tips for biographical historical fiction writers at SheWrites!

Hi there! I recently realized that a few of my recent posts, articles and lists from around the web slipped through the blogging cracks. Totally an error on my part. The great news is there’s no bad time to, for example, learn about three big mistakes to avoid if you’re writing biographical historical fiction.

So here’s a piece I put together for SheWrites on what NOT to do in that genre! Like:

Don’t let your subject have the final say. My latest subject, Aimee Crocker, was widely quoted in newspapers during her life and even wrote her own memoir, which she titled — in classic Aimee fashion — And I’d Do It Again. But her memoir says very little about some of the things that interested me most, like the very public custody battle with her first husband that resulted in both of them losing custody of their daughter, who was then adopted by Aimee’s mother (yes, really).

Read the whole thing here.

GIRL IN DISGUISE makes an appearance at CrimeReads!

Just a little palate-cleanser here in case you’re tired of hearing about SCORPICA! This is the great thing about having multiple books out in the world — you never know which one’s going to pop up when or where.

Deanna Raybourn, who writes the fabulous Veronica Speedwell mystery series, recently put together a great list of her “favorite books featuring a question of identity,” and was kind enough to include GIRL IN DISGUISE. I’ve already told her I want the first part of this sentence on my tombstone.

Greer Macallister is always a great bet, but in Girl in Disguise she outdoes herself, fictionalizing the career of Kate Warne, the first female Pinkerton detective.

Read: Who Do You Think You Are? A List of Identity-Switching Mysteries over at CrimeReads.

looking for a historical novel about Kate Warne?

You know, every Women’s History Month there’s a spike in Kate Warne content online, which makes me very happy as a charter member of the Kate Warne Awareness Society! But every once in a while I see people online responding to the great basics of Kate’s story — first woman detective, first female Pinkerton, Union spy during the Civil War, woman who saved Abraham Lincoln’s life en route to his inauguration — with some variation on “OMG WHY ISN’T THERE A BOOK ABOUT THIS WOMAN?”

I do not think it’s appropriate to write back to them individually and say, “Actually, there is.” So I’m writing this post instead.

And if you’re wondering why there’s no full-length biography of Kate, it’s because the historical record really doesn’t offer enough detail to support a chapter or two, let alone 200 or so pages of content. So if you want all of Kate’s story, imagination will definitely have to be a part of it.

There are lots of great takes on Kate, fiction and non-fiction, and I encourage everyone to explore them. Obviously, I’m a bit partial to my own take on Kate, but the more Kates the better, if the end result is that more people know her name. (And spell it correctly, unlike her gravestone.)

GIRL IN DISGUISE now available in Czech!

Publishing timelines are wacky creatures, and when I’m lucky enough to have foreign editions of my works produced, the release dates are often very different from the US release dates. Which can be really fun, because then it’s a pleasant surprise when a translated edition pops up! (Even if I can’t read it, which has been the case everywhere but the UK and Canada, ha.) It’s a thrill to share the cover of the Czech edition of GIRL IN DISGUISE, which just came out this week.