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I never thought I would write a book based on history but I am considering it. Here's the concept - my recently released book The Whiskey Bottle in the Wall: Secrets of Marienstadt is doing pretty well. It is a novel in 11 consecutive stories that build to a conclusion. All the stories are based on folklore and legends from my hometown, a Pennsylvania Dutch community in the Allegheny Highlands. Already I am getting emails from readers saying, please write more. I thought I was out of ideas but then I started thinking about something.
During the Civil War there was an elite unit of sharpshooters formed called The Bucktail Regiment. It was the first such regiment that men had to pass a sharpshooting challenge to qualify for. The Elk County Rifles, part of the regiment, were from my home town. They fought in most of the major battles of the Civil War and distinguished themselves at Gettysburg. I've downloaded a lot of articles about them and found three books online that I ordered and have been reading (one is a collection of interviews done in 1906 of actual survivors of the regiment.) My idea is a story-within-a-story using the characters from the Whiskey Bottle stories one of whom starts doing research on an ancestor who was part of this regiment.
Now here's my dilemma, a LOT is known about these people and Civil War buffs can be extremely pedantic. If I plan to construct a fictional character to operate in this world, how much grief am I going to get? How dogmatic are other historical fiction writers about your characters? Do you mostly choose periods that are shrouded in mystery or do you try to be as accurate as you can without screwing up your story?
Am I crazy to try this?
During the Civil War there was an elite unit of sharpshooters formed called The Bucktail Regiment. It was the first such regiment that men had to pass a sharpshooting challenge to qualify for. The Elk County Rifles, part of the regiment, were from my home town. They fought in most of the major battles of the Civil War and distinguished themselves at Gettysburg. I've downloaded a lot of articles about them and found three books online that I ordered and have been reading (one is a collection of interviews done in 1906 of actual survivors of the regiment.) My idea is a story-within-a-story using the characters from the Whiskey Bottle stories one of whom starts doing research on an ancestor who was part of this regiment.
Now here's my dilemma, a LOT is known about these people and Civil War buffs can be extremely pedantic. If I plan to construct a fictional character to operate in this world, how much grief am I going to get? How dogmatic are other historical fiction writers about your characters? Do you mostly choose periods that are shrouded in mystery or do you try to be as accurate as you can without screwing up your story?
Am I crazy to try this?