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I like the sound of that idea! Have you ever read the Brother Cadfael mysteries? They’re quite fun and they’re about a medieval monk during the first English civil war solving murders. I quite enjoy reading those, especially since it’s very obvious the author did her research.
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
I have heard of the Brother Cadfael mysteries but never read them before. Are they available to be read online?
One thing that is stopping me from really considering this story idea, though, has to do with deciding on the setting. I want the setting to be based on a society that is historical but also one that is relatively egalitarian (the vague idea I have for my plot needs my MC procurator to be a woman but at the same time I really, really don’t want to have to deal with the whole “You can’t do this because you’re a girl” feminist stuff).
However, it’s really hard to find a real life historical society that fits this criteria. I would probably have to create my own historical fantasy setting from scratch but I don’t have much experience with that.
Do you have any ideas or suggestions?
I don’t know. They’re new(ish) books, so they wouldn’t be in the public domain yet. Are you part of an online library like BorrowBox or Overdrive? They’d probably have some.
The thing I’ve noticed, in Western societies at least, which is what I know the most about, is the whole “you can’t do this because you’re a woman” is much more of a modern construct than it is a historical one. I think it started coming around during the Victorian/Edwardian period, when it became less necessary for women to work for a living, so while men got to go off exploring and inventing things, women were left behind to care for the home. But before that, lower/middle class women often had to work very hard, either in fields, or during the Industrial Revolution, in factories. Even upper-class women had a lot of influence, especially in royal politics. And while they might not have had the same legal rights as a man, there were a lot of kings which were little more than puppets for their mothers/wives/mistresses.
There are a lot of “Strong female characters” in history, though we tend to overlook a lot of them.
And I also think medieval England was fairly egalitarian, in the sense that the average woman had no rights, but neither did the average man. And while an upper class woman had few rights, she still had a lot of influence, especially if she had a stronger personality than the people in authority.
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
Haha but if I make my MC an upper class woman you wouldn’t like her, would you? 😛
I’m trying to see if there’s any place and period in history where it wouldn’t be so unheard of to have a woman to be educated and working as a procurator. I’m thinking maybe the early modern period because I think that’s when women began going to universities etc. but that doesn’t mean they are respected as equals or as working professionals. That period is also tied up with all sorts of other international issues that I do not wish to touch either.
*sigh* A fantasy setting and fictional country seems like the only option thus far. But again, I also have no idea what culture to use as a base.
When did Marie Curie live? I can’t remember exactly how much formal education she had, but she was an extremely clever woman who definitely had a lot of knowledge (and would have made a good forensic scientist :P, which I’m sure would be helpful for your character).
When I create fictional countries/cultures I tend to make them a mash up of a bunch of different places.
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
I went to check. Marie Curie lived from 1867 – 1934 in Poland and France. She went to boarding school as a girl but but was rejected by regular institutions for higher education because she was a woman. Instead she went to a clandestine Flying University, a Polish patriotic institution of higher learning that admitted female students… but she did go to the University of Paris later. Somehow.
That is interesting but again, this shows that I can’t run away from these issues if I use a real life setting, can I? 😛
She sounds quite interesting. I should read more about her.
Well, then you’ll either have to choose to confront the issues or just make up a world where they don’t exist 😛
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
*sigh* I hate reading “But you’re a woman!” scenes so if I have to write one myself, I’d rather not write the story at all. And IÂ really have no interest in tackling all the issues of the period like war, revolution, industrialization, colonialism… I mean, I just want to write a murder mystery, not a social critique.
Yeah, I have to make up a world which mixes historical and modern elements I guess.
The idea I have is that my MC procurator is a ward of the state (because she is orphaned or her parents have been incapacitated – I haven’t decided which yet) and has done well so far in terms of her education and career but because she’s a woman, she’s still expected to marry. However, without her parents around, it is up to the state to take care of that aspect and it just so happens that the ruler plans on promoting this guy to a high post as a governor. However, this guy is unmarried and the culture is such that it is not appropriate for a man to take a high government position if he has no stake in the country’s future (i.e. a family). So to solve two problems at once, the ruler arranges their marriage and sends my MC and her new husband off to the province he’ll be governing where there will conveniently be lots of murders for her to solve…
Haha I don’t suppose you can think of any real life setting where that plot will work, right?
Ah, arranged marriages are another interesting point that a lot of people malign (though in some cases, how can you blame them?).
Something else you could try though, is an alternate history type thing. I have no much experience with that genre, but the plot could work in that sort of setting.
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
Haha. I noticed that my story set-ups are always such that they look like romance novels when they are really, really not romance novels.
For this story idea, I’m thinking of a book series that covers different but related murder cases and culminates into a finale that addresses the overarching story and mystery. The whole arranged marriage thing is an important plot point for the mystery in the endgame.
Well, I have no experience with alternate history either. But I think there must be some sort of justification for why history went differently… and I really can’t think of any. 😛
Sorry, I just kinda disappeared on you yesterday.
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
It’s ok. It was getting towards the end of the day for you right? 😛
I’m up early so I have a little time but I have to go off for work soon.
It was about six, so I think I wandered off and gpt distracted and then went for dinner.
I’ll probably have to go in a minute.
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
@rochellaine @jenwriter17 @valtmy @dekreel @ariel-ashira @catwing
I’ll be here for a little bit, trying to write a blog post!
(also, if you’ve ever wanted to know anything about my book, let me know! I’m trying to come up with some random pieces of trivia and I’m finding it difficult…)
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
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