Herstory: Writing from the female gaze

Boadicea, John Opie 1807 (Public domain)

History is full of remarkable women:

• Boudica, queen of the British Iceni tribe who led an uprising against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire
• Livia, whose background, strength of will and character made her the perfect partner for Augustus the first Roman emperor
• Violette Szabo, Resistance operative in German occupied France a true story immortalised in Carve her Name with Pride – courageous, understated, self-sacrificing
• Elizabeth I, who refused every marriage alliance as she declared herself married to her kingdom and ‘makes herself feared by Spain, by France, by the Empire, by all.’ (Pope Sixtus V).
• Mary Wollstoncraft who against all convention called for the equality of men and women in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

But these women shouldn’t be called remarkable; they should be noted as exceptional human beings, their gender ignored. But without doubt, they had to be tough, persistent and gifted. But for the average woman, her actions were often jotted down as a footnote, noted as unimportant or even omitted from the historical record by official sources. Their lives, the information that has come down to us, and much of the interpretation of them and their times has been through the eyes and work of mostly male historians. This has changed in recent years and is still changing as old sources are re-interpreted, new information is discovered and new, more ‘herstory’ approaches are used.

So how do you write a strong historical heroine today?
Readers need to see where a heroine came from, what turned her from an ordinary girl into the book’s heroine. Often she passes through a formative traumatic event but writers need to give hints about resilience, integrity and an ability to develop confidence as well as physical abilities. Undoubtedly, a strong female character has to have an equally strong will and a passion to drive through what she believes in.

In my first alternate history thriller, INCEPTIO, Carina starts off as an office worker, but we see from the first page that she’s prepared to stand her ground against people doing wrong. Within the first chapters we know she goes to the gym, we’re with her when she jogs in the park; she’s outdoorsy and sporty. Her disrupted childhood with a barren and loveless adolescence has made her learn to protect herself emotionally, and question everything. She demonstrates signs of mental and physical toughness and resilience, even when living in a ‘normal’ existence, to the level of not feeling completely at ease in her own skin. So when she becomes an undercover operative in a tough Roman society, she already has many of the latent characteristics required.

Beware of bunny rabbits and kittens…
The second challenge is not falling into the trap of making a strong character have moments of unbelievable weakness. Doubt, a temper, love for music, joking with other characters, buying gifts for friends round out a character, but writers must not go too far into fluffy-bunny-land and over-compensate for the toughness. That risks slotting her back into the ‘caring soft female’ stereotype.

Under pressure, a strong heroine often feels aggressive towards people who wish to hurt her family, friends or peers, but it’s her way of showing she cares. Other times she finds everything too much and we see tears and fears. But a habit of picking herself up and facing up to what has to be done is often not depicted as a normal female attribute in stories.

Courage doesn’t come from ‘boldly going’, but from ‘boldly going’ when you are half scared to death and not at all sure you’re going to get out of the situation without being injured or killed.

The Bechdel test
Now, the cliché of tough male hero leading the action and loyal, supportive heroine tagging along or carrying out secondary tasks is being challenged, albeit slowly. The Bechdel test, developed further since its origin in 1985, asks whether a work of fiction features at least two named women who talk to each other about something other than a man. Although there are excellent examples such as Elizabeth Chadwick’s Lady of the English, many contemporary works fail this basic test of gender bias.

So in an age still stumbling towards equality, it’s a good test to apply to one’s own writing and reading. Are the women instrumental in pushing the story forward? Do they make decisions at the critical points in a novel? But historical writing should always be in context; societal dynamics of history cannot be altered by parachuting in a 21st century feisty young miss against the norms of the period and locality even when writing in subgenres such as historical fantasy or alternative history.

Writing then and now
Writers write in the context of their own societal mores; we can’t help it, that’s what we are immersed

Livia Drusilla (Author photo)

in from babyhood. I remember the rather twee Ladybird history books of the 1960s; by today’s standards condescending, sexist and paternalistic, but at the time perfectly normal. Writing the same children’s history books now a historian would, I hope, take a startlingly different point of view. Today we still can’t have feisty Roman empresses ruling openly, but we can explore the sources containing information about them and their influences with a more open mind-set. Berenice, the queen of Judea and Livia Drusilla, the wife of Augustus, would be splendid examples of women of power to investigate.

In our modern historic fiction, we can transfer this openness into our stories and make connections between women characters unknown from the sources. Women acting together can become agents in the plot rather than the token ‘love interest’ or mother/daughter/sister of the male protagonist.

An egalitarian example
In my alternate history thrillers, I’ve taken this much further and developed a society descended from fourth century Roman dissidents where women rule, but men are not disadvantaged. You can read the whole story here, but Roma Nova’s first few hundred years were unstable and dangerous so daughters as well as sons had to put on armour and carry weapons to defend their homeland and their way of life. Fighting danger side-by-side with brothers and fathers reinforced women’s status and roles. And they never allowed the incursion of monotheistic paternalistic religions. So it’s reasonably logical that in this context women developed leadership roles in all parts of Roma Novan life over the following centuries.

