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Writing: Ripping Off History

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    Because history is the greatest human story ever, it’s only logical that one should take advantage of this.

    Anyway, there are numerous advantages to ripping off history- you can take core ideas you find interesting, but be as ‘inaccurate’ as you want (within reason) because it’s fiction. Also, it’s not copyrighted, so you can steal as much as you want as blatantly as you want, and no one can ever sue you. :D

    So discuss- what are your favorite periods to rip off? Do you combine elements from different periods of history to create something new? What are some pitfalls in this sort of approach?

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    My story is ripped off from late Sengoku/early Edo period Japan. It saves a tremendous amount of time worldbuilding, for one thing. The biggest problem I’ve found is trying to come up with a reason why your setting is what it is.

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    Especially since you can see that events can have many consequences later, and everything is interrelated, and all that.

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      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeOct 26th 2009
     

    Most fantasy rips off the Middle Ages of Europe, of course, but a far more interesting period is the Moorish empire, which happened at around the same time, only they knew the value of bathing. After reading The Walking Drum by Louis L’amour, I’ve been hooked on that time period.

    I think any fantasy/sci-fi writer needs to study similar events in history to what is in their book. While it’s reasonable to assume that a rebellion would fall out differently with magic than in our world, there’s still valuable lessons to be learned from studying the various rebellions throughout history- how they were started, why they occurred, the leaders, the culture, how the culture affected the rebellion, etc.

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    Yeah, which is why I started over on my story- the revolution was so inaccurate. Anyone know any good books for research about revolution and political upheaval in general?

    Currently, I’m using a vaguely late 1800s-early 1900s society.

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      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeOct 27th 2009
     

    Sorry, SWQ, I can’t help you there.

    Anyway, call me weird, but I really like the early 20th century, particularly the First World War. Part of it’s the sheer impact that period had on everything that came after, and part of it’s the transition from late 19th century culture into a new culture. Plus, there’s the fact that that war is probably the closest thing the real world ever came to steam punk.

    Now just add some fantasy elements, and it starts to get interresting…

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    I won’t call you weird, because that’s what I’m using myself. :D

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      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeOct 29th 2009 edited
     

    Thinking about this now, I really should have picked up this book I say at Barns & Noble Leviathan
    Basically, the concept is WWI, if the Germans were steampunk and the British were biopunk. The actual Leviathan, apparently, is a flying whale. This is all kinds of awesome.

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    Leviathan? I haven’t heard of it. Who’s it by? (I’d rather like to check it out myself…)

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    It’s by Scott Westerfeld, author of Uglies. I wanted to buy it, but I didn’t have the money.

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    Really? Wow, sounds intriguing.

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      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeOct 30th 2009
     

    Ooh, I saw that in the little book catalogs we get at my school from Scholastic! There wasn’t much of a summary there, only that it was by Scott Westerfield, but the cover looked good.

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    SCOTT WESTERFELD SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!’

    I swear, you mentioned him and my heart did this little jump. I LOVE his books! I’m pretty much at the point where I’d buy anything with his name on it even if the premise sounded awful and I hadn’t read the book beforehand, because anything he writes is fantastic.

    Anyway, Tudor period (especially Henry VII), and Victorian era.

    • CommentAuthorRocky
    • CommentTimeOct 31st 2009
     
    One thing I did with my current project was, after deciding to set it in a specific location, address the need for some 'intrinsic' value to the backstory and plot by doing some research on its mythology and tweaking it accordingly. As a result, I have what I believe to be an adventure story that follows a fairly unique formula, something that doesn't fall into the standard "find the ancient treasure and save the world" fare.
    • CommentAuthorDeborah
    • CommentTimeOct 28th 2010 edited
     
    In one of my stories, I decided to make the main culture like the 18th century, because I thought it was interesting.
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    I personally love to write about the early middle and rip tons of stuff of from the eastern roman and sassanin persian empires.

    Like Sansa said it saves tons of work, not just in worldbuilding but in everything else.

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