Research

Writing Female Historical Characters that Resonate

They walked through ancient empires, scaled snowy mountains, and defied societal norms, yet countless women from history remain silent, their stories lost in the shadows of their male counterparts. As I work on documenting the life of Eliza House Trist, I recognize that we writers have the power to resurrect these voices. Fully crafting female historical characters, we can allow them to resonate with readers of all ages, and also illuminate the richness and complexity of the past.

But how do we create these women who leap off the page and touch hearts across generations? Here are three key ingredients:

1. Unveiling the Human Beneath the History

While historical context paints the backdrop, don’t let dates and events overshadow your character’s inner world. Dive into their hopes, fears, vulnerabilities, and passions. Make them laugh, cry, yearn, and rage. Readers connect with characters who feel real, whose triumphs and stumbles mirror our own.

2. Challenging Norms of Female Historical Characters

Don’t shy away from portraying the limitations women faced in their era. Whether it’s societal expectations, legal restrictions, or even the physical realities of life, these constraints often fueled unique forms of resilience, resourcefulness, and rebellion. Show how your character navigates these obstacles, revealing both the external struggle and the internal growth it sparks.

3. Finding the Universal in the Specific

While historical details bring authenticity, the core of your character’s journey should resonate with readers beyond their time period. Is it a fight for justice, a yearning for love, or the quest for self-discovery? Grounding your historical narrative in timeless themes ensures your characters speak to readers across generations, sparking empathy and understanding.

Examples of Writing Female Historical Characters

For further inspiration, dive into the works of authors like E. Carson Williams (Lis), whose newsletters celebrate the bravery of lesser-known women who are deeply inspiring to young girls today. (Her answers to reader questions are worth readings and the Mewsings from her cats are also hilarious.) Or author Linda Sittig, whose books and blog—StrongWomeninHistory.com—illuminate the lives of female pioneers and history-makers.

For an example of how to make history also wildly entertaining, immerse yourself in podcasts like The History Chicks. Bethany and Mini uncover the extraordinary stories of women hidden in the annals of history, like Mexico’s La Malinche. Don’t have time for a 90-minute podcast? You can check out their minicasts and each podcast begins with a 30-second summary.

Need some practical resources? Check out my own guide on researching women like a historical novelist to help you write beyond the genealogy of a figure. By learning more about their networks and connections, you can weave them into narratives that captivate, educate, and feel more like our own lives.

By bringing female historical characters to life, we not only honor their legacies but also expand our understanding of the past and present. So, pick up your pen, tap your keys, and let the forgotten women sing their stories – the world needs to hear their voices.

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How to Research Women Like a Historical Novelist

Over the last couple of weeks, I conducted two live webinars on the topic of researching female historical figures or ancestors using some of my own organization and exploration methods—those of a historical novelist.

In total, over 535 people registered for the webinars, and a great portion of them are now out there thinking about their endeavors a little differently. They’re not researchers or genealogists. They’re storytellers.

Why researchers need to think like novelists?

Gathering dates about a person’s life ignores (and worse, buries) the impact of that life. Think of your own history. If I only knew family tree facts about you—the dates and locations of birth, death, and marriage for your family, children, and in-laws… Well, how much would I really understand about your life story?

I’d be ignoring your education, career, your neighbors and friends, your book clubs, adventures, influences, hopes, disappointments, and all your small and significant milestones. I’d also be unable to determine your contributions, if any, to our greater American story.

Why details in women’s stories matters.

Gathering only dates about female ancestors—or “Patriots” as they are known in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR)—perpetuates a major problem in our educational system; the women are not being shown as integral to American history in proportion to their contributions and achievements.

By gathering only genealogical details, researchers like Margot Shetterly would not have unearthed the hidden figures in our history. Margot’s deeper exploration helped us learn about all those women, like mathematician Katherine Johnson, who helped humans go to the moon.

American history is a human story.

It’s easy when there are over 900 biographies of George Washington, to think that American history was primarily made by men. Thankfully, a few of those biographies are written by women (thank you, Alexis Coe), but casting blame as to why women’s contributions are only a small portion of our collective American history, isn’t going to change it. We must change it.

Your mission is to become storytellers.

We must look at American history as human, and to do that more women need to become storytellers who can balance the history by showing us the other gender.

Together, along with 185,000 DAR members doing the same, we can show future generations how women—both famous and ordinary—contributed in extraordinary ways to our American history.

How to conduct and organize research.

