This is how I begin writing a historical story, or any kind of story, really.

First, I notice when I have ideas that might become a story. The ability to recognize potential story ideas is a skill that most writers learn at one point or another. We all have random thoughts that float through our minds at any given time of the day, but for fiction writers these ideas are necessary for our sanity because they give us something to write about. Not every idea will become a short story or a novel, and there’s nothing wrong with playing around with different ideas to see if they sing to you. For a project to become a novel the writer has to be so in love with the idea that it becomes more painful not to write it than to write it. Not every idea will become a project. But you need to give yourself the freedom to experiment and see which ideas are just passing through, perhaps on their way to someone else, and which ideas have latched onto your heart and plan on sticking around. If an idea keeps you up at night, or if it keeps itching away at you during the day, then that idea may well be a keeper. 

Second, I daydream. Daydreaming is necessary for fiction writers—for most artists, really. Or at least that’s what I tell people when I spend hours staring out the window, or at the wall, or anything else nearby. Sometimes, only occasionally, I may talk to myself. I don’t answer so it’s fine. For me, the daydreaming period is as important as the hours I spend actually writing the book. I need this time to allow myself to get a feel for who the characters are, how they respond in various situations, what it felt like to live during their time periods. Without imagination there is no land of make-believe, no living, breathing people to inhabit our stories, no sense of the time or the place where they live. 

Next, if I’m still compelled by these characters after spending some time living with them in their worlds, at that point I’ll begin brainstorming my ideas for the story. I allow my imagination the run of the house during this time. Sometimes I’ll do a mind map of my various ideas for the story, filling up my page or screen with any and all ideas that come to mind. Sometimes I’ll do bullet points. Other times I’ll write out my ideas in my journal. However I brainstorm, I’ll write down what I think I know about the characters, what I think I know about the time period, and any story ideas I have so far. Notice I said what I think I know about the characters and time period because I’m continuing to learn about them throughout the writing process. This is also where I’ll do my preliminary research into the era. This first toe-dipping into the historical period allows me to picture my characters during this time and sometimes, as I learn more about the people and events of that era, I come up with new ideas about the characters and the plot of the story. 

At this point, I’ll write an outline. You see all these quizzes online—are you a plotter or a pantster—and we’re supposed to fit neatly into one box or the other. If you’re not familiar with the terms, a plotter is a writer who plots out the story from the beginning and a pantser is someone who “flies by the seat of their pants” and goes with the flow, writing whatever part of the story they feel like without any plan. Most writers, I would venture to guess, fall somewhere in between. I certainly do. The logical part of my brain needs structure, at least to begin with, so I write an outline where I bullet point what I think will happen in the story. Again, I said what I think will happen because more often than not my outline changes as I continue writing. I’m not worried about a chapter by chapter breakdown at this point. I want a general feel for the story. More than the beginning, more than the middle, I’m looking for the ending of the story that makes me sit up and say yes, this is what this story is about. In other words, what I’m looking for first is the ending. Odd, probably, but for me, if I know how the story ends then I can create a map through the beginning and middle that brings me to where I want to be. Through trial and error and fried brain cells, eventually I’ll hit on the last line of the novel. Once I have that last line I can begin to construct a road map that will lead me, and the readers, through. A different way may work better for you. I know many writers who prefer to be surprised by the ending. I know many writers who work on the beginning first because it gives them a solid basis for the rest of the story. As with everything else to do with writing, experiment, try, fail, try again, and discover your own best way of uncovering your story.

Once I have a general outline then I’ll do my best to break down what I think I know about the story into a chapter by chapter outline. Even as I’m writing the chapter outline I know my ideas are fluid and the outline will change as I continue learning more about the characters and their stories. But you have to start somewhere, right? Once I have my chapter outline, then I’ll write my first draft.

I hate writing first drafts. There’s a reason why Anne Lamott and Ernest Hemingway refer to them as shitty first drafts. They are, in fact, shit. There’s also a reason why Dorothy Parker said, “I hate writing but I love having written.” As painful as it is, I know I have to push through the first draft because without it there’s no second draft and definitely no final draft.