When I read at Scribes last week, I was amazed again at the response. It does my heart good. People respond as though the characters’ inner lives feel real. They ask questions about motives, tensions, and decisions as if these are living people rather than historical figures on a page.
That tells me something important.
I know these characters. I’ve lived with them long enough to understand not only the documented facts of their lives, but the emotional logic that might move them from one decision to the next. The history provides the framework. The interior life gives it weight.
Blending those two–fact and imagination–is the work of historical fiction. It isn’t invention without discipline, and it isn’t history without breath. Its the space where record and humanity meet.
Chapter 6 still needs rewriting. Hearing it aloud, the listeners reactions, some of Lovejoy’s emotions aren’t clear enough. In this chapter, he goes from despair to elation, I need to show that transition more clearly.
My Current projects:
- My book: revising Chapter 6 to strengthen motivation and flow
- Edward Bryant: selecting his next stories for upcoming publication
Revision makes the story clearer. It deepens it.
Thanks for reading and walking alongside me.
The View From The Imaginarium 