{American} Civil War!!!

I am... novel is Defiance. I'm finally going to use my senior thesis from college about women who fought in the civil war, by writing about the a southern belle who goes to fight for the Union after her father gets hurt in the war and her twin brother is laid up at home on the plantation. Should interesting as she's engaged to a southern plantation owner and confederate officer and ends up falling in love with one of the officers in her regiment.

Destiny Trevett

NaNo 2009 - Defiance ( In Hyperdrive )
NaNo 2008 - Eldaron ( On Hold )
NaNo 2007 - Angel of the Stars ( Shelved )
NaNo 2006 - Holon: The Dragon Trinity ( Shelved )
NaNo 2005 - BETA: Identity Crisis (Completed - 70k -12/15/05)

Indeed I am.

The war only takes up about a 1/2 to a 1/4 of my novel, and I left all THAT research until yesterday [?? I believe it was]. I'm fairly confident now to write that part of my novel.
I'm still very nervous, though!

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I'm from Hamilton, land of hysterical fiction filled with flying monkeys, dancing bananas, and sexy, cozy, violence

Part of my story will be set in the Civil War :D

Approaching Nano with the ferocity of my namesake the Berserker

I`m writting about a changeling living on a plantation right outside of Milledgeville, Ga during Sherman`s march to Savannah.

This sounds very interesting. I'm writing on the Civil War also--right now I'm doing a section on a12 year old boy who is with the baggage train of a field hospital. It's set at the Battle of Antietam. Other parts of the novel will be set in the White House, Congress, and among the slave contraband with the union army. I'd like to stay in touch with other writers on the civil war era.

I'm writing an American Civil War novel, called By The Sword. :)

The basic tension in my story is between the MC, the son of a murdered abolitionist, and the people of his town [founded by MC's father] that expects MC to be just like his father - the firey abolitionist who is willing to fight and die to end slavery.
MC doesn't see that as his path and struggles with coping with his personal ideas and what is expected from him.
He ends up fighting in the Civil War on his father's behalf [a drunken mistake that he's too embarassed to admit to], and ends up fighting against his one-time best friend.
I also have a love subplot worked in their between MC and a woman who had once lived with her family on a plantation in Georgia before they relocated to Pennsylvania.

I hope to keep in touch with other people writing about this era, as well.

2007: Withdraw (27,126 words)
2008: A Mutinous Mind (50,027 words)
2009: By the Sword (in progress)

"I write for the same reason I breathe - because if I didn't, I would die." - Isaac Asimov

I wrote one for the last NaNoWriMo I participated in. :) Was a lot of fun and very exciting.

My story goes back and forth between the Civil War era and the present (through a MC who's reading a diary by her great-great grandmother, who lived back then). The grandmother was injured by a soldier who lived in their house, because she was trying to hide an important belonging that he was trying to steal. The novel is about discovering where this item is hidden, and the impact it has on my MC in the present.

My story is set mainly in the 1870s but the Civil war is a major theme of my novel!

“Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.”
-John Jakes

I am! I've gone Confederate and it's the War Between the States...heehee! :)
Involves young, rual southerners,childbirth, Catholics, having typhoid, oprhaned children, women soldiers, dying friends, southern winters, being married, getting shot, and a whole lot of other things I have never experienced before in my life. Why am I doing this? And again I say, why am I doing this?
I'm loving every minute of it.

the virginian

"The writer who is a real writer is a rebel who never stops."
- William Saroyan

My novel is set in 1866 but the Civil War in the immediate background. One of my MC's is a man who chose to fight for the Union even though he was a resident of the Confederate-supporting portion of Western North Carolina. He moves to the Union-supported East Tennessee mountains but is still very bitter about the treatment he received from his pro-Lee neighbors.

Mine takes place during the Civil War. It does have some romance in it, but not your usual romance fer shure.

I also have child prostitution in New Orleans, a disgraced army officer and quite a bit about confederate guerillas that I have yet to write. I am more interested in how the war affects ordinary people, rather than the big battles. I havn't worked out all the historical details such as how do I get the border states worked into a story that also includes Sherman's march to the sea. I need to work out the geography as much as anything else, because it is crucial to the story.

In 1858 more than 400 African-Americans left San Francisco and moved to/near Victoria, B.C., Canada, for a better situation. (Basically one whole San Francisco church!) Many of them returned home immediately after the Civil War because they thought things would be much better in the USA now that the slavery issue had been settled. Of course, it depended on where they went back to, and in most case, things weren't that much better. Am dying, though not for this particular NANO, to write a novel where the MC is a black person who was there to see and/or participate in the 'glory' days of reconstruction, say in Mississippi, or somewhere else in the South, before it call came crashing in around everyone's ears in 1877. Good luck with the Civil War It's such a huge topic! (...but to me, the most interesting parts are right before and right after!)

