From the Vault

My Time Machine

Posted on February 24, 2018 by suzanneadairFebruary 24, 2018

From the Vault Note: This essay first appeared in a slightly different form on Southern Writers Magazine’s blog, April 2013.

Readers often comment that my stories immerse them fully in the fictional world I’ve created. Achieving that “You Are Here” feeling is a challenge for most authors. Those who write historical fiction wish they had a time machine, a way to experience what the past was like.

I write crime fiction set during the eighteenth century, in the American War of Independence. I’ve found that time machine.

When I started researching this period almost twenty years ago, I quickly realized that if I intended to create believable fiction about people who’d lived more than two hundred years earlier, reading books on the topic and interviewing subject matter experts wouldn’t cut it at helping me capture the period flavor. A desire to experience the everyday challenges my characters would have faced and how their world smelled, tasted, and sounded fueled my interest in becoming a Revolutionary War reenactor.

My sons and I spent many weekends camped at historical battlegrounds during reenactment events. We slept in white canvas army tents with no mosquito screens, and we dressed in clothing made of wool and linen. Our menu was limited by what meals we could prepare over a wood fire. Food occasionally got scorched. Most of the time, running water, flush toilets, and heat or air-conditioning were unavailable.

I learned to start a fire from flint and steel. Not until I’d done so did I comprehend the impact of natural variables, such as wind and humidity, on establishing a fire when you don’t even have the convenience of matches. Try starting a fire with flint and steel on a windy, wintry night.

I also learned to load and fire a musket with powder only, like reenactors on the battlefield. Nothing I’d read prepared me for the noise, weight, heat, or reload time of the musket. The one time I fired a ball, I saw the way it could have ricocheted off trees and killed someone. How often did that happen in woodland skirmishes hundreds of years ago?

And I learned to move in a petticoat. However no reference book prepared me for how quickly the wind whipped my petticoat into the campfire at one event. Did you know that being burned was one of the top causes of death for women in the eighteenth century?

I’m a woman of the twenty-first century. I take technology for granted. Convenience and accessibility underpin my culture and shape my values and reactions. But during the Revolutionary War, very little was convenient or accessible. Danger and scarcity shaped decisions, especially for the middle and lower classes.

We’re out of touch with the hardships our ancestors endured to stay alive. My challenge is to bridge that gap in my fiction. The lessons I’ve learned from reenacting inform the crafting of my fictional world. Without the experience of having lived history via the time machine of reenacting, I wouldn’t be able to provide such a believable and captivating escape for readers.

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Do Historical Mysteries Have Something to Say About Our Time?

Posted on February 27, 2014 by suzanneadairFebruary 27, 2014

From the Vault: A budget proposed in 2013 by the governor of the state of North Carolina called for closure of four historical sites to save money. (How much money would this really save? Read the end of the article.) Whenever something like this appears in the news, it spotlights people who didn’t learn history. Remember what George Santayana said? “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” History has a lot to say about modern times. Historical mysteries, too, have a lot to say about our time, as I discuss in the following essay, originally published at PPWebcon in 2009.

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For many of us, history is a huge hurdle we negotiated in school, a dry gulch of treaty and battle dates regurgitated on tests. Although we’re given such admonitions as George Santayana’s “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” few enjoy studying the lessons of history, let alone reading a mystery set in times past. Historical whodunits that are long on descriptions of clothing and food and short on plot and characterizations have given the entire sub-genre a bad reputation. It’s as if historical mysteries are the dorks on the dance floor of crime fiction, surrounded by sleekly twirling thrillers, sinuous suspense schemes, and cheetah-like cozies. Are historical mysteries really just for geeks? Or are their messages relevant to a wider readership?

All mystery fiction deals with righting wrongs. At the heart of those rights and wrongs is the duality of human nature. Socrates observed, “Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live.” So it looks as though human nature has remained fairly consistent throughout recorded history. We tote the baggage of various dysfunctions with us through millennia while striving to balance “the Dark Side” with philanthropy, gratitude, love, compassion, and other characteristics that exemplify the best that humanity has to offer.

