For a recent TBT I pulled out a couple of photos from my childhood, in the 1950s. This reminded me that novels now written about that period are considered historical fiction. I’ve written only one historical mystery story, which was set in the mid 1800s featuring a writer famous at the time, Lucy Larcom, as my protagonist. I had to look up a few details for my story and got some others wrong, but since I lived through the 1950s, I wondered what I would look up to ensure accuracy for that, more recent period.
According to an old definition, a time period is only considered historical if it predates the life of the writer. Choosing the 1950s, for me, wouldn’t count as historical fiction. Perhaps the definition is influenced on whether or not the writer is writing from inside the time period, and thus wouldn’t include explanations for aspects she thought were obvious.
When I read stories set in an earlier time the historical markers I notice most are music and movies, or if the story in question is pre World War One, then perhaps dress and language or etiquette. The writer also has to cover issues like transportation and diet.
There are some practices that never seem to show up in 1950s stories that come to mind first for me. Some of these are probably specific to New England and our Puritan heritage. First, no one cut the lawn on Sunday. Even if you didn’t attend church, you maintained a proper respect for the day and kept down the noise and labor. On Sunday you went down to the drugstore to collect the Sunday papers even if you had the newspaper delivered every day for the rest of the week. And often you didn’t collect the paper until after the first church service whatever the denomination.
The hour for some Protestant churches bowed to the summer interest in sailing, in certain parts of New England. Church services moved from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. so sailers could get out on the water sooner.
Good historical fiction depends on the wisely chosen detail integrated into the story. Lucy Larcom may have been a real person, one of the first American women to make a living as a writer, but readers today probably wouldn’t enjoy her poetry. She’s been largely forgotten. And the music of the 1950s won’t come readily to mind for those whose musical experience and interests don’t go beyond Elvis Presley or the Everly Brothers.
What will trigger a memory in someone raised in that time period and what will seem to authenticate the illusion of the period for someone born much later can be two very different historical details. Finding the right one no matter how the writer relates to the period is the key to a persuasive, immersive setting.
