Library hauls and literary hangups

Why modern and historic characters meeting often makes me cringe

Happy Saturday, friends!

In our first Morning Tea Chat - a brand-new feature for paying members - live on Substack earlier today, I shared my most recent library book haul and some of my hangups about historical fiction, especially when there is time-travel involved. Here’s a little sneak peek:

So, here’s my literary hangup. Characters saying or doing things that I think might be out-of-place for the time period in which they’re set, or the suspension of disbelief required for the characters in a time period centuries beforehand to accept a time-traveling character’s modern ways, or the contrast between the way the “old timey” characters and the time-traveling characters talk…all of that feels distracting to me as I’m reading, and sometimes I have a hard time finishing the book because of it (or just cringe and eye-roll my way through certain passages.)

I think this is probably unfair to the author, who of course did not live in the historic time period and can’t know exactly how a person may have dressed, looked, or talked.

And, this hangup has actually made it difficult for me to get a solid start on my own historical fiction project because I am so worried about getting it “wrong”, which feels really counterproductive - so I think it’s something I need to get over!

That said, I do think some authors are better at writing these scenes convincingly than others, so I wonder how much of this is my problem and how much of it could be improved in the writing.

Do you have the same historical fiction hangups? Are there certain authors you think do a better (or worse!) job of navigating inconsistencies and knowledge gaps? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

In the full video (below the paywall) I also shared a peek at our backyard pond, which is finally a beautiful focal point of our property - despite the bad timing of its expansion (spoiler: excavators showed up to tear up our back yard while I was in the middle of planning a graduation party AND selling a house.) Watch ‘til the end to see it in all its (finally filled-in) glory!

And, of course, I’d love to hear what you're currently reading (or wanting to read.)

My Current Library Book Stack:

• The Little Shop Of Found Things by Paula Brackstone

• Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury

• Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver (yes, it IS out in paperback!)

• Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock. The beautiful 100 year anniversary edition is hard to find, but I think it’s worth seeking out.

I talk about each of the above books in the morning tea chat, below!

If you’re considering upgrading to a paid membership, now is a great time to take the leap. Through June 5 annual memberships are deeply discounted to $30/year, and I’ve just announced new features for paying subscribers including this monthly morning chat and an evening PJ party for community members.