Okay, but how do you become a storyteller? Like a novelist, you need to expand your subject’s network, and then you need to better catalog your own researcher’s network.

My video and links below will help you come to understand these two areas. This is the full webinar, free to watch. Included below are links the notes and the networking charts explained in the webinar.

Watch. Share this post.

Together we women can rise and shine the light on women’s history.

Download RESEARCH PRESENTATION NOTES here.

Download the SUBJECT’S & RESEARCHER’S NETWORKING CHARTS here.

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GET THE NOVEL: If the webinar content impacts your thinking, I hope you’ll order a copy of Carrying Independence to show your support for such presentations, and to see my research suggestions in action. Print & Ebook retailers, and excerpts can be found at: CarryingIndependence.com.

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A big thank you to Amy Garelick of PowerUp Video for assisting with the video editing. She’s also provides video event production and assistance.

For more history nerd posts like these, subscribe to the blog. Guest posts are welcomed and encouraged. Contact me for details.

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A Soldier’s Wife Sentiments Translated

Sometimes when I’m exploring 1776 essays or letters for research for my book, I get lost in a quagmire of how things used to be written. So I have to translate them into today’s causal language. This helps me understand the issues of the past so I can make sense of the them for my reader.

Case in point, an essay written by Esther de Berdt Reed called Sentiments. Esther wrote this essay in order to push women who were staying at home during the American Revolution to contribute to the Cause. Her husband was fighting with George Washington. In the end, her essay helped form the Ladies Association of Philadelphia, and they raised over $300,000 to produce linen and shirts for the Continental Army.

For all those wives whose husbands are away fighting in foreign lands, here’s a hero for you.

Below Esther’s picture is her published essay, with my translation in italics (even though by adding it it blows my 250 words for the blog):

Esther_de_Berdt_Reed_by_Charles_Peale

SENTIMENTS (An Op-Ed)

ON the commencement of actual war, the Women of America manifested a firm resolution to contribute as much as could depend on them, to the deliverance of their country. (When this whole thing started, the women of this continent said they’d support forming a new country, too.)

Animated by the purest patriotism, they are sensible of sorrow at this day, in not offering more than barren wishes for the success of so glorious a Revolution. and this sentiment is universal from the north to the south of the Thirteen United States. (Women say they’re patriots, by sadly they’re only offering empty prayers hoping we’ll win the war–and this is true regardless of which colony we live in.)

Our ambition is kindled by the same of those heroines of antiquity, who have rendered their sex illustrious, and have proved to the universe, that, if the weakness of our Constitution, if opinion and manners did not forbid us to march to glory by the same paths as the Men, we should at least equal, and sometimes surpass them in our love for the public good. (Women have within us a history of great women who proved that just because we’re physically smaller, or perceived to be weaker, and not allowed to go to war, doesn’t mean we can’t be better than the men at being patriotic.)

I glory in all that which my sex has done great and commendable. (I think chicks have proven to achieve some amazing acts.)

I call to mind with enthusiasm and with admiration, all those acts of courage, of constancy and patriotism, which history has transmitted to us: (Let me give you some awesome examples of kick-assery that history hands down to us.)

The people favoured by Heaven, preserved from destruction by the virtues, the zeal and the resolution of Deborah, of Judith, of Esther! (The biblical stories of Deborah, Judith and Esther were kept and retold because those ladies had grit and determination.)

The fortitude of the mother of the Massachabees, in giving up her sons to die before her eyes: Rome saved from the fury of a victorious enemy by the efforts of Volumnia, and other Roman Ladies: So many famous sieges where the Women have been seen forgeting the weakness of their sex, building new walls, digging trenches with their feeble hands, furnishing arms to their defenders, they themselves darting the missile weapons on the enemy, resigning the ornaments of their apparel, and their fortune, to fill the public treasury, and to hasten the deliverance of their country; burying themselves under its ruins, throwing themselves into the flames rather than submit to the disgrace of humiliation before a proud enemy. (History has shown us that we are capable of this, all the way back to the early Romans. Those women forgot they were chicks, built walls, dug holes, provided weapons, picked up arms, quit dressing all fancy and spending money so the country could use it. They’d rather their bodies be under the rubble of Rome than be wusses in front of their enemies.)

