Historical Fiction

Or its equivalent, at least.

I am preparing to write a fantasy story, where the main nation (Novos Revantos) has a strong Ancient Greek element to its culture. This is what happens when you spend the Summer reading tourist guides to Ancient Athens and Rome, as well as other classical history books, without very much context about the period.

Anyway, a crucial element of the setting is that the world is flat, and that it is floating, not in Space, but in the midst of a strange atmosphere (for want of a better word)-breathable, home to various magical creatures; and that there are many other flat worlds, also hovering within this. The general vibe for the people "sailing" through this is going to be a bizarre cross between sailing, submarining, and space exploration.

What would an Ancient Greek actually call this sort of thing? I opted for "Aether", because that sounds appropriately sandalpunkish, but I know no proper Greek. This probably makes me ill equipped to tackle this sort of venture, but it's my attempt to get back into proper story writing.

One of my MC is a very closeted gay man living in an equivalent of British society in 1967 (they are in Nigeria, but are still obviously very British). His family is fairly wealthy, though they are not part of the "land-owning" aristocracy. However, I want to know what the attitudes there were toward gay men in that time period and that society. I imagine tat there wold be a dichotomy betwen the younger generation (i.e., 18 and 19 years old) and their parents in the post-Kinseyan world.

Any help would be a great help, because I'm a Yank who was born 25 years too late. Thanks!

Were door hinges like the hinges of the today-world? You know, metal hinges with hoops that pins slipped in to? I've got a heroine trapped behind a locked door and she needs a way out. Would it be possible to wrap something around the pin head (i.e. a ribbon or stout string) and work the pin loose? Assuming there are pins, of course.

I tried google but it's proving remarkably unhelpful..

Does anyone know where I could find specific info on how birthdays were handled in the past? From what point would people have known their exact birthdays beyond what season/time of year it was in?

The time period is 9th century Europe, and we've got a castle under siege.

What I need to know is, how would you go about a siege (what sort of soldiers and machines would you bring, for instance, and how much attacking would you do, if any, if you thought you could wait the other side out), and more importantly, what would it take to break a siege? Is it just a matter of winning a straight-up battle with the besieging forces or are there other factors you would need to account for?

Ok, my novel is not historical fiction (not my NaNo anyway) although at one point, I'm going to need to involve a Ming dynasty style Chinese wedding...in the present day. And in public...quite possibly in Central Park.

Unfortunately, I know little to nothing about Chinese culture at the time, let alone their weddings!

(This was my characters' ideas! Not mine! Agh! Why can't you guys o something that I'm familiar with, for once?)

...So, yeah. Any information would be very helpful! Thanks a lot!

Hello - I am hunting about for any website that has some fine detail about the workings of early print presses (i'm hoping for pictures plus fairly detailed description of how the things were put together and their mechanical workings.) I'm writing about late 16th century England. Is anyone writing something based in roughly the same era and has happened across anything along those lines? any leads much appreciated....

Ok, I found this site late last week, and it prompted me to do some fervent rewrites.
http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/index.jsp

It has transrcripts for trial betwen 1674 and 1913. Useful as it shows what went on in the courts at this stage, and, for those like me who are writing about real historical baddies, (In my case, The Hawkhurst gang of smugglers) the testimony printed is a great way of getting fact right, and helping out plot holes.

Good luck, and good writing.

I was wondering, what would a young man do during Regency England to catch a young woman's attention. My male MC had already called on her and asked her to dance at a ball, what else can the poor man do?

My MC knows heaps about Christmas ... but apart from what comes in the Bible, I don't know about Magi tradition.

Names / country of origin / where did they go after giving the Christmas gifts?