Writing Forsoothly: Diction in Historical Fiction

Presentation: Writing Forsoothly: Diction in Historical Fiction
Presenter: Cait Donnelly
Date: Saturday, April 5, 2008, 10 am -12 noon
Organization: Greater Seattle Romance Writers of America

Author Cait Donnelly spoke to us Saturday morning on language in historical fiction. She has advanced degrees in linguistics, speaks many languages, and is a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. She started off sharing a passage from Marion Zimmer Bradley:

A recent radio advertisement concluded, ‘We giveth, thou takesth away.’ Unfortunately, all too many attempts to ‘write forsoothly’ are on that level. Many people seem to be under the impression that all they have to do to make their writing sound Medieval or Renaissance in style is to misspell as many words as possible, tackon a few es which don’t belong at the ends of the words, and sprinkle in a liberal allowance of thees and thous-interchangeably-and add a few archaic endings, dripping them in anywhere.

Ms. Donnelly’s advice on writing forsoothly: Don’t do it.

It’s easy to screw up. A historical setting does not mean that all characters must speak old English. Vikings, for instance, spoke old Norse – they did not speak with thou/thoughtst/thy/needst or other silliness. These anachronisms bump the reader out of the story. They do not help advance the setting or plot. Even if you do enough research to understand the language/accent of your character – don’t write it out phonetically. The purpose of fiction is not to show off your language skills; it’s to tell a story. The purpose of dialog is communication. If you want to show off your amazing linguistic scholarship – write a thesis. Accents should only be hinted at, and even then they should taper off through the novel. The reader doesn’t need to be reminded every time your character opens his mouth. Ms. Donnelly reminds us that there has never been a language that is simple to the people who spoke it; every language is sufficient unto its culture.

So how does a good author communicate the setting and time period in historical fiction? From the phrases, costumes and thoughts. Historical characters should have assumptions that are true to the period. Social stratification, scientific knowledge, fate, predestination, magical thinking – these can all be used to give a sense of time and place without resorting to old English.

Research your metaphors. What does the original wording refer to? Many phrases we use, such as “Going off half cocked,” refer to early guns, which didn’t exist in the middle ages. Clocks weren’t around until the 1600s, so time was more fluid. People measured time by the church bells, which rang every three hours starting around 6 am every day. Indoors people had marked candles to measure time – each hour the candle would burn down another mark. No one cared about precise time – there were no minutes or seconds.

“Just a pulsebeat, darling!”

Many words have changed meaning over the centuries, and here author notes are your best friend. Use these notes to show off your research and explain the choices you made in your story to head off criticism.

Ms. Donnelly recommends:

Authors who do it really well

• Anya Seton, Katherine
• Roberta Gellis, The Roselynde Chronicals (reigns of Richard I, John and Henry III)
• Mary Renault’s Greek novels (The King Must Die through Funeral Games)
• Anything by Dorothy Dunnett

Explore posts in the same categories: Writer's Cramp

Tags: Cait Donnelly, GSRWA, historical fiction, writing

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