changing history

All is changing.

I've decided to move my story forward in 'history'. Of course the history of the world I created for my characters is entirely up to me, so I could have made it anything I liked.

I first, instinctively, set it in a general, vague medieval era of my own imagining, so I didn't have to stick to the costumes, habits or customs of any particular century. And I made the Vangorns almost Romanesque, because it suited their brutual military, colonising society.

But now I'm shifting away from all that.

In part this is because I think it's too common for fantasy writers to set their novels in a pseudo-medieval world. And because I'm such a stickler for history, I get irrtated when authors don't do their research properly. Even Kate Forsyth, whose career I admire, puts her characters in velvet dresses while surrounding them in an era long before velvet was invented.

But I'm also moving away from medievalism because that's the way my mind's heading at the moment. Besides, a later era suits aspects of the story better. Perinor would look heart-stopping with pistols in his hands, like a true highwayman. Brand needs to wear a top hat. And Airdlyn should travel through the woods in a horse-drawn carriage.

So I'm moving it all forwards to the 18th century. Of course, parts of the story are necessarily set hundreds of years before this time, so I still have access to older times and thus get the best of both worlds. Victory!