In the present day, my female protagonist’s story in INCEPTIO begins in a standard Western society. When she is compelled to flee to her dead mother’s homeland in Europe, Roma Nova, she finds the Roman-infused culture unnerving, but in a strange way liberating. Other strong female characters surround her; her grandmother, cousin, female colleagues and friends all drive the action. The ‘love interest’ is male and an integral part of the story, unlike many female love interests in standard historical thrillers. And I pursue this female hero/male love interest through the second trilogy starting in the 1960s.

Holding an alternate historical mirror up to the standard timeline produces very interesting reflections. As I write, I try to ensure that my heroine and other ‘active women’ are driving the story, but sometimes when I read through what I’ve written I see I may have fallen into the cliché hero/heroine placements.  I then switch the gender of the speakers in the dialogue and/or the actors in the scene. I give this the rather grand name of ‘gender mirroring’; this technique clarifies the roles wonderfully.

The natural view of women’s and men’s status and roles in my imaginary Roma Nova is not oriented around how people see things in most of the rest of the world – the often unconscious ‘male gaze’. In Roma Nova, men are not disadvantaged – they are just equal. Not only does this make throw up delicious conflict when my characters interact with nationals from other countries, it piques the reader’s interest and starts them thinking about the gender roles in our real timeline. Of course, it’s an optimistic view, but as we see in Roma Nova, perfectly possible.

And historical fiction now?
When we read older historical fiction, it can seem very outdated in its gender attitudes, even our very favourite titles from childhood and early adulthood. Today, fiction explores a wider variety of possibilities and points of view. With writers like Philippa Gregory, Elizabeth Chadwick, Diana Gabaldon and Tracy Chevalier (and the writers contributing to this blog!) we see women portrayed as agents and influencers and their impact on lives and events in the past.

Making women as present as men in historical events and stories should be the norm whether the writer is female or male. But even now, the idea of women writing fiction in niche historical fiction areas or areas that have been seen as traditionally male still persists.  Last year a prominent book programme presenter stated on air that there were no women writing alternative history fiction. She was quickly disabused as was the featured academic. After we discussed it, my writing friend Shannon Selin blogged about it in no uncertain terms.

While it isn’t possible for every female historical protagonist to be a tough heroine, writers are bringing forward more positive and active representations of women as courageous, decision-making and resilient. And stories of known events, but from a female point of view, the "female gaze", are filling the real and virtual bookshelves.

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Alison's latest Roma Nova thriller

‘The second fall of Rome?’
Aurelia Mitela, ex-Praetorian and imperial councillor in early 1980s Roma Nova, scoffs at her intelligence chief when he throws a red file on her desk. But it may be too late to save Roma Nova from meltdown and herself from destruction by her lifelong enemy.…

Early 1980s Roma Nova, the last province of the Roman Empire that has survived into the twentieth century, has problems – a ruler frightened of governing, a centuries-old bureaucracy creaking for reform and, worst of all, a rising nationalist movement with a charismatic leader who wants to destroy Aurelia.

Horrified when her daughter is brutally attacked in a demonstration turned riot, Aurelia tries to rally resistance to the growing fear and instability. But it may already be too late to save Roma Nova from meltdown and herself from entrapment and destruction by her lifelong enemy.…

Available as
- eBook from Amazon,  iBooks,  Kobo,  B&N Nook
- paperback, author signed paperback and from other retailers

Historical Novel Society indie Editor’s Choice Spring 2016
Editor's Choice, Historical Novel Society, Autumn 2016
B.R.A.G. Medallion, October 2016  
Chill With a Book Award Book of the Month February 2017

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Alison Morton is the author of the acclaimed Roma Nova thrillers INCEPTIO, PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA and INSURRECTIO.

Connect with Alison on her Roma Nova site: http://alison-morton.com
Facebook author page  https://www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor
Twitter https://twitter.com/alison_morton @alison-morton
Goodreads  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5783095.Alison_Morton

15 Minutes of Fame: Grace Metalious, Author of Peyton Place

Anna C. Bowling
Petyon Place. Even for those who haven’t read the book, seen the movie or watched the television adaptation, the name brings to mind a seething sea of murder, incest, illegitimacy and abuse underneath the picturesque exterior of a small town. Its author, Grace Metalious, would have fit into her own creation as though she were born to it.

In a way, she was. Grace, a housewife and mother of three, burst onto the literary scene in 1955 when a literary agent sold her first novel, originally titled The Tree and the Blossom. Retitled Peyton Place, the salacious tale became an overnight sensation, gaining nationwide interest. Since childhood, Grace had sought respite from her turbulent personal life in her writing, but it was her writing that turned her life into a media frenzy.