One reason we conveniently forget lessons from history is that significant events become shrouded in myth, even within our lifetimes. Farther back than our grandparents, we have little connection with the people who moved and shook the earth. Those of us in affluent countries have access to instant communications, antibiotics, fast food, and reliable transportation, whereas danger and scarcity often shaped the everyday decisions of our ancestors who lived on the same soil. Via school history textbooks, the courage these ancestors displayed filters down to us as the extraordinary fearlessness of comic book superheroes. Since you probably don’t know many fearless superheroes, you can easily dismiss people of the past and their vital stories.

But what if our ancestors’ courage was less about extraordinary, fearless superheroes and more about ordinary people who responded appropriately in the presence of their own fear? Let’s look at when you might have done so recently. Have you quit a job or started a home-based business? Left an abusive relationship? Run a daylong marathon? Such accomplishments require courage. Fear of failure plucks at us each time we move forward. Ordinary, non-superhero folks like you and me challenge ourselves every day. Somehow we find ways to respond appropriately, bypass the fear-snags, better ourselves, right wrongs. It’s human nature to do so.

Well-written historical mysteries transport us into a past teeming with the sort of prickly issues we deal with today as well as horrors we’d rather relegate to an earlier time — but we cannot do so because they haunt us still. In the course of fictional investigations, protagonists from the past tackle gritty matters like addiction, amputation, sexual predation, post-traumatic stress disorder, hate crimes, and human trafficking. Since there’s no Dr. Phil or even Dr. Freud to coach the characters of most eras through the psychology, we receive a window into how real people in history might have managed what was deviant. And somehow they must have done it. After all, we’re here today.

By transporting us into another time, authors of historical mysteries cleverly showcase the duality of human nature from a different angle. Historical mysteries challenge us to ponder issues anew, search ourselves for solutions buried beneath the layer of techno-babble that coats the twenty-first century, resolutions perhaps invisible behind the defenses we erect about our souls. We read of human beings plagued with faults but striving to right wrongs, just as we struggle today. Dull reading? Hardly.

If you believe all historical mysteries are set in England or North America, you haven’t read from the sub-genre lately, and you’re in for a treat. Detectives through the ages solve crimes in Egypt and the Middle East, the Byzantine Empire, Japan, Australia, Mexico, India, Tibet, Africa, Laos, and South America. Crime Thru Time is one of several web sites providing a timeline of historical mystery series. Pick out an intriguing “when” and “where” on the site. Then prepare yourself to escape into the past and have fun. While you’re connecting to history in ways your teachers could never have imagined, don’t be surprised if a mystery author sneaks in one of those lessons that we’re supposed to learn about good, evil, courage, and human nature.

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Revolutionary Yule

Posted on December 19, 2013 by suzanneadairDecember 19, 2013

From the Vault: I’ve participated in a number of December booksignings at historic sites that date from the time of the American Revolution. Site visitors are often surprised at the simplicity with which the grounds and interiors of historic buildings are decorated for the holiday season. The decor reflects the way people in America approached Christmas during the Revolution. I originally wrote about this simpler approach in 2009 in Mystery Readers Journal, vol 25 no 1. (The pictures weren’t in the original.) What I’ve learned about Yule and Christmas has influenced my personal seasonal celebration. This year, Yule and the winter solstice fall on the same day, 21 December. Seasons greetings to all my readers.

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Camp Follower, the third novel in my mystery/suspense series set during the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War, depicts a Yule celebration in the backcountry of South Carolina.

Why Yule and not Christmas?

Contrary to popular opinion, Christmas wasn’t a big holiday for the Colonials or the occupying British. There was no Christmas tree, no roasted goose, no weeks of baking and flurry of gift giving, no packing the church pews for a joyous Christmas Eve/Day service, no bearded plump guy in a red suit whizzing around the world in a sleigh full of goodies. Decades later, Prince Albert would initiate some of those traditions, then they’d gather momentum over subsequent decades into what we have now. But it wasn’t happening yet during the Revolutionary War years.

