All the old familiar places

As much as I dislike the old adage “write what you know” for the constrictions it places upon writers’ imaginations, in one sense it’s not bad advice at all. As a writer of historical fiction, it’s vital that I have a solid grasp of the context in which I’m writing. A lot of my research will never make it into the novel, of course—I’m writing fiction, not a doctoral thesis. But it’s research I need to do regardless so that my setting feels fully fleshed out and real, the plot appropriate to the setting. In this sense, writing from what I know is a good thing.

But there’s a danger involved, as I’m finding out with my current work-in-progress. To a certain extent Aquae is a very different animal from His Own Good Sword. It’s a fairy-tale retelling, and it’s more typically “historical fantasy”—that is, it’s set in an actual historical time and place (1st-century Roman Britain, to be exact), but with fantastic elements (the main character has supernatural powers). But because His Own Good Sword was set in a psuedo-Roman world, I’ve found that I can recycle a lot of my old worldbuilding research and apply it to Aquae.

The problem is that it’s all too easy to recycle not only research but also dialogue and character mannerisms and turns of descriptive phrase and even the general pattern the plot follows in each chapter. Some of this is probably just a symptom of Second-Novel Syndrome; if I were writing a post-apocalyptic zombie romance as my second novel I’d still probably experience much the same thing. But there are several similarities between Aquae and His Own Good Sword, and not just stylistic similarities. Broadly speaking, it deals with many of the same things thematically: it’s a coming-of-age story; the main character’s relationship with his father is a major part of it. I find myself expressing those themes in the exact same way I did in His Own Good Sword, virtually cutting and pasting relationship dynamics. On a more technical level, I find myself writing descriptive passages that are nearly identical to descriptive passages from His Own Good Sword. I subconsciously model characters on characters from His Own Good Sword because they fill similar roles in the world of the story. It’s just so much easier to go back to preexisting templates than to come up with fresh new ones, especially for minor characters.

Some of it may perhaps be excused, since the world of His Own Good Sword was in fact intended to feel Romano-British. It’s inevitable that Aquae will bear some resemblance to it, especially in the department of trifling historical details. (The cuisine in Aquae very much resembles that described in His Own Good Sword.) But most of it is probably laziness on my part. Aquae and His Own Good Sword are very different stories, but I’m having to be constantly on my guard to make sure I don’t keep slipping back onto familiar ground.

  • https://hazelwest.blogspot.com Hazel West

    Sounds like you might need to let your characters breathe a bit. This is the same problem I had when I wrote my first couple stories. All my heroines were virtually the same (okay, I still have problems with my girls sometimes) and so were all my heroes. Once I got comfortable with the writing part though, my characters took on new life. You have to give your characters a little freedom for them to be able to tell you who they are. Once I stopped trying to come up with characters and waited for them to approach me.

    On the other hand, there’s nothing wrong with re-using themes. You have probably seen by now I always like to put brotherly relationships, or father-son relationships in all my stories. I reuse it, and a lot of the relationships are the same, but I can’t help myself, that’s what I love to write :P And you also have to consider all the times Rosemary Sutcliff has used the same plot line pretty much but yet her books were still way awesome. I think if you don’t worry about it, you’ll be able to fix your problems :)

    • https://amandamccrina.com Amanda

      I definitely agree with you on Rosemary Sutcliff. I think that’s why I’ve never really gotten into some of her later books; they did start to feel a bit paint-by-numbers. And you’re right-I probably need to relax a bit (and let my characters relax a bit). Right now I’m still feeling very much that I have something I’ve got to live up to.

  • https://Website Zeke

    I wouldn’t worry about it that much. I think Timothy Zahn has the same problem (a lot of characters in his non-Star Wars books have very similar thought-lines to characters in his Star Wars books that have identical roles) and he is a best-selling author. Even the story lines in his books are similar, and yet, I’ve never heard anyone complain about that. If you write something that people like, then it’s okay to borrow from it.

    • https://amandamccrina.com Amanda

      Well, I hope people like it! I like it, and that counts for something, right? ;)

  • https://mjohnsonstories.net mary

    That’s a really interesting post, Amanda (and it also makes me even more eager to read “Aquae”. A fairy tale retelling? In Roman-occupied Britain? How intriguing!)

    I have come to think, more and more, that “write what you know” really means “be truthful; express your truth as well as you can.” But, of course, it does also mean “do the research.” And it’s also true that themes, settings, and even characters and character interactions tend to recur. It’s happened to me, as well. I’ve found that I need to be careful not to write a wise “aunty/mother/older female” figure just like Silver, for example, and I’m a bit worried that Khel is too much like Skel. I see them as very different boys, but there are some similarities, aren’t there?

    As to themes such as father-son conflict or love versus duty, etc, I really think they will come out unconsciously, whether we plan it or not. And I wouldn’t worry too much about that. In fact, I wouldn’t worry at all. It struck me, back when I was reading him, that Orson Scott Card told the same story, over and over. It didn’t hold him back!

    • https://amandamccrina.com Amanda

      And of course Rosemary Sutcliff tends to tell very similar stories over and over, too. :) So it could be that I am worrying needlessly (and hopefully a lot of my lazy writing will be weeded out with further edits!). I do agree that many of the themes will probably show up again and again no matter what I write, since they’re things that particularly move me or have some importance to me personally.

      And I don’t think any of your characters are too similar! At least, I’ve never gotten them confused. I do think Kiril is the most vividly drawn, but that’s prejudice because he’s my favorite. :)

  • https://mjohnsonstories.net mary

    Um - quiet squee. ;) Really, it makes me happy to hear that you love Kiril. I love him, too, and I’m very much hoping that readers of all kinds (professional and otherwise) will be able to relate to him. But I do love Niki and Skel, too, and hope they come across as believable people with some depth. As to your characters-

    Based on the little I’ve seen, I really, really, don’t think you’re repeating yourself. Your young narrator from “Aquae” isn’t very much like Tyren, and I don’t remember anyone quite like Julius in “His Own Good Sword”. I’d say, just keep going, and digging deeper to find out about these people. I’m sure they’ll present themselves as individuals.

    And, speaking of individuals, I very much like what little I’ve seen of Challe.

    (I do hope you like Niki, btw. I’ve become very fond of her, though in some ways she serves mostly as a foil and contrast to Kiril.)

    • https://amandamccrina.com Amanda

      I love Niki, too. I think she shows the sort of quiet strength that unfortunately is so rare in female characters (too many writers seem to think a “strong” female character is simply one who knows how to handle weapons like a guy). Of course she’s brave and resourceful, too.

      Thank you so much for your encouraging comments! I do think my new characters are developing distinctive personalities as I continue to write—I think you’re right in that it will just take muddling through. And I love Challe, too; the fact that you do makes me wish I’d been devoting so much more time to The Sword Unsheathed. Unfortunately it’s slid to the back burner again, since my goal right now is to finish Aquae by the end of June (!). But I still hope to be finished with TSU by December—you’ll have to hold me accountable!