This is without-a-doubt true, and I strive to make my characters have outlooks consistent with their times. On the other hand, basic humanity hasn’t ever really changed. People still have the same yearnings, the same instincts–just hewn by different tides. One of the things I most love about writing is putting myself into their heads and seeing how they will act in a situation.
I have no doubt that Abigail, my heroine in Stray Drop, will be understandable to modern readers. At her heart, her core, she is a woman like any woman through history. But I also hope it’s the differences that draw you in–the way she must act because of her station, the fact that her very pride must take the form of humility. In all her life, she is only given one choice that she can make for herself–to believe that Jesus is the Christ.
Can you imagine how important that decision is when it’s your first?
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. Having successfully launched two homeschool grads, she now spends her time writing fiction, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years, as well as a fantasy series and contemporary mysteries and romances. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.
It hadn't occurred to me until I was writing this post either, Stephanie!
And I'm so proud of you–look at you, plugging your books! Woo hoo for The Reinvention of Skylar Hoyt!!
I had never thought about it, but that's totally true. That IS the only decision Abigail makes for herself.
I think that does wonderful things to make a character sympathetic, in historical or contemporary novels. It's what makes Skylar in The Reinvention of Skylar Hoyt books sympathetic as well, because so much of the book is just life happening to her.