I wanted to see if there are any others out there writing a non-European/American novel.
My novel is set in rural Japan in the mid 1700s (Edo era). Technically it's historical fantasy, since the book is about the legendary Yuki-onna or "snow woman" as a human. That's pretty much the only fantasy factor. No samurai in this novel either (at least not as active participants in the story); my characters are all of the farmer class. It's been a little challenging finding info about them since much of what's written details the samurai lives (only a small percentage of the population). I suppose it's the same in a lot of Western history too--farmers lives aren't detailed so much as the noble classes.
Anyway, are there any others setting their novel outside of Europe and the U.S.?
----------
20,343 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 12 36
Certainly, my novel is set in Parthia, about 2250 years ago. Interesting times, to say the least.
----------A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction. - Oscar Wilde
46,259 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 16 34
Mine is set in Micronesia, 1875.
----------Saipanwriter
http://saipanwriter.blogspot.com
15,660 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2009 - 07 15
Mine is set in ancient Persia (about 500 BCE). I agree... it can be so hard to figure out what actually happened with so little info left! I hear about authors reading newspapers from their time periods, and I get jealous.
On the other hand, I get Herodotus. :)
Maya
----------NaNoWriMo2009-- The Pomegranate Thief
NaNoWriMo2008-- Running on Air *Won!*
20,343 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2009 - 08 16
Ooh, interesting! :)
----------A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction. - Oscar Wilde
51,649 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2009 - 09 52
All of these settings sound so interesting!
As much as I love my European and American historical fiction, sometimes I long for pieces set in other parts of the world. Don't get me wrong--I love Regency novels--but sometimes I get tired of the same place!
----------0 / 50,000
Oct 28, 2009 - 07 46
As much as I love my European and American historical fiction, sometimes I long for pieces set in other parts of the world. Don't get me wrong--I love Regency novels--but sometimes I get tired of the same place!
Lols. It's definitely nice to see some variety from Western Europe and America. I can't wait to see how some of these stories turn out!
50,462 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 12 14
Mine is New Zealand, 1890. The research has been really interesting so far and I'm glad that I picked this time and location.
----------7,696 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 16 24
Istanbul, not Constantinople... (Well, actually, it is Constantinople, since it wasn't officially renamed until 1930. But then I wouldn't get to sing the song.) 18th to 19th centuries, a.k.a. as the decline of the Ottoman Empire.
32,191 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 16 49
My novel's set in 1970s Chile, which is technically "American" since Chile is in America (South America), but it isn't "North American," so I guess it qualifies xD
----------12,777 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 10 39
Mine is Victorian era and bounces around a lot. It starts in San Francisco, makes a brief stop in London, then moves to Turkey, and will at some point visit India and Tibet. I'm probably also going to throw in something set on the Orient Express, since it started running during the year I've set my novel (1883)... in fact, I'm pretty sure that's how my characters are going to get to Constantinople.
Right now I've been researching Victorian Turkey and it's slow-going. There's a fair amount about Constantinople, but almost nothing about the more rural areas where a lot of my action takes place. I imagine I'll find next to nothing on Tibet, and will probably have to do a lot of guesswork. At least India is well-documented.
42,379 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 12 24
DMarie,
I'm writing about Japan too, although it's 1937 Showa. I'm always interested in settings outside of the familiar, and I've read a lot of modern Japanese lit that's inspired me. When it comes to WW2, you always see people defying the Nazis in Germany and rebelling against the government in Italy, but I can't think of anything offhand that talks about the antiwar movement in Imperial Japan (and there was one!). So write it I shall. XDb
Wiki has been my friend to a certain extent, but I've had to rely on antiwar literature more than historical texts so far.
18,000 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 08 40
Puzzleoflight, try books by Alexandra David-Neel, a French orientalist who was a Vajrayana Buddhist, traveled and lived in Tibet (as a hermit at times), learned Tibetan and generally had a fantastic insight. She wrote about slightly later times than you need, but considering that Tibet was still at that time closed for foreigners, I think there couldn't be too many differences. She wrote both about religious people and common folk, and her books are really eye-opening. And scary.
Btw I'm writing about Japan too, Meiji era, 1887-1888.
22,307 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 22 44
Although techinically in the Americas, I'm concentrating my story within the Caribbean Islands (specifically Puerto Rico) and Andalusia, Spain.
I'm trying not to become too concerned with the exact "when/how/is it possible?" questions, to avoid over-researching and (most likely) killing my muse accidently. ....but I'm trying to stay before the Spanish-American War.
36,000 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 00 53
The character's father should be a world war 2 survivor but instead of going for a holocaust survivor I decided to have an "Asian Holocaust" -a survivor of the Japanese settlement in the Philippines. So to answer your question, my setting is the Philippines. :)