Morning everyone! I am very happy to have here with me today my friend and published author A. R. Norris. She is a science buff and writes amazing science fiction romance (SFR). Her publisher is Desert Breeze Publishing. Watch out for her novels, of which one is already out, entitled “Duty and Devotion” and many more are on their way. 🙂

Now I will let Amber talk about History for fiction writers:

History Repeating, Use it

It’s sad, but true. History does repeat itself. Present day folks forget the details of the past and end up making the same mistakes. But, SF and Fantasy writers can use this to their advantage in world building and story outlining.

Truthfully, what better source material than history? You can find any amount of intrigue within the pages of the past. If you’re finding yourself at a loss for an idea, well peruse the history books and no doubt something will come to you. And, even if you have a great idea…maybe you dreamed it or maybe it slammed into your head at a stop light. Either way, history material can help define the foundation of the story. It can give a framework to your world building and a motivation to characters (main or secondary).

The most effective way to use history is to be aware of types of sources and the date the source came out. The views of that event will change between when it happened and between the people/governments involved. My advice is to read through multiple references. Get the full perspective of the situation. How did the event come across at the moment? Generations later? Between the opposing forces?  How did outsiders look in and see the situation?

I used several historical points for Duty and Devotion, a military SFR that just released through Desert Breeze Publishing. The initial conflict was spurred off the triggering events of World War I. The conflict/perceptions between the nations were based on events of the Korean War. I researched from how the governments viewed the events all the way down to letters and interviews from individual soldiers at the front line.

The excerpt below is the moment the war became official. Up until this moment, no one really believed it would happen. There was a romantic, flippant denial to the situation.
 EXCERPT

After twenty minutes in line at the messaging center, Nettie reached her turn. Sitting in the little station, she watched one from Rinny, calling over to her friends. “How many weeks and I finally hear from Rinny? Can you believe it? She loves it up there.”

“A lot more fun than here,” Jenny mentioned, smiling. “I wish I had a little sister… or any sibling at all.”

“Whatever,” Kaitlin hollered abruptly, surprising a couple recruits in neighboring stations. “Move it, Ice Princess, or the training group is going to leave without us.”

“Let it.” Nettie turned to the screen. Thinking about the upcoming terrain training left her stomach scuttling and churning.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Jenny teased.

Nettie flipped her off and recorded a response to Rinny. “Hey Sis. You look fabulously exhausted. Jealous as hell seeing as I’m living it out here in the middle of boondocks hell. Make sure to learn a little during your Peter Pan vacation, sweetie. Better hear from you sooner next time. Love always, Nettie.” She stopped recording and sent.

The overhead speakers came online with a repetitive alarm. “Notice. At 1630 armed Union forces took control of the UPG Conference and issued a Statement of Ultimatum to the Planetary Democratic Alliance governing body. This statement was reviewed and overwhelmingly denied by the senate. As of this moment, Union forces have assassinated the primary UPG council members, which included major Planetary Governors, and have taken remaining UPG staff hostage. By the Union’s aggressive assault, war has been officially declared.”

The three of them only stared at each other, too dumbfounded to speak.

It was really going to happen… war.

*****

Thank you very much Amber for posting, the topic is fascinating, and good luck with your books!

If you want to learn more about Amber Norris, stop by her blog: Adventures of a Sci-Fi Writer

Duty and Devotion is available at Desert Breeze, All Romance Books, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony, Kobo, and the Apple iBookstore.