Not only did the literary world sit up and take notice of Grace’s raw yet naive writing style, but her own community found several aspects of Grace’s book hit very close to home. Tom Makris, a colleague of Grace’s school principal husband, George, sued Grace for using his name and physical description for the book’s male lead. The plotline of an abused teen who kills her abusive stepfather directly mirrored the case of a local girl, and locations in the novel had strong similarities to places in Grace’s hometown of Gilmanton, NH.

Grace and her family moved to a larger house, paid for by Peyton Place’s royalties, but her marriage to George ended in divorce after he moved to another town, leaving Grace and the children on their own to face the storm of controversy. Grace began an affair with a neighbor, then married and divorced disk jockey TJ Martin, before reuniting with George, only to separate again. In her star writer persona, she spent money as fast as she made it, staying at the Plaza and Algonquin, flirting with the rich and famous. The film adaptation of her novel, heavily sanitized, reignited Lana Turner’s career and gained the legendary actress her lone Oscar nomination.

As quickly as Grace’s star rose, her life began a downward spiral. Her marriage to TJ crumbled under alcohol abuse and violent outbursts from both parties, and Grace’s lavish spending took a large bite out of her bank account. The sequel, Return to Peyton Place, did not match the success of its predecessor, even with its own adaptation for film. Reviews turned savage and a planned publicity tour was shelved.

Grace wrote two more novels; The Tight White Collar was published in 1961 and No Adam In Eden in 1963, but neither made any appreciable impression. She tried her hand at business, purchasing a motel she dubbed The Peyton Place Motel, but the venture soon folded due to lack of guests.
By 1963, when Grace began an affair with British journalist John Rees, friends described her not only as frequently drunk, but delusional and at times incoherent. That year would be her last. Grace died in 1964, of cirrhosis of the liver, her debts exceeding two hundred thousand dollars. Despite protests, Gilmanton’s most infamous citizen was interred in the Smith Meeting House Cemetary.

While the fame of Grace Metalious’ iconic work lives on, Grace herself had only a short while in the limelight, a pattern seen all too often in today’s young luminaries who rise quickly to fame they may not be equipped to handle. If Grace were to begin her career in the twenty first century, would things have gone any differently for her? Would we see her go through rehab and make a comeback, or would social media have brought about her downfall all the quicker?

Writing historical romances allows Anna C. Bowling to travel through time on a daily basis and make the voices in her head pay rent. Her current release, ORPHANS IN THE STORM, is available from Awe-Struck E-books.

Love Affairs: George & George

By Zoe Archer

George Eliot's personal life proved to be just as fascinating as her novels. Born Mary Ann (sometimes written as Marian or Mary Anne) Evans in 1819, Evans largely educated herself in liberal arts, theology and foreign languages. She joined a collection of unconventional thinkers that included Charles Bray and Charles Hennell, and their humanist principles helped shape her own ideals and spiritual convictions. In January 1842, Evans refused to accompany her father to his evangelical Protestant services, and their religious differences remained a source of conflict that lasted until his death.

Evans moved to London in the early 1850s and became the assistant editor of the Westminster Review. She had an affair with the owner of the Review, John Chapman, but not only was Chapman married, he had another mistress. In 1851, she met critic and novelist George Henry Lewes. Lewes was a bohemian in an open marriage. His wife, Agnes Jervis, had three children by Lewes, and several children by other men. Within a year of meeting Lewes, he and Evans began a relationship that became the basis of much controversy.

By the end of 1852, Evans and Lewes began living together. In every way but legally, Evans and Lewes considered themselves married. Friends and relatives disparaged the couple and the effect their relationship had on their professional careers. Evans called herself Mrs. Marian Evans Lewes. She and Lewes travelled many times to the Continent a number of times and shared several homes. Lewes supported Evans' literary ambitions and encouraged her to write fiction. Their relationship caused considerable public scandal, especially considering that the relationship was conducted openly. She persisted in her writing endeavors. She began to use the pseudonym George Eliot both as a means of eluding criticism of her private life as well as to separate her fiction from other, more domestic genre work written by female authors. Many admirers of her novel Adam Bede were shocked when it was revealed that novelist George Eliot was, in fact, the scandalous Mrs. Evans Lewes. It was years before she and Lewes were accepted in polite society, despite the popularity and acclaim her work received.

Evans and Lewes remained together until his death in 1878. In 1880, she legally married a man twenty years her junior. She and John Walter Cross were reportedly very happy together, but their time as a married couple was not long. Evans died seven months into their marriage. Her wish to be buried in Westminster Abbey was denied, due largely to her spiritual beliefs and her unconventional relationship with Lewes. She was buried beside Lewes in Highgate Cemetery, but in 1980, a commemorative stone was placed in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey, solidifying her reputation as one of the most accomplished, influential and remarkable authors in the English Language.

