Class Description
Any writer of historical fiction faces a conundrum. Trying to reproduce the way people actually spoke in a given historical period is not only inadvisable, it’s impossible. On the other hand, putting modern diction into the mouths of ostensibly historical characters is a sure way to lose your readers from the start. So what’s the answer? To create your own version of historical dialogue, one that is as true as possible to the period without sacrificing believability or the unique capacity of dialogue to portray character and move a story forward. But how does one go about doing that? This hands-on, craft-based workshop will feature instructive passages from some of the best contemporary historical novels to derive answers to that question, and it will allow aspiring and experienced historical fiction writers to hone one of the trickiest and most important weapons in their storytelling arsenal. We’ll focus not only on dialogue but on the narrative voice in general as we discover how to capture the language of a period without falling prey to absurdity or stiltedness.
Part of GrubStreet's Elements of Craft series, dedicated to exploring craft issues on a deeper level. For more on this series' offerings, click here.
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.