Lisa G

I'm not writing one, but I have to say, this is probably the first time I've seen a civil war thread on here where the OP actually bothered to specifiy which civil war they were talking about. I doff my hat to you.

I also have a Civil War romance, with a woman in uniform! I don't want to give away too much, though...

Kalla

I'm writing one set in the American Civil War. Basically, main character, a soldier, is mourning both the disappearance of his closest pard and the sudden drying up of letters from his beloved. These two points might, or might not, be related.

I've trying to avoid specifying exactly where it's taking place, as I don't want to get bogged down in the details (and as an ACW obsessive - I'm a re-enactor, for my sins! - that's very hard to avoid!), but I find the period fascinating and makes a good backdrop for me to explore and torment my characters.

I am also writing during the Civil War- actually February 1861 which was months before the actual war broke out. It's called 'SAVING LINCOLN'. You can read the synopsis of my novel at my author site. I think the most difficult issues I've had to deal with are the mannerisms and social customs of the times. I've spent about three months researching before starting.

The main story 'event ' takes place in Baltimore and Washington but the main character is from Atlanta. Anyone from that State who could give me advice about historical aspects, please feel free to NaNoMail me. I'd appreciate the help. Thanks.

P.S. I have no idea how anyone can have 30 or 40,000 words at this stage of the game. Of course most people aren't really as anal about writing as I am I guess. I have to go back each day and read at least a few pages before getting the hang of it again and then I often have to go back and change a passage so it works. But this is my first NaNoNovel so we shall see if I get to the 50,000.

BTW: There are two things that really have helped me. I upload my story to my Kindle and read it when I'm taking a bath or on the road. And I also upload it to my "READ PLEASE" program which will read it aloud to me when I'm making supper or doing dishes. Don't know if anybody else does that stuff. Ok. later

caveat lector- let the reader beware

I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking...Christopher Isherwood

A good novel tells us the truth about the hero: a bad novel tells us the truth about the author...G.K. Chesterto

Aha! I knew you were a reenactor when you referred to your character's "pard". Such a reenactor thing to say! (Yes, I'm a reenactor too, for 20 years now which, at my age, means I've never not been one)

So, I'm doing a Civil War novel this year, too. My characters are all Irish immigrants fighting in the 69th New York. I'm learning boatloads about the war and about the 69th as I go along, and it's so much fun...
The hard part was realizing that one of my characters is going to have to die- and as it turns out my shy, timid boy is going to be woulded during the battle of Fredericksburg, and die in the hospital that was set up in the church downtown.
I go to school in Fredericksburg and attend that church. I will never see my Sunday mornings the same way again!

07- utter failure. Seriously. Like 200 words.
08- "The Return of the Ghost Cadet" 50,000+
09- "Honest Pat Murphy"

07- utter failure. Seriously. Like 200 words.
08- "The Return of the Ghost Cadet" 50,000+
09- "Honest Pat Murphy"

My story is going to have a bit of that, as my MC has picked up the unfortunate habit of traveling through time accidentally. One part of the story is going to be from 1857, in Pennsylvania, through his sevrice with the Army of the Potomac, to his death at the Battle of Fredericksburg (he gets better).

Although the plot as I have imagined it only focuses on the war briefly, it will probably make up a big chunk of wordcount, as I have found it much easier to write than anything else, and once I hit 50K I am probably going to basically summarize the rest of my story. So there.

NaNo 2006: Bloodlust
NaNo 2007: The Twilight of the Maqara
NaNo 2008: My War
NaNo 2009: Untitled Part 1

Mine is set during the CW, titled The Day of Battle.
The battle of Chickamauga in GA, to be more specific.
It follows the romance of a nurse and a preacher, both working with the soldiers.
I'm enjoying writing about this era so far.
I also like being able to write about the tragedy and contrast that with their relationship.

:D

Incidentally, ever since I graduated from college a few years back with a degree in history, reading books about specific eras has been my hobby, but I only recently switched from World War I to the American Civil War.

NaNo 2006: Bloodlust
NaNo 2007: The Twilight of the Maqara
NaNo 2008: My War
NaNo 2009: Untitled Part 1

Hehe. I couldn't resist making a sly allusion to Si Klegg in one of the early chapters. :)