Professions: Pioneering Female Writers

By Isabel Roman

An excellent site for more female journalists is Women's Herstory Month. For each of the 30 days, there's a different woman celebrated. Check it out.

Nellie Bly: If you know only one pioneering female journalist, it's her. Born Elizabeth Jane Cochran on May 5, 1864, her first taste of journalism was prompted by a sexist column in the Pittsburgh Dispatch. She wrote a rebuttal and the editor was so impressed, he asked her to join the paper. Female newspaper writers at that time customarily used pen names, and the editor chose Nellie Bly, a misspelling of the title character in the popular song "Nelly Bly" by Stephen Foster.

Bly focused her early work on the plight of working women, writing a series of investigative articles on female factory workers. Times being what they were, editorial pressure pushed her to the women's pages to cover fashion, society, and gardening. Bored, she traveled to Mexico to serve as a foreign correspondent.

At 21, she spent six months reporting the lives and customs of the Mexican people; her dispatches were later published in book form as Six Months in Mexico. When Mexican authorities learned of her report, they threatened to arrest her. Safe at home, she denounced then dictator Porfirio Díaz as a tyrannical czar who suppressed the Mexican people and controlled the press.

Upon her return, she left the Pittsburgh Dispatch for New York City. Penniless, she talked her way into the offices of Joseph Pulitzer's The New York World. She agreed to feign insanity to investigate reports of brutality and neglect at the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island (now Roosevelt Island). Ten days later, Bly was released from the asylum at The World's behest. Her report, later published in book form as Ten Days in a Mad-House, caused a sensation and brought her lasting fame. Physicians and staff fumbled to explain how so many professionals had been fooled, a grand jury launched its own investigation into conditions, and Bly assisted. The jury's report recommended the changes she had proposed, and called for increased funds for care of the insane.

After her Around the World in 72 Days, she married millionaire Robert Seaman and took over his manufacturing business. She died of pneumonia at St. Mark's Hospital in New York City in 1922, at age 57.

Ida M. Tarbell (November 5, 1857 – January 6, 1944) was known as one of the leading muckrakers (investigative journalist) of her day. Best-known for her 1904 book The History of the Standard Oil Company, listed as #5 in a 1999 list by the New York Times of the top 100 works of 20th century American journalism. The inspiration came from her father being bankrupted by oil billionaire John D. Rockefeller, Sr., and was a contributing factor in the antitrust actions against the Standard Oil Trust which eventually led to its breakup in 1911.

She didn't like the label Muckraker and wrote an article "Muckraker or Historian" justifying her efforts for exposing the oil trust.

This classification of muckraker, which I did not like. All the radical element, and I numbered many friends among them, were begging me to join their movements. I soon found that most of them wanted attacks. They had little interest in balanced findings. Now I was convinced that in the long run the public they were trying to stir would weary of vituperation, that if you were to secure permanent results the mind must be convinced.

Tarbell died of pneumonia at a hospital in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1944 after being in a coma since December 1943. She was 87. The Ida Tarbell House was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1993. In 2000, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. On September 14, 2002, the US Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp honoring Tarbell as part of a series of four stamps honoring women journalists.

"Imagination is the only key to the future. Without it none exists — with it all things are possible. Ida M. Tarbell

Ida Bell Wells (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931) was an African American sociologist, civil rights leader, and a women's rights leader active in the Woman Suffrage Movement. She attended summer sessions at Fisk University in Nashville, a Black Historic College, and at age 24 wrote, "I will not begin at this late day by doing what my soul abhors; sugaring men, weak deceitful creatures, with flattery to retain them as escorts or to gratify a revenge."

In 1892 she published a pamphlet "Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases," and along with the 1895 "A Red Record," campaigned against lynching. Having examined many accounts of lynching based on alleged "rape of white women", she concluded that Southerners concocted the rape excuse to hide their real reason for lynching black men: black economic progress, which threatened not only white Southerners' pocketbooks but also their ideas about black inferiority.

In 1893, she and other black leaders, including Frederick Douglass, organized a boycott of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The pamphlet to be distributed during the exposition, "Why the Colored American Is Not in the World's Columbian Exposition," detailed in English and other languages the workings of Southern lynching's and a handful of other issues impinging on black Americans. She later reported 2,000 copies had been distributed. Afterwards, Wells decided to stay in Chicago and work with the Chicago Conservator, the oldest paper for people of color in the city.

After her retirement, Wells wrote her autobiography Crusade for Justice (1928). The book was never finished. It ends in the middle of a sentence, in the middle of a word. She died of uremia in Chicago at the age of 68. On February 1, 1990, the US Postal Service issued a 25 cent stamp in her honor. In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Ida B. Wells on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.