Caroline Starr Rose

picture book and middle-grade author

  • home
  • Bio
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Anthologies
    • Blue Birds
    • The Burning Season
    • Jasper and the Riddle of Riley’s Mine
    • May B.
    • Miraculous
    • Over in the Wetlands
    • A Race Around the World
    • Ride On, Will Cody!
  • Author Visits
  • Virtual Visits
  • Events
  • Teacher Resources
  • Contact
  • Writing One to One

Straight From the Source: Beth Kephart on Writing Historical Fiction

4 Comments

Beth Kephart has written memoir, history, poetry, a corporate fable, and many novels for young adults. Among her historical novels for young adults are DANGEROUS NEIGHBORS (Centennial Philadelphia), DR. RADWAY’S SARSAPARILLA RESOLVENT (1876 Philadelphia), SMALL DAMAGES (flashbacks to Franco’s Seville), GOING OVER (1983 Berlin, released April 2014), and MUD ANGELS (flashbacks to 1966 Florence, to be released in spring 2015).

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

It is such a mysterious process. Several things percolate; many things must collide. You need more than a location, a time period, a character, a theme. You need some urgent question. It can all sit there, going nowhere, until you find the urgent question.

How do you conduct your research? 

I use everything that I can find—old newspaper and magazine stories, diaries, books, photographs, videos, films, records—and, of course, I travel to the places where the stories take place.

At what point do you feel comfortable beginning to draft? How does your research continue once you begin writing?

I think that it is important not to know everything before you start, to keep the process mysterious as long as you can. I want to wake up with a desire to find out. I don’t want to follow an historical dot-to-dot map. So I do some research. I visit the place. I take photographs. I dream. And then I fill things in as I go, look for facts as I need them.

What is your favorite thing about research?

I studied the History and Sociology of Science at Penn, and so I feel very happy doing research, very alive digging into old things and looking for connections. I love the unexpected find. The price of a trolley ticket in 1876. The name of a restaurant on a certain corner. The brand of a telescope that an East German would have in 1970. The tonnage of rubble following a bomb.

Why is historical fiction important?

I think it is so important to try to imagine ourselves into the lives of others during critical junctures in world history. It is a hugely empathetic act. And empathy is, finally, what storytelling is all about—empathy for others, and empathy for ourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Email

Filed Under: authors, books and reading, historical fiction

Comments

  1. Beth Kephart says

    May 14, 2014 at 11:57 am

    I love it when you and I show up in the same places. Thank you for this!

    Reply
    • Caroline says

      May 14, 2014 at 3:22 pm

      Perhaps someday we’ll really show up in the same place? You know, face to face? That would be wonderful.

      Reply
  2. Kimberley Griffiths Little says

    May 24, 2014 at 8:30 pm

    I love this by Beth. Her process sounds very much like mine. It’s the little things, the pieces, and the mystery. And then the wonder when it all, finally, comes together.

    Reply
    • Caroline says

      May 25, 2014 at 8:06 pm

      It’s been very interesting (and validating) to read the interviews I’ve received for this series — truly proof there is no one way. Looking forward to running yours someday, Kim!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Meet Caroline Starr Rose
  • Email
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter

my books

Subscribe to my newsletter + to receive regular blog posts

categories

  • A Race Around the World
  • authors
  • Blue Birds
  • books and reading
  • classroom connections
  • encouragement
  • faith
  • family
  • historical fiction
  • home
  • Jasper and the Riddle of Riley's Mine
  • May B.
  • Miraculous
  • non-fiction
  • Over in the Wetlands
  • poetry
  • publication
  • Ride On, Will Cody!
  • teaching
  • The Burning Season
  • The Notebook Series
  • the writing life
  • this and that

Copyright © 2023 · Caroline Starr Rose · Site by Design by Insight

I participate in Amazon Services LLC Associates and Bookshop.org, affiliate programs that allow me to make a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Thank you for supporting this site!

Sign up for biweekly blog posts + my quarterly author newsletter and receive a printable quote from my novel, Blue Birds.