Saturday, May 27, 2006
The Challenges of Writing Good History
After three years of archival research in Spain, Canary Islands, Mexico, Philippines, Hong Kong and Macau, I have finally started writing my historical account of the Balmis Expedition of 1803-1807. Sent out by Spain's King Carlos IV, Dr. Francisco Xavier Balmis was charged with the task of conveying the newly-discovered smallpox vaccine throughout the Spanish colonies, the first world-spanning public health campaign in history.
As I write, I'm also thinking toward publication: who is my audience, what kind of publisher will I seek, who is the best agent to represent my work? Immediately, challenging issues arise, issues particularly associated with any writing about historical subjects.
I've just spent almost a month of research into literary agents, building first a long list of agents that express interest in history, as well as several other categories related to my subject matter, and trimming that down to a short list. Two names rose to the very top.
I have managed to obtain three books about topics similar to mine that were agented by one of New York's hottest agents. I read them last week. And my heart sank. Well written, all of them, but all firmly "popular history," with invented dialogue and scenes that "might have happened." Not real history, in my view.
And now I face the issues: just what is history? how does one actually write it?
I've done a preliminary search to find what others have to say about it. There seems to be no book currently available that examines these issues. And those books from earlier years that I've tracked down deal either with esoteric historiography or simplistic guidelines for college historical essays. My search for online discussion has just begun, but early results in Google are turning up more guidelines for high school and college students.
Then, just today, I attended a workshop sponsored by my local writer's group about "The Stages of Revision." The workshop leader made an interesting comment: create a journal, she said, detailing your process of writing, the problems you encounter, the solutions you try. CLICK!
So here I am: finally with my first blog, created to follow my journey through writing my book, to identify the historical and creative issues I encounter, to record the solutions I attempt. I anticipate a grueling year of effort, and hopefully a lot of discovery about how to write a book that historians will respect and which the general public will enjoy writing.
As I write, I'm also thinking toward publication: who is my audience, what kind of publisher will I seek, who is the best agent to represent my work? Immediately, challenging issues arise, issues particularly associated with any writing about historical subjects.
I've just spent almost a month of research into literary agents, building first a long list of agents that express interest in history, as well as several other categories related to my subject matter, and trimming that down to a short list. Two names rose to the very top.
I have managed to obtain three books about topics similar to mine that were agented by one of New York's hottest agents. I read them last week. And my heart sank. Well written, all of them, but all firmly "popular history," with invented dialogue and scenes that "might have happened." Not real history, in my view.
And now I face the issues: just what is history? how does one actually write it?
I've done a preliminary search to find what others have to say about it. There seems to be no book currently available that examines these issues. And those books from earlier years that I've tracked down deal either with esoteric historiography or simplistic guidelines for college historical essays. My search for online discussion has just begun, but early results in Google are turning up more guidelines for high school and college students.
Then, just today, I attended a workshop sponsored by my local writer's group about "The Stages of Revision." The workshop leader made an interesting comment: create a journal, she said, detailing your process of writing, the problems you encounter, the solutions you try. CLICK!
So here I am: finally with my first blog, created to follow my journey through writing my book, to identify the historical and creative issues I encounter, to record the solutions I attempt. I anticipate a grueling year of effort, and hopefully a lot of discovery about how to write a book that historians will respect and which the general public will enjoy writing.
# posted by Tom Colvin @ 4:26 PM 
