This week I am talking about when it's okay to twist the truth. Is it ever okay to twist the truth... or lie? Well, in the creative industry it can be and we call the act as using our artistic licence. I sometimes struggle with using artistic licence in historical fiction, which is why I am talking about the subject this week.
Artistic licence is the way in which artists or writers change facts in order to make their work more interesting or beautiful.
An artist might use it in the following ways:-
Using language in a way that might break the rules of grammar, create new words or use them to represent something the words would not normally represent. Poetry and songs spring to mind and are perfect examples of when certain rules are set aside to create exciting new work.
Artistic License can be used when creating a new work of art. A painter or sculpture may creates what he perceives and feels rather than what is the reality in front of him.
Today I am going to concentrate on the creative world of writing, both fiction and non-fiction , when artistic licence can also be used by ignoring, purposely omitting or tweaking the truth. A biographer, for example, may leave out certain life events to form a more cohesive, interesting or biased narrative of the subject. Call me a sceptic, but I suspect there are many autobiographies filled with tweaked truths... or in other words... 'my truth'.
The last example of using artistic licence that springs to mind is changing facts, especially historical facts, so that they fit into the timeline or plot of a story. This use of artistic licence is where I struggle. As an historical fiction writer, I know it would make my life easier if I changed the dates of certain true historical facts. I could then slot them into my main character’s life where and when I want to enhance their abilities, their lives and what they are ultimately able to achieve. It would have been so much easier for my heroine to switch on a light... but I have to remember that electric lights were not invented then and she has to resort to candles. Then comes the research on how does she light them. Were matches invented by then? This is why I struggle with artistic licence. The temptation to add that electric switch and say her father invented it long before the public knew about electricity can be overwhelming at times!
My current work in progress has my heroine escaping from the gestapo during WW2. My chosen method of escape is an actual (historically accurate) route across the channel used by special agents between 1942 and 1943. However, I discovered (from my extensive research), that after 27th October 1943 that particular route was no longer used. How do I know this? I know this because on 27th October 1943 the ship’s last mission encountered winds estimated to be 70-80 knots and was abandoned. Shortly after, whilst clearing a minefield, the ship struck submerged wreckage and damaged its propeller. The sea route was never re-established after that. So I have a date which I have to work around. I have a choice, I can either fit the novel to fit the historical date, move the date of her escape to a more convenient time for me or get her home by another method. I understand that in reality there will be very few people in the world who even know about this particular sea route and even fewer who know the details of why and when it stopped being used. However, there is always the fear that a reader will pick me up on it. You see... I told you that I struggle using artistic licence!
After much angst I have decided to stick with the truth as the accuracy of historical details mean a lot to me, although this incident did make me wonder if I was going down a research rabbit hole that many authors would feel was quite unnecessary. After all, I would not be the first to use artistic license to bend the facts to make an interesting story. Here are just three examples:-
Disney’s Pocahontas. In Disney's adaptation she was a fully grown woman who fell in love with Captain John Smith. In reality, Pocahontas was a child when Captain Smith arrived and she later married someone else.
One Million Years BC. This film resulted in a generation believing the impossible was true. However, today we know that humans did not live at the same time as dinosaurs.
and finally…
Bridgerton. In the TV series artistic license was used for casting, costume and hairstyles. It was refreshing and popular but there were also some viewers who questioned why there was a need to change so many historical details and facts.
By the time you read this I hope to have almost completed the first draft of my heroine’s escape. I have a feeling that by keeping to historically accurate dates, her escape will be even more adventurous and dramatic than it might have been. Fact is stranger than fiction and sometimes it is best not to dabble too much with what is already an amazing period in time. My heroine is determined and mentally strong and will cope with whatever lies ahead... at least I hope so!
Great post! As I also write historical fiction I come across the same dilemmas often - though I would never be tempted to put something as important as electricity in before its time.
ReplyDeleteI think it's important to keep things in perspective. With your escape route, I might have been tempted to twist the truth but like you would probably have ended up altering my novel's timeline to fit. In my current WIP I am mentioning a local smuggling legend involving a doctor being abducted to tend to an injured smuggler. It actually happened later than my novel is set but I am using artistic licence to move this event. It's not historically significant so doesn't really matter. In this case I can't move my novel's timeline, as the novel is about events which ARE historically significant!
Your research sounds interesting. I don't know about you, but I can spend hours doing research and end up using only a small % of it!
DeleteThis is the historical author's great dilemma! I remember asking a VERY well known author if it was ever OK to alter the historical record to fit or enhance your story. This was very much "The Wrong Question!"
ReplyDelete"Oh, no!" she replied, "You HAVE to stick to the recorded facts!" (In a very hoity toity tone of voice).
I found out very soon after that this particular author is notorious for altering history to enhance her stories!
I would say, though, that we are writing fiction, not history books. While I like to stick as closely as possible to recorded facts and dates, I have no hesitation of "bending" them if it will enhance to story!
Very true, John, writing fiction is not writing a history book. I still have that fear that a reader did not get the memo though lol
DeleteI think it's fine to move a date or invent something important, so long as you tell the reader at the end.
ReplyDeleteBut don't get me started on Bridgerton. It would have been so easy to use English sets, German names, French fashion, and made up a story with a racially-diverse cast.
But now we're going to have generations of young people believing Queen Charlotte was anything but a woman with generous facial features who had a great grandparent who lived in North Africa -- as did many Europeans.
We may not like our history, but denying it or altering it so as not to hurt people's feelings, is more harmful than accepting the truth and vowing to do better.
Would you like to hear my opinion about a Black Queen Anne Boleyn?
Perhaps we should have Mel Gibson play Shaka Zulu?
Very interesting comments, Sally. I am all for shaking up stories, but there has to be authenticity to it. I saw a wonderful adaptation of Heathcliff, where Heathcliff was played by British actor James Howson. He brought a whole new perspective to the dark, sombre street urchin discovered on the streets of Liverpool in the mid 1770s and spoke in a way they did not understand. This new take on the character fitted the book perfectly. It has to make sense to work.
DeleteThank you for a very interesting post. I also enjoyed reading other readers' comments.
ReplyDeleteThank you for dropping in, David. Feel free to visit again!
DeleteAbsolutely okay to twist the truth if we are talking fiction. This is where an author's note comes in really handy. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThank you Andie. I have used author notes in the past, although I guess there need to be a limit to how long the author notes list is! ;)
DeleteReally interesting post. I agree that it's okay to take artistic license for the benefit of the story, but (like Andie Newton says) it's important to explain your reasoning. After all, we are writing fiction! And at the end of the day, it's about the story.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Victoria. This is the number one reason why I avoid writing historical fiction (and so admire authors who do).I'd fall down the rabbit hole never to be seen again. Your pragmatic approach (echoed in the comments) sounds the best way to avoid upsets!
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting post. I don't like reading historical fiction that is in part also like reading a text book when it comes to facts. I've had four historical novels published and probably attacked them all from the wrong angle; I got the story down first then threw in historical facts. I almost gave up the will to live though when an editor questioned that my heroine would have been able to get chocolate in Devon in the early 1900s! I know stick to contemporary fiction and only settings I know. Call me chicken but it makes life easier!
ReplyDelete