In the Garden of Iden; random thoughts on S&S

[tempestsarekind]

I finished reading In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker last night, and I'm jealous. Conceptually I thought it was really interesting and clever, and it had little bits about time travel and language, which I'm a sucker for, but what I am *really* jealous of is the Tudor dialogue. I have long wanted to write historical fiction, but I can never get

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[lareinenoire]

what I am *really* jealous of is the Tudor dialogue. I have long wanted to write historical fiction, but I can never get the voice right.

This is why I'm practising on Shakespeare Histories fanfic to see if I can do it at all, before even attempting to write that Wars of the Roses novel that's been brewing in my head since about ninth grade. ;)

But, oh, my goodness, it is so easy to get it wrong. I'm presenting a short paper on YA retellings of Shakespeare tomorrow, and one of the novels was written in this Godawful faux-Elizabethan prose...

[tempestsarekind]

I think this is a good plan! I don't have all that much opportunity to practice, truth be told--which may be part of the problem.

I'm trying to decide whether faux-Elizabethan is worse than jarringly modern; I suppose I'd have to know the book in question to decide... I read a book about fairies once in the Elizabethan period (Strange Devices of the Sun and Moon by Lisa Goldstein) and the language was so lacking in any period flavor--characters as well as narration--that it drove me up a wall.

Oh, and good luck with the paper!

[lareinenoire]

I'm trying to decide whether faux-Elizabethan is worse than jarringly modern; I suppose I'd have to know the book in question to decide...

Well, I think my main problem was that it didn't feel organic at all, if that makes any sense. It felt as though the author had written the entire thing in modern prose and then thrown 'hath', 'doth', 'thou', etc, in to give it period flavour. Plus, the characters were all far too modern -- although I guess it's what one would expect from a novel entitled Dating Hamlet.

I don't have all that much opportunity to practice, truth be told--which may be part of the problem.

You know you want to. Really. Signups close today!

[tempestsarekind]

Eep. Definitely bad form! I think I'd rather they just didn't try at all than just stick random words in (or wind up looking like that's what happened, at any rate). I've only ever seen the title of that book, on spines and such; I always just assumed it was a modern retelling.

I like the Shakespeare Stealer series by Gary Blackwood for taking the tone seriously in a YA series without being too overwhelming (though I do sometimes wonder if there are younger readers of the series thinking things like, "Why does he keep using the word 'an' like that?"). The books are first-person, too, so he's got to do narration as well as dialogue in that voice.

As for the ficathon, I *definitely* don't know the histories well enough! Also, I'm not sure I have the right impulses for fanfic; I seem to gravitate automatically to writing long meta. :) I look forward to seeing what gets written, though.

[rymenhild]

As I understand it, Kage Baker taught "Elizabethan English as a Second Language" to Renfaire performers and actors for years and years before she wrote that book.

I love the Company series. The rest of the novels and short stories aren't so beautifully Elizabethan, but they're full of crazily awesome characters and they overflow with historical in-jokes. I keep meaning to post a Company playlist I set up last year, but I haven't gotten around to it.

[tempestsarekind]

And suddenly it all makes sense...

This was my first Company novel--I'm going to have to go looking for others. As soon as I can go outside without melting.

[rymenhild]

The larger public libraries might have the books, and if you have access to any independent SFF bookstores the series is probably there too, but I've failed to find Kage Baker at most mass-market bookstores. Thank goodness for Amazon.

[tempestsarekind]

I think I vaguely recall seeing a few of the novels at one of the local bookstores, though I have no idea which ones they were. Luckily there's always requesting books from other local public libraries as well.

[skirmish_of_wit]

Apparently I must read In the Garden of Iden posthaste! For I have always felt that way about dialogue in historical fiction, too. It's why I had to stop writing the novel I started (see also: plot, made an utter hash of).

I love S&S as I love all Austen, and Elinor a great deal more, but I do admit that I reread it with considerably less frequency because Marianne grates on my nerves so much and I hate seeing Elinor so put-upon. In fact, I've always thought Brandon was rather better than Marianne deserved, actually! Well -- okay, that's an exaggeration. I don't hate Marianne, but she does make me headdesk.

[rymenhild]

I should announce this on my own LJ, but tor.com, a new website associated with Patrick Nielsen Hayden's SFF publishing company Tor Forge, is getting names on its mailing list by giving out free e-books by its older writers. Next week's free e-book is In the Garden of Iden, so if you want to read it without paying for it, go sign up at the website and they'll send links to the book in several formats to your e-mail address.

[tempestsarekind]

I really enjoyed In the Garden of Iden. The voice goes back and forth between the modern, slangy English of the narrator (known as "Cinema Standard," which I love) and this spot-on Tudor dialogue. I read a review somewhere that said some readers had trouble with that, but I love the juxtaposition between the language a time traveler would know and the language he or she hears/has to communicate in--one of my favorite Donna moments is when she asks about what would happen if she spoke Latin while the TARDIS is translating her 21st-c English *into* Latin. So I really appreciated that