.) At this point "alternate history" allows me to be more open
to possibilities. While I have a basic story in mind, I'm trying to
work out the fiddly bits. Part of those fiddly bits are the history
background. In other words, I need to be able to convince the reader I
know what the heck I'm writing about.
I've always had a fondness for the late Victorian and Edwardian eras.
I'd say it springs from my love of all things Sherlock Holmes, but it's
deeper than that. I always loved old things, and I had the opportunity
to be around - and learn about - antiques when I was younger. I hated
History classes, though, because of the boring repetition of days and
dates. As I grew and learned to discover history through literature and
technology, that all changed.
A friend suggested I write a Steampunk novel. I love the genre, but had
trouble wrapping my head around just what I wanted to do. I decided
that perhaps I needed more history. Most Steampunk literature falls
under the broader heading of "alternate history," but often takes
technology as the turning point, rather than the old standby political
turning points. What if Edison had moved on to other inventions right
after he'd perfected his light bulb instead of spending so much time on
that technology? What might have been? You get the idea.
With that in mind, I decided I wanted to learn more about the movers and shakers of that era. I started with When the Astors Owned New York: Blue Bloods and Grand Hotels in a Gilded Age,
by Justin Kaplan. It's a lively portrait of the family that ruled the
social scene in New York for so many years. A few events in that book
helped me fix a few points in my story and narrow down the window for
the time period.
Next, I dived into The Power Makers: Steam, Electricity, and the Men Who Invented Modern America,
by Maury Klein. I've been working on this one for almost two weeks.
It's dense with technical details (fortunately, I love those things),
but when you strip those out you're left with a compelling portrait of
the men (and maybe one or two women who worked in labs) who built the
technologies and associated financial empires. I keep seeing the Ken
Burns documentary in my head. It's helped me narrow down the time frame
even more, and also provided what may be an interesting twist to the
tale. (No, I'm not telling.)
A book that's helping me fix some of the scenery is The Mansions of Long Island's Gold Coast,
by Monica Randall. It's long out of print (I found it at a local
library "friends" sale) but it's provided some help in settings.
I've been taking copious notes and hope to start some serious world
building soon. First, I have to investigate the idea for the twist and
see if that will take me where I'd like to go with the story. It's easy
to just say that because it's alternate history I can do anything I
want, but I don't think it's a good thing to deviate too far from
certain points lest I stretch credibility.
Time to go read!
Tags: What I'm Reading Writing
Filed under: What I'm Reading Writing
Comments are closed
|