Paranormal Romantics

Ghosts are my passageway to history by Julie Howard

By definition, ghosts are from the past. And the opportunity to write about history is why I enjoy ghosts so much. Those specters don’t want to be dead in my era; they’d much rather be alive in theirs. I happily follow them to the past every chance I get.

With three paranormal books published, I’ve learned a few things about dipping into the past. Setting characters in historical times brings a few sometimes-complicated twists to a plot. Here are the top five lessons I’ve learned about chasing ghosts into the past:

 

1.     Get the history right.

In House of Seven Spirits, my ghost-chasing character, Jillian, travels to Australia’s Outback to find out what happened to a family of seven who disappeared without a trace in the 19^th century. I had to do quite a bit of research on everything from how roads were made at this time to what materials were used to build houses in the remote Outback. A medical emergency plays a key role in one scene from the past and I found myself fascinated with old cures and herbs. The better the historical accuracy, the more real the story will feel. If a reader catches an error, it ruins that suspension of disbelief necessary for fiction.

2.     Consider how language has changed.

In my most recent release, Spirit in Time, 21^st century woman Jillian ends up time traveling back to 19^th century California. She uses words like “okay” and  expressions such as “I blew it,” which would have been puzzling to people of this era. Nearly every chapter, I found myself researching the etymology of certain words to make sure they were appropriate. Even if a word existed in a previous time doesn’t mean it was used in a similar manner.

3.     Tread gently upon real historical characters.

One of the enjoyable parts of reading historical fiction is stumbling upon real (famous) people. An avid fan of 19^thcentury California history, I wanted Jillian to meet some of the real people of the time. The most notable example is the mansion she lives in briefly, built by the very real E.B. Crocker, who was a well-known abolitionist lawyer and California Supreme Court Justice. She meets E.B. Crocker, but his youngest daughter, Amy, is the one with a starring role in the book as a young girl. The real Amy, who would change her name to Aimee, became a wealthy heiress and flamboyant character of the Gilded Age. She also wrote a memoir claiming she saw ghosts in the mansion – perfect for my ghost-hunting fictional character. I was careful, though, not to take too many liberties with these historical characters. They are best showcased as the people they were.

4.     Build a world that doesn’t exist anymore.

In my mind, I start with a blank canvas and then paint in the setting piece by piece. I start with the terrain and then add buildings as they would have appeared at the time. Drop back more than a hundred years and so much is different, it’s easier to start over this way. Our modern world and towns are built with automobiles in mind, telephone poles and cell towers dot the landscape, and suburbs sprawl out from city centers. While trains enabled the transport of many goods, people were unlikely to have eaten produce out of season, for instance, except among the wealthier set. Clothing and hair styles, too, are an obvious way to create a bygone world.

5.     Have fun.

Time travel always conjures up the clashes of centuries. In Spirited Quest, a ghost watches more than a century pass by in a hotel she inhabits. The Lady of the Deerbourne, as she is called, isn’t a bit judgmental though. Instead, she finds the shifting of time and fashions amusing and inevitable. As a writer, I have fun jumping into different eras with my characters, and hope readers have fun with the stories too.

Here’s a bit about Spirit in Time:

 

Time travel isn't real. It can't be real. But ghost-blogger Jillian Winchester discovers otherwise when an enigmatic spirit conveys her to 1872 to do his bidding. 

Jillian finds herself employed as a maid in Sacramento, in an elegant mansion with a famous painting. The artwork reveals another mystery: Why does the man within look exactly like her boyfriend, Mason Chandler? 

Morality and sin live side by side, not only in the picture, but also within her. As her transgressions escalate, she races the clock to find the man in the painting, and hunt down a spirit with a disconcerting gift. 

But will time be her friend or foe?

 

        And a peek inside Spirit in Time:

 

“Are you a ghost?” A young girl stood where the guard had been only minutes before. She spoke matter- of-factly, her dark eyes alive with curiosity. 

The house was still whole, she was alive, and the world hadn’t ended. Jillian scanned the room for damage, then blinked. This must be a dream. The long dining table—bare just moments ago—was now laid for a meal. Glasses sat upright, forks and spoons lined up in perfect order, and a tall flower arrangement appeared unscathed. A crystal chandelier above the table remained perfectly still. 

The guard and Asian man were nowhere in sight. 

The girl, dressed neatly in a calf-length white pinafore embellished with pink ribbons, didn’t appear rattled by the cataclysmic jolt. 

“What happened?” Jillian asked, still crouched on her knees. “Are you okay?” 

“You don’t belong here. Mother will be angry.” 

Even though the floor had ceased to shake, the roiling continued in her head. Might this very real looking girl be a spirit? Most apparitions wavered in some manner, their appearances paler and less there than the tangible world around them. This child appeared solid in every way, from the tips of her shiny chestnut hair to the toes of her lace-up black shoes.