Monday, February 3, 2014

History as a Soap Opera

My history teacher in 8th grade tried to convince us that history was like a soap opera.  At the time, I saw his claim as a thinly veiled effort to garner a little more support and cooperation from his teen audience.

Funny how smart I used to think I was.  Funnier still that these flashbacks keep coming back to haunt me.

I couldn't stand most of my history classes in school.  And yet, he had a bit of a point.  Now I find a great deal of interest in some of our more obscure histories.  I'm alarmingly wrapped up in the story of 1910 in Butte, Montana right now, but I keep stumbling over little nuggets that inspire ideas for me.  One future idea is going to be set in a town where a train crash was staged as a promotional event that took a fatal turn, for example.  My current project began when I saw an advertisement for The Dumas, the longest surviving brothel in the U.S.  A couple of years ago, I stumbled upon a passenger ship called The Mauritania, and its grandeur inspired Bonds of Matrimony.

The trouble I have with so many historical romances is the swooning women.  Our world could not possibly be what it is today without the strength of its women.  And so while I aim to create a fictional soap opera around some little-known history, I also strive to demonstrate the strength and passion of the "fairer" sex.

And after I dabble a bit in the past, I am sure that I will surface again for a contemporary snack and maybe even a paranormal nibble here and there.  (I had far too much fun with The MaCall Prophecy Trilogy to not try another paranormal in the near future.)

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