New Book Alert: Lexington Anatomy of a Novel by D-L Nelson; How to Write a Historical Fiction Novel While Being a Historical Fiction Novel

New Book Alert: Lexington Anatomy of a Novel by D-L Nelson; How to Write a Historical Fiction Novel While Being a Historical Fiction Novel 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: There are many books that are guides on how to write books in certain genres. I used to own guides on how to write Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Mysteries, and Children Books. I also had back issues of a magazine called Byline which offered advice to aspiring writers.  One of my all time favorite articles for writers involved a man whose book about a boy with an overactive imagination was rejected because it was too similar to Calvin and Hobbes. In a rage, the author looked up the works of philosophers John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes to grasp the editor's meaning before he was introduced for the first time to a familiar comic strip about a boy and his stuffed tiger.

Usually, the authors of these books and articles include excerpts of their works to show how they did it or didn't do it

The guides are meant to help other authors improve their works and make a sale. Sometimes, they are fascinating behind the scenes tours of how a work is conceived, written, prepared, edited, and hopefully fingers crossed, accepted and published. It's like watching the "Making of" documentary on a Blu-ray of a film.

D-L Nelson's book Lexington Anatomy of a Novel is like that. It is partly a historical fiction novel about a British man joining the Army during the American Revolution and taking part in the Battle of Lexington. It is also the story of two modern women whose study of the Revolutionary War inspires a collaboration in creativity. However, it is also a nonfiction account of how Nelson was inspired to write the novel and how she put it together.

Nelson wrote that the idea for her book came when she and her husband visited the Minute Man National Park in Lexington, Massachusetts. While coming upon the graves of various American soldiers, they saw two graves of unnamed British soldiers. Nelson wondered who the soldiers were and what life was like for them. So she was inspired to write a Historical Fiction Novel from the point of view of a British soldier.

While Nelson writes about how she created her characters and researched the history, we get the novel that she wrote. It tells of James Holloway, assistant in a bakery owned by his bullying older brother, William. James's wife died in childbirth. He is grieving and wondering if his life will always consist of him playing second fiddle to his brother. A chance encounter with a soldier inspires him to enlist in the British Army right as Revolution is brewing in America. 

Nelson combines the Revolutionary era story of James with a modern story about Daphne Andrews, a British ambassador's wife. She gets through her boredom in her marriage by studying history. She shares her interest with Florence Dubois, the French Ambassador's wife who has a talent for drawing. The two combine their resources and talents to collaborate on a comic book about a pair of twins living during the Revolutionary War.

Lexington: Anatomy of a Novel is an ambitious idea that works well mostly. It gives the steps towards making a novel while also presenting the finished product. Both the historical novel and Nelson's journey work well as complimentary towards each other. 

We experience James's time in the army working as an aide to General Gage at the same time that Nelson reveals the difficulties that she had with putting Gage into the action and making sure his fictional whereabouts matched his real ones at the time. It gives Readers some ideas of how real people are inserted into a historical fiction starring fictional characters.

Nelson's historical research is the highlight of the book particularly with how it works into James's story. For example, Nelson visited the many taverns, houses, and other locations to check the actual names and owners. These are revealed in the chapters before James encountered them. It shows the dedication authors have in their research by visiting locations, checking census records and reports, reading books and news articles, and interviewing locals. It's a hard job but when done right, the dedication shows. 

Also present is Nelson's attention to character which she also illustrated. She clearly gave a lot of thought in how she wrote James's actions and motivations. For example, while in America he has a flirtation with a few female characters and even considers settling down with one, Nelson was clear that her book had no room for becoming a Romance, plus James would still be in mourning for his wife. So James's romantic relationships are seriously downplayed.

 

I find it fascinating that this book is exclusively told from a British perspective. As an American, most of the Revolutionary War works that I have read or seen are almost exclusively told from an American point of view. Even characters who start out British often convert to an American ideology. While James considers settling down and opening a bakery in one of the Colonies, his views are mostly pro-British. It's a refreshing unique perspective in the historical genre that is sometimes dubbed "Revolutionary Chic."

What doesn't quite work as well is the subplot about Daphne. Nelson says that she wrote that because she heard the voice of a modern woman wanting to tell her story alongside James's. But a fictional modern story is unnecessary because Nelson already has a modern story to interact with James: her own. Perhaps, it was her own voice and not Daphne's that she was hearing.

Now there isn't technically anything wrong with Daphne's story. It shows her realization that she is stuck in a loveless marriage and how she uses her creative talents to study her passions, do something that she loves, and even break free and find independence. She is a well written character and her and Florence's comic book sounds brilliant.

But in most historical fiction, the modern and historical stories overlap somehow. The modern character might be studying the past character in an attempt to solve some mystery. They might have themes in common or there could be some familial link that is revealed. The family tie is a bit cliche but it is one of the most common ways the stories are linked.

But aside from a few thematic elements and the fact that she is also studying the Revolutionary War, the connection between Daphne and James is tenuous at best. She and Florence are writing their book about a pair of twins. James isn't even a character in their work. In fact, with Nelson already inserted into the book, Daphne's story in this book is redundant. There are times in Nelson's chapters where she spends a long time "forgetting" about Daphne and struggling to return to her plot.

What might have been better could be that Nelson could write a separate book solely about Daphne and her book. Perhaps she could even collaborate with an illustrator or cartoonist to compose sketches and the final panels so we could see the fictional making of a fictional comic book. It would make a very solid but separate story in its own right.

Despite the issues with Daphne's plot, Lexington Anatomy of a Novel is excellent both as a historical fiction novel and a guide on how to write them. It helps Readers understand the hard work that authors go through to make their stories and characters come to life and sometimes how difficult it is in the end to let them go.