One important idea I hope is reflected in 'The Poe Shadow' is that fiction can add as much to history as nonfiction does.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
One thing I incorporated in my novel 'The Poe Shadow' was the little-known fact that documents show Poe inherited a slave and decided to free him.
What's most explosive about historical fiction is to use the fictional elements to pressure the history to new insights.
As a writer of historical fiction, I believe you don't want to fictionalize gratuitously; you want the fictional aspects to prod and pressure the history into new and exciting reactions.
Poe was plagued and haunted most of all by something pretty banal: poverty. Probably the most eccentric decision in life was to become a writer in an age when making a living at it was nearly impossible.
The power of historical fiction for bad and for good can be immense in shaping consciousness of the past.
I think what will happen is that fiction will become more like poetry. As in, the only people who read it will write it.
I just want fiction to remain a vital force for entertainment and not just for contemplation. Both things can exist.
We've all faced the charge that our novels are history lite, and to some extent, that's true. Yet for some, historical fiction is a way into reading history proper.
When I was a teenager, I read a lot of Poe.
The thing that fiction can do is look from the inside out rather than from the outside in. Even memoir leaves me somewhat frustrated. I think now we need a poet to uncover what isn't on the surface.
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