Christmas was, in fact, in transition. For centuries, the pagan festival of Saturnalia had been on the Church’s calendar as Christmas. The season was a time of widespread “misrule,” when folks indulged in excessive party behavior that resembled a cross between our modern-day Halloween and Mardi Gras. By the winter solstice each year, the harvests were in, the stock was freshly slaughtered, and the first alcoholic beverages of the season were available. People of all classes had idle time on their hands. Many used it to evaluate a year nearly ended and assess ways to approach the new year. But many commoners also chose to let off steam and vent carnal desires at this time. These people turned class stricture on its head by rioting, destroying property, and indulging in licentious sexual behavior. By custom, commoners often invaded upper class homes in mobs and demanded food and drink. The wealthy provided food and drink for them, a form of largesse, a “treat” to divert a “trick.”

So desperate were the Puritans of Colonial America to distinguish themselves from devotees of this seasonal revelry that they outlawed public celebration and acknowledgement of Christmas within their community for many years. However, not everyone who settled in North America was a Puritan. A number of settlers weren’t even Christians. In the years as the colonies and territories took shape, a range of seasonal celebratory behavior manifested itself in homes and in public.

In December 1780, most people associated with King George III‘s empire, regardless of religion, still honored the ancient, annual rhythm of solstices and equinoxes in some form. Makes sense, when you consider how many of them made a living off the land and thus had to stay attuned to the seasons. For the winter solstice, they might have decorated their homes with some greenery, or had a feast and/or dance on Yule. The winter solstice and Christmas Day occur close together, some years almost atop each other, so those people who were Christians might also have attended a service in church on Christmas Day. But this would have been a somber, simple service with no glitz. Conservative Protestants — especially those of the backcountry, folk persuasion — frowned on making a material big deal over the birth of Jesus, just as the Puritans had discouraged it.

Camp Follower renders Yule as it might have been in 1780, celebrated on what is technically Christmas Eve by a British regiment camped in the hinterlands of South Carolina. The regimental commander entertains his officers and their ladies with a feast, and plenty of food is distributed among the rank and file — echoes back to an age when the lord of the manor distributed largesse among the poor in effort to circumvent their Saturnalia carousing. During the Yule festivity in Camp Follower, everyone dances and drinks a lot. And the next morning, the chaplain preaches a brief, quiet Christmas sermon for those few who can make it to the service.

History has recorded enough aggression during the Revolutionary War at the time of the winter solstice, Yule, and Christmas to imply that Colonials didn’t regard those days as a spiritual period. Seems peculiar to those of us in the twenty-first century who are accustomed to a winter holiday that’s sacred (and commercial!). It also threatens those who are only comfortable with a picture of this country’s founding mothers and fathers as the Christians we recognize today, not as an amalgamation of people of different faiths whose spirituality occupied a zone in the evolutionary continuum. Regardless of religious persuasion, however, Yule in Revolutionary America does appear to have been a time of relaxation. Most people still used that period to reflect on a year almost over, as their ancestors had done, but widespread “misrule” was no longer the rule.

The concepts of reflection and relaxation seem so sane to me during this frenetic time of the year that I incorporated a peaceful Yule celebration into my family’s winter holiday schedule several years ago. My sons now enjoy Yule more than Christmas. We haven’t had any whining about material gifts since Mom brought back Yule.

You might say that my rediscovery of Yule has been a revolutionary gift that my historical research imparted upon all our lives.

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Camp Follower for a Weekend

Posted on November 30, 2013 by suzanneadairNovember 29, 2013

From the Vault: I’ve participated in more than a decade of Revolutionary War reenacting with the 33rd Light Company of Foot—as one of their camp followers. Boy, oh boy, those words “camp follower” sure perk the ears of journalists and beg a clarification of what a camp follower does. My explanation often sounds like what’s in the following essay, originally published in 2010 in Mystery Readers Journal, vol 26 no 4, the issue on “Hobbies.” (The pictures weren’t in the original.) In this essay, I discuss giving voice to women of the Revolution so we can learn about “the crushing, undeniable effect of war on humanity.” Note that that voice is loud and clear in my latest release, A Hostage to Heritage.

