Ellen Klages  is the author of three acclaimed MG historical novels: The Green Glass Sea, which won the Scott O’Dell Award and the New Mexico Book Award;  White Sands, Red Menace, which won the California and New Mexico Book awards; and Out of Left Field, which won the 2019 Children’s History Book Prize and the 2019 Ohioana Book Award. Her adult novel, a historical fantasy, Passing Strange, won the World Fantasy and British Fantasy awards in 2018. Her short fiction has been translated into a dozen languages and been nominated for or won multiple Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Mythopoeic, and World Fantasy awards. Ellen lives in San Francisco, in a small house full of strange and wondrous things.

How do you conduct your research? 

I love research. It’s like a treasure hunt, looking for clues about what happened in the past, following leads and links, and never quite knowing what I’m going to find. I usually start online, with some simple Google and Wikipedia searches, to get a few facts — dates and names and places — settled firmly in place. Then I go looking for details to expand the story and make the characters and places and timelines as accurate and three-dimensional as possible.

I read a lot of books. I buy old magazines and other “period” pieces on eBay, to get a feeling of what that time in the past was like. What did people wear? What was in the news? What foods are advertised? I also travel to the places I’m writing about — if I can — and take lots of pictures with my phone, and lots (and lots and lots) of notes. Not just about what things look like, but using all five of my senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell. When I’m back home again, those notes remind me of what it was like to be in that place and help me make it come alive for my readers.

That process is very similar for all of my historical novels. For each, I’ve ended up with several boxes of material and three or four notebooks crammed with information. Only about five percent of that makes it into the actual book, by the way.

How long do you typically research before beginning to draft?

I research for as long as I possibly can! I love research, and I hate drafts. Eventually, deadlines loom, and I need to start putting words onto paper. Then for the next six months, it’s two simultaneous streams, researching and drafting, as I discover where the holes are in my knowledge, and what other information I need to fill my characters lives and move the plot forward.

About my first drafts: I write longhand. Bold ink, wide-lined paper. I cannot create on a keyboard. I scribble images, crumple pages, toss them across the room. I make some pictograms, cross them out, draw big loopy lines that tether sentences to marginal notes as if they were zeppelins. Eventually, I get a keeper, a few words, a paragraph that is strong enough to anchor other prose. Another sentence crawls out of the ooze and onto dry land, grows legs, begins to explore new territory, and I follow.

I struggle until I watch my hand write that one sentence that makes the hair stand up on my arms, that makes my eyes sting, that lets me know that I’ve found a bit of truth that will be the story’s center. Then the words finally begin to come.

What typically comes first for you: a character? An era? A story idea? How do you proceed from there?

I have a confession:  I don’t like writing.

But I love having written.

At the beginning of a book, I have only the glimmer of an idea, and it’s different each time — a line of dialogue, a character, a setting, a time period. I think about it. It settles in my brain, nestles—or nettles—like a tickle or an itch. It often sits like that for a very long time.

My process is messy and non-linear, full of false starts, fidgets, and errands that I suddenly need to run now; it is a battle to get something—anything—down on paper. I doodle in sketchbooks: bits of ideas, fragments of sentences, character names, single lines of dialogue with no context. I play on the web as if Google was a pinball machine, caroming and bouncing from link to link to tangent, making notes about odd factoids that catch my eye.

Writers are magpies. Ooh! Shiny! Some of those shinies are distractions, but others are just the right size or shape for me to add to the jumble of flotsam and fragments that I am slowly building into a mental nest where I will—I hope—hatch a story. I gather scraps until that amazing moment when a few of them begin to coalesce into a pattern.

What’s your favorite thing about writing historical fiction?

So many people think that history is just a list of facts and dates to memorize; dry, irrelevant, and unconnected to their lives. But the past isn’t some far-off, mythical place. History is a long, winding river of people’s lives: what they ate, what they wore, how they talked, what they believed, what was happening around them and to them.

For me, writing historical fiction is like having a time machine. When I visit the past, I don’t want to go as a tourist, just getting the highlights. I want the backstage tour. I want to look around corners and peer into windows and get to know the people of the neighborhood. I want to be there as events unfold, seeing them through the eyes of a character for whom this time is not “history” — it’s just everyday life.

Historical fiction tells the stories of ordinary people living in extraordinary times, and extraordinary people living in ordinary times.

In skilled hands, the factual history makes the character’s story feel real, and being immersed in that story makes history come alive for the reader, sometimes in surprising ways. Human emotions are timeless; relationships, social status, age- and gender-appropriate roles and issues are fluid and ever-changing.

Why is historical fiction important?

Good historical fiction opens a dialogue between the past and the present. The attitudes of the past, from the more enlightened perspective of a present-day reader, may seem wrong-headed, even ugly; many social norms were not questioned, not then. There are no warning labels on history. People smoked and didn’t know it was bad for them. Women and minorities were treated like second-class citizens and denied fundamental rights. 

