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After a family reunion, which involved old pictures, organizing the family tree, suffocating perfumed hugs, and a particular interesting ancestor who was a preacher and a womanizer (not sure how that worked out for him), I came home with a story. Evidently, in my family there were some brothers who fought in the civil war. Their pieced together tale includes intrigue, murder, and revenge…which instantly enchanted me.
However, I’m at a loss on who my target audience would be since it would have to be a historical fiction. I know some WW2 YA fictional books, but I don’t see any Civil War. I’m one of those history lovers, and the only historical fictions for the Civil War I’ve read have been geared for kids around 10 I think?
I’d really like to make it YA but do you guys think that is a fitting audience? Would you be interested in a Civil War historical fiction?
“Scarlet, What are you eating?” ~ “Ghost peppers...” ~ Robin sighed.
YES. PLEASE WRITE CIVIL WAR HISTORICAL FICTION. (Seriously, I love historical fiction. Any era. I don’t care. 😀 I’ll read it and read it just the same.)
Lynn Austin wrote the Refiner’s Fire trilogy, which is set during the Civil War. I don’t think they’re technically considered YA, but they’re not kid stories, either. She’s a Christian author, though, so they’re clean…I don’t remember anything in them that wouldn’t be totally suitable for a YA audience. I know I’ve read others, but I can’t think of authors or titles at the moment, so I’ll let you know if I think of them. 😛
Ambiverted INFP. Scribbles all the words. Names the plant friends. Secretly Edna the Piguirrel.
@scarletimmortalized Oh, there’s an audience. The Civil war is HUGE. Just do your research. 😉 There will be a lot of historical junkies ready to criticize you.
😀
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👖 🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢I would LOVE a book like that geared for YA!!!!!
Living in a world of mystery and dangerous predicaments while working with the AWESOME Meraki's.
@scribbles I’ll have to look that series up! I like reading in the genre I’m going to write in!
@daeus-lamb Thanks! The history junkies are who scare me…I grew up with a very Southern perspective and was taught differently than our current revised history. I want to avoid getting too deep into politics.
@parker Good to know! YA it is!“Scarlet, What are you eating?” ~ “Ghost peppers...” ~ Robin sighed.
@scarletimmortalized, great!!
Living in a world of mystery and dangerous predicaments while working with the AWESOME Meraki's.
@scarletimmortalized @daeus-lamb
In light of politics, the Refiner’s Fire trilogy I mentioned is an especially nifty series on the Civil War, because each book is told told from the perspective of a different character–a Southern girl, a Northern girl, and an enslaved girl–who all know each other and whose stories are intertwined.
I’m always impressed by Lynn Austin’s ability to get the history at least close enough to right that the slips aren’t distracting, and I thought she did a great job with writing these stories in a way that kept it from being all about the “evil North” or the “evil South,” either one…which is nice because I personally, get really annoyed by historical fiction that oversimplifies the Civil War and just uses it as a flimsy, flat backdrop for Sarah *forced dramatic voice* falling in love with Frank *pretends to swoon*.
(Not that I’m worried about you doing that, Scarlet…I know you better than that. 😉 )
Ambiverted INFP. Scribbles all the words. Names the plant friends. Secretly Edna the Piguirrel.
@scribbles I definetly need to read these books. I too hate calling one side ‘evil’ and one ‘good’. I think at first it will seem very ‘North is evil’ but I want to show how propaganda plays a huge part in war. They did a bunch of behind the lines scouting and spying so once they get into that part of the story it starts showing how things aren’t what they are said to be. There is good and evil on either side of any war. That’s one of my themes I think.
Also ewwww…I dislike those backdrop Civil War ones. Southern Belle falling for the dashing Union officer or whatnot. Bleh. If there’s any romance at all it will be properly handled haha!
“Scarlet, What are you eating?” ~ “Ghost peppers...” ~ Robin sighed.
I’ve noticed that kids/adults get all the historical fiction and something happened to YA his-fic. So I say, go ahead! Maybe the reason there’s so little of it, is because no one’s writing it 😀
Ceud mile failte
I would be extremely excited about this. Please do. 😀
Married a blacksmith, and now frequently uses his knowledge for writing fantasy.
Wow, @scarletimmortalized, that is an amazing story inspiration! *tries not to be jealous* :_
Absolutely, write it!! I would highly recommend G. A. Henty`s book on the Civil War, “With Lee In Virginia”. He is an amazing historian (a spy and a newspaper war correspondent for years), and this book is written from a Southern perspective. I love all his books! 🙂
You can print off, or read his book for free here: http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2805/pg2805-images.html
Hope that is helpful. Don`t give up on this story idea! You will absolutely have readers!! :_
Assistant Guildmaster of the Phantom Awesome Meraki
~ Created to create ~😍 You read G.A. Henty books?
“Scarlet, What are you eating?” ~ “Ghost peppers...” ~ Robin sighed.
Somebody mentioned G. A. Henty?? Have you heard any of the audio books/dramas?? LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!!!!!
And walks in thinking about the fact that she smiles when she sees a confederate flag on a pickup truck’s back window (along with something that says that they love guns and a Texas flag [and where I live it’s perfectly normal]).
Write Civil War stuff, YES! But do accurately represent both sides, like there were good and bad men on both ends of the war, and I do a face palm every time I confront the angelic North against the evil South. Just so long as there’s good guys and bad guys on both sides, I would LOVE IT!!!! (And if you write it from the perspective of the south, I’ll be jumping for joy) 😉
Tek an ohta! Tek an cala!
I absolutely love Civil War Historical Fiction. I have not read many but Rifles for Wattie is Superb. My first and only Novella is a Civil War Historical Fiction. I love Historical Fiction in General and I think it’s really dependent on the level of your book. I have seen historical fiction at pretty much all levels. As Daues said there is no end to historical Junkie critiques but it’s still worth it. I’m kinda a historical Junkie and my brother in law and Brother found plenty to critique on my novel. Make sure to research southern perspective to it’s really important and kinda interesting when it’s presented all so one-sided. Good luck I can’t wait to see what you do.
*A passionate ENFP author, in training for Christ.*
@ericawordsmith EEK!!! I love G.A. Henty!! His books are the ones I grew up reading! I listen to Jim Hodges audio books but I have one of the audio dramas! The rest are on my wishlist! Haha I wish there was a Private Message so we could geek out!
Also, I may or may not have a full sized confederate flag hanging proudly in my room…or a small stars and bars above my bed…or a confederate hat *taps fingers together*. I really love history, though I have a really hard time with Civil War books because the one’s I’ve read are stuffed full of revisionist history.
There will be good and bad on both sides. To quote my all time favorite author. “It was Sam’s first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man’s name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would rather have stayed there in peace.”
@samantha-pen Have any historical tips? Maybe (when I actually finish) you would be interested in beta-reading?“Scarlet, What are you eating?” ~ “Ghost peppers...” ~ Robin sighed.
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