As long as I do not start to read the pages again, and spot an infernal error, I have finished editing my attempt at an historical novel (although it might be said my tales of a PI in 1950s New York qualifies as ‘historical fiction’). Three times is enough. Anyone who finds mistakes can give themselves a prize. This edit certainly denied the odd adage of losing around 20% of the original text; this time I gained an extra 5000 words. But understandably, since the first third was written while I edited the last book so research was limited, and being set in the 16th century there was quite a lot of historical references I had forgotten or simply got wrong. It was an enjoyable story to create and never lost my interest, in fact the danger was in continuing the tale too far as it would be an easy thing to do with two storylines and the background of theatre life, plays and writers providing endless lines to follow.
One weakness I succumbed to along the way was to use more and more 16th century terms. Initially I was determined to stick with ‘Yeas’ and ‘Nays’ and ‘Forsooths’, a little taste of the times but not sounding like a poor man’s Shakespeare. But as I checked various items such as clothing, hats, food, I came across lists of words used in everyday speech (often produced by teachers in preparation for a class visit to a Tudor house) and it was too much of a temptation not to add a few ‘haths’, ‘doths’, and ‘trows’ (I trow = I believe). It’s not a mire of impossible sentences but I expect there is some inconsistency. I will know better next time and start with a list of terms to use and ignore any others I discover. Having looked at many authors of that period there is great variation in what language to use, some enjoying the avoidance of all contractions and all the ‘-th’ endings, others reading like a modern thriller with a brief narrative of the political situation to remind the reader it’s supposed to be set in the reign of Henry VIII or whoever.
Addendum…by the time I posted this I had uploaded the text to Amazon and e-book and paperback should now be live. This is the first time I have actually felt exhausted at the end of a novel. Maybe it’s the greater length and therefore the longer editing time, or maybe it’s the historical element, so many little things to check. Hopefully there are not too many words used which did not enter the English language until later than 1590 – I’m told early on in Wolf Hall there is a word which only came into being in the 19th century; nice to think I may share something with Hilary Mantel.
Jamie Neve 