Born for liberty, disdaining to bear the irons of a tyrannic Government, we associate ourselves to the grandeur of those Sovereigns,cherished and revered, who have held with so much splendour the scepter of the greatest States, The Batildas, the Elizabeths, the Maries, the Catharines, who have extended the empire of liberty, and contented to reign by sweetness and justice, have broken the chains of slavery, forged by tryants in the times of ignorance and barbarity. (Even examples of the past queens of England show us that we can build empires of freedom, while being nice and fair, and not giving into the idea we are subordinates–no longer bound by stupid or antiquated ideas thrust on us.)

The Spanish Women, do they not make, at this moment, the most patriotic sacrifices, to encrease the means of victory in the hands of their Sovereign. He is a friend to the French Nation. They are our allies. We call to mind, doubly interested, that it was a French Maid who kindled up amongst her fellow-citizens, the flame of patriotism buried under long misfortunes: It was the Maid of Orleans who drove from the kingdom of France the ancestors of those same British, whose odious yoke we have just shaken off; and whom it is necessary that we drive from this Continent. (If the French and Spanish women are/have been supporting freedom against tyranny and past ties to England, we can. We have to support our allies here because we’re fighting the British like they did, so let’s stick together. Heck if the virgin Joan of Arc can fight the British, we can. We’ve already declared separation from the British who are choking us, so now we have to kick them out.)

But I must limit myself to the recollection of this small number of achievements. (I could give hundreds of examples of women kicking ass in support of liberty, but that’s not really the point here.)

Who knows if persons disposed to censure, and sometimes too severely with regard to us, may not disapprove our appearing acquainted even with the actions of which our sex boasts? We are at least certain, that he cannot be a good citizen who will not applaud our efforts for the relief of the armies which defend our lives, our possessions, our liberty? (There’s always going to be someone–often a man–who will try keep women down. So let’s just agree those guys are really jerks who typically twist anything that’s good or helpful about our society, our goods or freedom.)

The situation of our soldiery has been represented to me; the evils inseparable from war, and the firm and generous spirit which has enabled them to support these. (I’ve heard it’s really bad at the front for our guys, and so as bad as that is, we have to be equally good in our support.)

But it has been said, that they may apprehend, that, in the course of a long war, the view of their distresses may be lost, and their services be forgottten. Forgotten! (But you know how it is. People’s ability to care has limits, and the longer the war drags on, the less people will continue to care or even think about the men at the front.)

never; I can answer in the name of all my sex. Brave Americans, your disinterestedness, your courage, and your constancy will always be dear to America, as long as she shall preserve her virtue. (No damn way. I say it for all of us chicks. Be brave. Not wishy-washy. Strong. Consistent in the way you care for America, for as long as she is worthy.)

We know that at a distance from the theatre of war, if we enjoy any tranquility, it is the fruit of your watchings, your labours, your dangers. (We’re not fighting. But if we’re enjoying ourselves at home, it’s because we–the women–are taking care of ourselves, but also because the men are out there working to fight for, and protect us.)

If I live happy in the midst of my family; if my husband cultivates his field, and reaps his harvest in peace; if, surrounded with my children, I myself nourish the youngest, and press it to my bosom, without being affraid of feeing myself separated from it, by a ferocious enemy; if the house in which we dwell; if our barns, our orchards are safe at the present time from the hands of those incendiaries, it is to you that we owe it. (If I’m happy it’s because I get to stay home–warm, peaceful, with family–and not fight. My guy has to go spend his days at war, in the hopes of having peace later. The reason I can stay home with my kids, and not be scared as shit of the enemy, is because my man is fighting them somewhere other than in my backyard. We owe them for that.)

And shall we hesitate to evidence to you our gratitude? (So to thank him, should we do nothing? Not act?)

Shall we hesitate to wear a cloathing more simple; hair dressed less elegant, while at the price of this small privation, we shall deserve your benedictions. (What if we kept wearing our old or more simple clothing, or quit going to the salon to get our hair done–saving even that little bit might make them grateful to us).

Who, amongst us, will not renounce with the highest pleasure, those vain ornaments, when-she shall consider that the valiant defenders of America will be able to draw some advantage from the money which she may have laid out in these; (If you think about it, wouldn’t saying no to selfishly having a bunch of shiny things show better that we get it. That we understand that men are dying in order to begin a country here? Is there an way those dollars could be better spent or saved in support of them?)

that they will be better defended from the rigours of the seasons, that after their painful toils, they will receive some extraordinary and unexpected relief; (Maybe for our guys, knowing that we’ve chosen to make do with less, and act more, will actually help them feel better while they’re away. Then they’ll know that when they come home, our shit has been handled so they can have a bit of a break.)

that these presents will perhaps be valued by them at a greater price, when they will have it in their power to say: This is the offering of the Ladies. (Our actions will be valued more than the material crap we accumulate. Then men will truly know what women are capable of doing on their own.)

