So happy to have this guest post from Apple Gidley, sharing her views on keeping language of characters true to a time and place, especially when writing historical fiction. She’s the author of Annie’s Day, an historical that spans the years from right after WWI, through WWII, the Berlin Blockade, and into the early 2000s. There are words in there that she carefully considered whether to use or not.
Read on to find out what words and the final decisions she made, then answer the question I posed at the end of this blog post.
Enjoy!
I highly recommend Annie’s Day for readers who enjoy a heartfelt story with plenty of adventure, wonderful characters, and built-in lessons in history and geography. This one’s a winner on all fronts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Crafting a story is hard work, whatever the genre. Some allow for complete flights of fancy—sci-fi, for example, often with made up terminology which builds a believable, alternative universe based on scientific fact, as opposed to fantasy. On the other hand, historical fiction requires a delicate touch with regard to current sensibilities. There are not many writers who deliberately wish to offend their readers, but therein lies the dilemma, in that staying true to the era can inadvertently do just that.
In my first historical novel, Fireburn, which takes place in 1878, thirty years after emancipation in the Danish West Indies (now the US Virgin Islands), the N word was used. Not something about which I have ever been comfortable, despite it being authentic to the time. I used the word once in the book, in dialogue, then gave the page to a dear African American friend and asked her advice. She gave me the go ahead but, on reflection, it is not a part of the book I have ever read aloud at a book club anywhere in the world.
Reading well-researched historical fiction gives a glimpse into an event and period that perhaps is not familiar. Novelists have hopefully been diligent in reading the books, the newspapers, the plays and sermons, even advertisements of a given time, so that their ear becomes attuned to that time so they can write accordingly. However, despite all that research, we do not categorically know all the idiosyncrasies of the dialogue used.
As historical novelists we owe our readers authenticity without sounding clumsy or pedantic, and peppering dialogue with ‘thou’ and ‘forsooth’ would do just that. It stops the flow for the modern reader, turning what should be an interesting read into a clunking marathon.
The wonderful thing about language is that it is always evolving, as seen by some of the 2025 entries in both the Cambridge Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary. I wonder if either of these words will survive a hundred years— skibidi, to mean cool or bad, or delulu for delusional. We don’t know, but it would be fair to surmise that there might be some head scratching over such words, if the context is not clear.
Do I put words in actual historical figure’s mouths? Absolutely. But before I do, I have researched their manner of speaking and the kind of words they would use. There is more leeway with fictional characters in that the imagination is allowed to run riot. However, sensibilities must still be taken into account in the narrative—and those last three words are key.
When writing exposition I don’t believe it necessary to label people in derogatory terms, or use offensive language while describing an event. However, in order to sound genuine to the time, the characters must be able to speak in the language of the time—to a certain extent.
In both Have You Eaten Rice Today? and Annie’s Day the term ‘coolie’ is used to describe labourers. It is an offensive word, now, but then it was commonplace. Maybe not right, but commonplace. So, too, the words ‘Nip’ and ‘Jap’ to describe the Japanese, words used interchangeably and meant to be offensive during the World War II, particularly in the Asia / Pacific zone. Conversely not all names considered derogatory now were considered so at that time. In New Guinea, the native bearers who served with incredible bravery and fortitude were called Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels by the troops and nurses, and was considered a term of respect and affection. Now we wouldn’t dream of calling anyone that. In both books mentioned, all those words have been used, but only in dialogue.
Writers do use updated words and phrases to move the story along, and we all have different boundaries as to what words give our story authenticity. For me, if I can’t make the meaning clear from either the narrative or the dialogue, then I don’t use it, and that goes for foreign words too. Nothing loses a reader faster than a character explaining what he or she means.
That reminds me of a French phrase book I found many years ago on my father’s bookshelf. Even as a teenager, I wondered at the usefulness of learning in either French or English the sentence, ‘My postillion has been struck by lightening’.
So, as I start the research for the next historical novel, again set during the Second World War, but in a different theatre to Annie’s Day, I shall learn the lingo of the era—the good and the bad—and attempt to keep a judicious check on anything too inflammatory.
But for now, toodle-loo, pip pip, and cheerio!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Readers, what do you think about including sensitive language in fiction to make it true to the time period and the place? And can only Black authors have their characters use the N word in contemporary fiction, or can White authors writing about Black characters let them speak the way many do in real life?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*** ABOUT THE AUTHOR ***
Anglo-Australian, Apple Gidley’s nomadic life has helped imbue her writing with rich, diverse cultures and experiences. Annie’s Day is her seventh book. Gidley currently lives in Cambridgeshire, England. You can also find her online.
WEBSITE ** FACEBOOK ** BLUESKY ** INSTAGRAM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~