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I write a mystery/suspense series set during the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War. Several years ago, after I’d described the hobby that best informs my writing, an interviewer said to me, “Honey, you really suffer for your art.” My hobby is Revolutionary War reenacting. During a reenacting weekend, I portray a woman of middle class who is a camp follower.

No, I’m not a military groupie. During the Revolutionary War, any non-combatant civilian who traveled with an army met the definition of what we’d call a “camp follower.” These folks took no commissioning or enlistment vows but were paid in other ways by the army or through interaction with the army. Camp followers in the Revolutionary War included artisans such as blacksmiths and wheelwrights; sutlers like merchants and peddlers; and retainers: family members, servants, slaves, and friends.

Usually when we hear a voice from the Revolutionary War, it’s a man’s voice, a soldier’s tale. Women have a different story to tell about the war. One purpose of my series is to spotlight women in a historically accurate setting and give them their voices.

Why would any woman who wasn’t a prostitute follow an army? In the Revolutionary War, territories changed hands often. The conflict pitted neighbor against neighbor—demonstrated gruesomely in the Southern colonies, where squabbling families used the excuse of war to continue old feuds. Most cities were too small to provide a defense for people. Often an army was the greatest source of protection. When a military force withdrew from an area, civilians who stayed behind became vulnerable and risked torture and death at the hands of enemies. Thus wives left home and marched to the drum with their soldier husbands, bringing with them children and other household members.

A woman who followed an army endured privation. The baggage train where most camp followers traveled was considered worthy of capture. Civilians associated with it often found themselves in the midst of battle. These people also experienced disease, starvation, lack of clothing and shelter, and exposure to the elements. In addition, civilians had to obey military rules. A woman who broke the rules might pay a fine or receive corporal punishment. She could be evicted from camp or executed.

Middle- and lower-class women coped by cobbling together some form of domestic life, normalcy within the military environment and chaos of war. Perhaps they shared a daily meal with their soldiers, or participated in a family activity, such as reading from the Bible. Since women often didn’t receive food rations, they laundered, cooked, mended clothing, and worked in the infirmary for extra pay or food.

These women weren’t early feminists. They did what had to be done, part of the innate ability of women throughout history. Yet the accomplishments of women don’t receive the attention of men’s accomplishments. Stories of war are most often told from the point of view of men, soldiers. Furthermore, we tend to regard women of Revolutionary America through the lens of Victorian society, impose Victorian expectations upon women of Georgian society.

Sometimes in primary research, we must read between the lines to hear the small voice with the true story. When women are allowed to voice their stories, a very different image of war emerges, especially for middle- and lower-class women. We hear the crushing, undeniable effect of war on humanity. I depict these women in my series—especially in my book Camp Follower, where I’ve described the suffering of civilians who traveled with the army that lost the Battle of Cowpens.

If my fiction succeeds in capturing most of what women camp followers endured, then it’s worth sweating beneath my petticoat in the summer, blowing on numb fingers in the winter, and swatting mosquitoes and eating burned food. Who said hobbies must be easy? I look for new experiences and challenges. Maybe for another series, I’ll take up ghost hunting.

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Posted on November 29, 2013 by suzanneadairNovember 29, 2013

I’ve been blogging for eight years. That’s a lot of posts. During the recent blog transfer from Typepad to WordPress, I got the chance to reread material from those early days. I think you folks would enjoy some of those posts—but they’re buried waaaay back there.

So starting tomorrow, I’ll add a semi-regular feature here on my blog called “From the Vault.” I’ll blow the dust off some of my old posts and some guest essays that I wrote for others and present them to you with a brief update.

Come on back tomorrow and read your first example of From the Vault.

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