The time is arrived to display the same sentiments which animated us at the beginning of the Revolution, (We have to walk the talk now. We have to act now like we we said we would in the Declaration of Independence that started this whole Revolution.)

when we renounced the use of teas, however agreeable to our taste, rather than receive them from our persecutors; when we made it appear to them that we placed former necessaries in the rank of superfluities, when our liberty was interested; (We must put down the tea cup, even though we like tea, ‘coz the British gave it to us back when we showed them our wants weren’t as important as our needs or freedom)

when our republican and laborious hands spun the flax, prepared the linen intended for the use of our soldiers; (We need to go back to making our own fabric and shirts for our own army using our own hands.)
when exiles and fugitives we supported with courage all the evils which are the concomitants of war. (We need to go back to being those rebels–even our ancestors were likely kicked out of Britain in the first place–who had the guts to fight against bad people, even though that means fighting a terrible war.)

Let us not lose a moment; (Do it now!)

let us be engaged to offer the homage of our gratitude at the altar of military valour, (Get in there! Show some respect. Be thankful. Be a warrior.)

and you, our brave deliverers, (And for you, our guys fighting for our freedom…)

while mercenary slaves combat to cause you to share with them, the irons with which they are loaded, (while a blindly devoted army is coming at you, making you fight against them so you don’t get shot by one of their bullets)

receive with a free hand our offering, the purest which can be presented to your virtue, (know that we’ve got your backs, and you can reach out to us, for we’re going to give you the respect and support you’ve earned.)

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Reading Slowly in 2015

KarenAChase_LeytonPublicLibraryLondon

Hello again. It’s been a while since I’ve been in here, as I’ve been revising my manuscript. While I’ll still be wearing my editing coat, I’ve missed all you. So, my readers, I’m weaving back in.

This week, let’s stitch together all three of my blog’s topics–reading, writing and research. Like many of you, I have a pile of books I want to read.

My first instinct is to cut to it and rip through them. You’ve done it, too, I bet. Our society is now used to tweets and blog posts. Short. Fast. Sometimes we bolt through a book and proudly declare to our friends, “It was so good I read it in one day.”

Yes, but what did you miss?

I recently began a book called Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose. (Yes, that’s her real name.) She discusses the importance of reading carefully. Thoughtfully. Close.

Given how much care writers give to finding the right word, wouldn’t it be nice to take equal time to read them? (Note my use of give and take.) If done well, this selectiveness adds texture. Layers. Warmth. If you read back in this blog post for instance, you’ll find I chose many words relating to fabric. That’s intentional. Books are woven together like a fine cloth.

If you’re reading too quickly, you might be missing a subtly that will provide a more enjoyable, more meaningful read. As this article on slow reading in the Washington Post states, “it’s about pleasure more than efficiency.” I think I’ll try that on this year.

On my reading list this year (delightfully) are friends whose books deserve attention:

Mary Chris Escobar’s How to Be Alive
Jon Sealy’s The Whiskey Barron
Beth Macy’s Factory Man
Ann Westrick’s Brotherhood

What are you reading?

Sign up for my blog on the right, and watch for changes and more author news soon. Happy New Year.

Dancing into Research

Fourth-position-feet-Wilson-Analysis-country-dancing-1811

I believe every great historical book set in the 18th century should have a dance scene. Dancing was socially expected, and it’s within those scenes a character’s character can be shown. I’m also a big believer in conducting first-hand research. So this week, accompanied by my very good-natured friend and writer Mary Chris Escobar, I attended an English Country Dance lesson.

Men lined up one side. Women across. Anyone who has seen this scene from Pride & Prejudice knows this line dance. I watched it and other period films to help write a scene in which my protagonist first dances with his love interest. However, now having spun down the line myself, I’ll make some adjustments.

First, dancers must maintain eye contact. How evocative if you fancy them. How torturous if you don’t. Dancing was also one of the few times men and woman would publicly hold hands. Some hands are strong. Supportive. Others are clammy. Wilting.

Words describing the moves are indicative of the social structure. When you let go of your partner and spin away to move down the line, it’s called “casting off.” If a man ends up on the woman’s side of the line (or vise versa), it’s called “improper.” When you cut through another couple, you are “crossing over.”

