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Home » Archaeology and Imagination: On Building a Fiction Scene Set in the Ancient World

Archaeology and Imagination: On Building a Fiction Scene Set in the Ancient World

There’s a balancing act all historical fiction writers must accomplish: the historical details of world building versus speed of story telling. At its best the world building feels invisible to the reader. They simply live in that world but are drawn on by the action. In a guest post on Oh For the Hook of a Book Blog I discuss the anatomy of this balancing act in the opening scene of my book and another key moment in Hand of Fire. Click here to read the guest post.

2 thoughts on “Archaeology and Imagination: On Building a Fiction Scene Set in the Ancient World”

  1. Vann Turner

    Hi Judith,

    I enjoyed reading how you eased the reader into the ancient world with use of salient detail and where those details came from.

    A non-writer, though, might get the impression that writers lay out details in advance, kinda like arranging things in order and then starting to write. Perhaps a single sentence inserted into the article stating the image (Briseis in small bedchamber, tending dying mother, storm outside) presented itself to you full-blown. Your task as a writer was to select salient details so that reader X might create in his/her own imagination an image that corresponds somewhat to what you initially envisioned/experienced.

    In other words, what you write in the article is after-the-fact analysis, not the organic process of writing. Perhaps a single sentence to clarify this would be helpful to the general reader.

    As always, best wishes,
    Vann

    1. admin

      Good point, Vann. Although it’s also true that editing is an after-the-fact sort of process and this thinking reflects what I considered as I edited. But you’re correct, there is an original image and imaginative process that has nothing to do with such analysis.

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