Lecture 23: Approaches to Researching Fiction
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Wilson, “%ULQJXSWKH%RGLHV by Hilary Mantel.”- Pick a historical character who interests you, such as Abraham Lincoln
or Margaret Thatcher, and write just a single scene about that person
doing something ordinary and private, such as playing with his or
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moment. Abraham Lincoln might be thinking about the Emancipation
Proclamation, for example, as he plays checkers with his son, or
Margaret Thatcher might be making herself a pot of tea late one night
at the start of the Falklands War. Try to make the scene personal and
intimate without letting the historical events dominate. Remember that
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dialogue do: to suggest, to evoke, to put readers in a time and place they
might otherwise never experience.
Writing Exercise