Unfortunately, that same racism, sexism, abuse of power are all part of today’s headlines. I think it’s important for us all to be aware that the past was often less than savory, that what we learned about in school was not necessarily what actually happened, although some would like to pretend it was. I find it fascinating to discover how things have changed in the last 30 or 40 or 50 years — and how much they haven’t.

What’s one of the most interesting things you’ve learned while researching?

One of the things I love about research is that in the course of looking for one bit of information, I frequently stumble onto another, even more interesting subject, one of those hidden parts of history that no one seems to know about. What’s more intriguing than a long-lost secret, right?

My second novel takes place in 1946 and 1947. When I started reading about the period, I knew almost nothing about it. The 1940s appears to be the only five-year decade in American history. The war ends, and boom — now it’s the Fifties. At least according to most history books.

As I started reading, I realized that it was not only brand-new territory for historical fiction, it was a really fascinating time. World War Two was over, and everything had changed. Everyone was still reeling and, although they weren’t aware of it, the world was about to change again, and people were choosing sides. The future was looming, just beyond the horizon, and no one knew if it’d be the end of the world or the beginning of a brave new one.

I once described that book as a history of the future, because that’s what struck me most as I did my research. The past was over, and magazines, books, ads were all looking ahead. Rockets to the moon! Ovens that would cook dinner in five minutes! Atomic fuel pellets that would cost pennies and run your car for a year!  

What had been science fiction was becoming reality. (At least some of it.) As an SF writer, as well as a historian (and a citizen of that far-off future, the 21st century)  that was very fertile ground to explore.  

Cindy Anstey has published six young adult romantic mysteries; they are all historical with a touch of humor, taking place in the 19^th century. Her most recent book, Deadly Curious, is a more serious read and was released in June. Her five other titles are The Hummingbird Dagger, Love, Lies and Spies, Duels & Deception, Suitors and Sabotage and Carols and Chaos.

How do you conduct your research?

I research the old-fashioned way: books. I love learning social history. A new novel begins when I look into historical events around the timeframe I have chosen, and I extrapolate from there. For settings, I research suitable houses, (manors) often finding photos on the Internet. These help me understand the layouts—placement of the common rooms, servant’s quarters and bedrooms and I find color plates of lady’s fashions so that I can imagine the character’s gowns. I lived in Belgium for eight years and visited manors, palaces, castles and various estates across Europe—particularly England country houses, paying close attention to the rugs and furniture.

What kinds of sources do you use?

I can be very specific and give you an abbreviated list of my sources: Life in the English Country House by Mark Girouard; London, A Social History by Roy Porter; Up and Down Stairs, The History of the Country House Servant by Jeremy Musson; Our Tempestuous Day, A History of Regency England by Carolly Erickson; A Visitor’s Guide to Jane Austen’s England by Sue Wilkes; 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Captain Grose. I have many, many, more but those are the books close to hand. I am very fortunate that the time period I’m interested in (19^th century) has been the focus of many a researcher and I have a bevy of books to choose from.

How long do you typically research before beginning to draft?

I love to research so much, it’s actually hard to stop. One subject will lead to another; it’s a never-ending list of what ifs and how did they do that? Of course, with each book, I learn far more about the history of my time period than ever makes it into the story. I call a halt to pure research at around 4 to 6 weeks, though it continues throughout the writing process—there are always things to verify.

What’s your favorite things about writing historical fiction?

There are so many things to like about historical writing that I am hard pressed to claim only one. However, if forced to do so, I would choose research. I love learning about the norms of a household two hundred years ago. I enjoy envisioning their daily lives and imagining their relationships in a world without computers and cell phones.

What are some obstacles writing historical fiction brings? 

While not a stumbling block per se, the attitude and thought processes of those who lived two hundred years ago can present limitations. The restrictions placed on women, particularly young women, were draconian. I often explain that my characters are acting oddly—not in keeping with the norm—in order to make the narrative more accessible to the reader. As an example, at the beginning of each book I find a way for my characters to call one another by their first names. In the 19^th century, given names were rarely used; even married couples addressed one another formally when in company.

What’s one of the most interesting things you’ve learned while researching?

One of the interesting aspects of this time period is the length of time it takes to move around/to travel. Distances of 60 miles or so (an hour in the 21^st century car) could take up to five hours in a carriage with stops along the way to change horses. City visitors often stayed a week or more at a friend or relative’s estate due to the lengthy travel time. Picnics or outdoor excursions had to be planned well in advance with arrangements made for the horses, seating and food that would not spoil. Servants were required to accompany the family to make life easier. 

What sorts of decisions have you had to make about “muddy” historical figures or events in order for your book to work?

The time period of my fifth book, The Hummingbird Dagger, was chosen to take advantage of the turmoil and historical events of the end of slavery in England. However, it became clear that referring to this issue could present a host problems, and I decided to change the pivotal purpose of the villains to that of squelching the abolition of privateers.