Some thoughts on the importance of cultural detail

[kellyrfineman]

At least, I'm calling it cultural detail. I'm not certain that's quite the appropriate term, but I just spent most of the day herding eighth-graders, so forgive me if I'm a bit fried.

Initially, I was going to title the post "some thoughts on writing historical fiction", but really, it's not limited to writing things set in the past. It also

Comments

[robinellen]

Interesting post and very pertinent as I begin research for my 1950s hf with some magical input...also, when we used to take our kids on field trips (granted, we had all ages), we also made up question sheets for them after researching ourselves because the guides at the various museums/zoos/wherever never could talk to kids very well...sigh. it's too bad -- but our kids always seemed to be enjoying themselves so much more than the other school groups who had to deal with the various guides.

[kellyrfineman]

The kids were all well-prepared ahead of time by looking at a Power Point presentation of the display. They knew more about a few of the items than the guide did, but she focused on some pieces they hadn't. (Also, she skipped some of the ones the kids wanted to see.)

The teacher I was with chimed in, because she was a humanities teacher, but I'm sure the science teacher was useless with his group. They also had a writing assignment when they returned to school.

[jadedmetaphor]

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing :-)

[kellyrfineman]

Thanks. I hope it made sense?

[writerross]

Coincidentally, Barbara Cooney's gorgeous ELEANOR picture book is literally here on my desk as I type these words. I re-read it today after watching an amazing AMERICAN EXPERIENCE on PBS last night. It was the Eleanor Roosevelt story, first aired in January 2000. A 2.5 hour magnificent program. I cried when it ended because 1: it ended and 2: because of how good she was and how different the world is with crazy leaders hijacking the planet.