I used to think these dances looked easy, but I was literally flushed from all the spinning. And I was not in a corset and layers of silk, or partnered with Colin Firth. Oh, Miss Bennet, no wonder your cheeks hath such a rosy hue.

Authors, what have you done in the name of research?

If you’d like to find an English Country Dance group near you, a partial list of Country Dance Groups across the US can be found here. (Although my Richmond chapter is not on here.)

Editing: A Horse By Any Other Name

I love working with a freelance editor for three reasons. First, a good editor not only points out where things need to improve but where I’ve done things well. I can learn to be a better writer from my own writing. Second, she sees the forest where I’ve seen trees. Reviewing it with her uncluttered eyes, she helps me focus on the central vein of my story that I should follow, and from which I have sometimes strayed. Third, she helps to highlight where my details are not furthering the story, but tripping up the reader, and taking them from that central path.

When nearly 300 pages of my manuscript returned from this latest round of editing, there were many good comments and naturally some areas that need some refinement. One of the issues was about the name of my protagonist’s horse. The name was Llamrei. “A name like this is tough to read,” she had noted. My editor was stumbling over it and it was dragging down the narrative. When she and I spoke on the phone, I admitted that many times I even typed it wrong. The name of the horse, agreeably had to change.

So I looked for historic horse names that were more easily pronounced. I found and chose “Bayard,” which means reddish-brown. Simple enough, but I also looked up the history of the name. The story of this horse goes all the way back to a twelfth century French legend, part of which according to Wikipedia includes:

“Bayard is ceded to Charlemagne who, as punishment for the horse’s exploits, has a large stone tied to Bayard’s neck and the horse pushed into the river; Bayard however smashes the stone with his hooves and escapes to live forever more in the woods.”

Here’s the strange thing… Many times in my writing to this point, the character and his horse are required to cross waterways, and each time I wrote about how the horse became frantic to the point that it needed to be blindfolded. No reason. Just wanted him to be that way. But now, it’s as if the horse’s new name explains why he is always afraid to cross rivers in my story… But I created this horse’s characteristic before I found the name. Before I read about the legend… Odd, right?

Did I know about Bayard somehow? Was he a part of me? Did I know the legend? Past life? This has happened more than once that details woven into my story somehow connect with history before I have fully learned the history.

It makes me wonder, is my historical fiction story not fiction at all? Could it be true…? {Twilight Zone music here.}

Other legends of the horse include that he could expand to the size required for the number of riders, and that he could speak English. Okay, so not ALL of the legends seemed to fit with the writing. (A public domain image.)
Other legends of the horse include that he could expand to the size required for the number of riders, and that he could speak English. Okay, so not ALL of the tales seem to fit with my writing. (A public domain image.)

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Digging up Research on Sailing

Those who have followed my Facebook posts lately, know I’ve been up to my shins (sans rickets) researching sailing during the American Revolution. I have planned a sea-faring battle scene for my new book about the Declaration of Independence, and I frankly know less about sailing than  stowaway rats.

So, I hit Wikipedia and I freaked out at complicated diagrams of boat parts. I read books and ordered one by Alexander Kent (which Ted stole it for himself). A friend even suggested looking at video games like “East India” where you engage in battles.

I also unearthed a New York Times story from 2011, which described the unusual surprise of finding an 18th century sailing vessel below Ground Zero in Manhattan as they dug it out to begin construction. The article provided much needed details from the real deal. I gleaned the ship’s size, what it carried, and David W. Dunlap who wrote the article was kind enough to use ship terminology simplified for the average Times reader.

Research also helped me name one of my fictional ships. My British ship will be loosely based on the Swedish replica of the Götheborg, and this existing replica allowed me to find details that are more realistic. However, my ship needed to be British, and I had trouble finding a direct translation of “Götheborg.” Finally, I did a little Google map search and settled on calling it HMS Montagu. The Swedish embassy in London is on Montagu Street.

Wikimedia Commons, which contains Public Domain images, also was a great resource. I found this painting by Francis Swaine featuring an 18th century sloop. I made the desktop image on my laptop to help inspire my writing.
Wikimedia Commons, which contains Public Domain images, was also a great resource. I found this painting by Francis Swaine called “An English Sloop Becalmed near the Shore,” featuring an 18th century sloop. I made the painting the desktop image on my laptop to help inspire my writing.

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