(full disclosure — this is a repost from a blog I did over at RomCon Inc.  but I liked it so much I decided to place it here as well.)

I have to confess something.  Something that no historical author wants their readers to know.  Now, for the most part, we want our stories to be as historically accurate as possible.  We meticulously research dates, geography, architecture, fashion, social ideology…  It helps sell the reality of our characters, helps establish understandable stakes, and makes the world they live in come alive.

But sometimes, we have to make stuff up.

My new release, The Summer of You, is set in 1816.  My hero and heroine, Byrne Worth and Lady Jane Cummings, have met before. They are acquaintances from my previous book Revealed. Now, they are spending the summer as next-door neighbors on a lake in the north of England.   Jane is visiting her family’s estate, and is shocked to discover that Byrne is her new reclusive next-door neighbor.

And just as shocked to first lay eyes on him as he is swimming naked in the lake.

Over the next few weeks, they spend their days getting to know each other.  Lakeside living… long, hot days spent boating… swimming…

Sounds fabulous, right?  Falling in love is the perfect way to beat the stifling heat of July and August, the breezes off the lake the only relief to be found.  Only one problem:

1816 was the coldest summer on record at the time.

Possibly due to a volcanic eruption in Indonesia, 1816 was known as the ‘year without summer.’  This was a major problem for me, since I had established characters on an established timeline.  I couldn’t simply up and move them a year forward or back.  And since they were on a lake, they needed to swim, to sweat, to flirt and get sexy by (and in) the water!  What I needed was a heat wave!

…So I made one up.  I took some admitted liberties with the weather.   Oh, all right.  I decided to blatantly ignore what I knew about the climate in 1816.  But sometimes, for the good of the characters and the story you are trying to tell, you have to manipulate history.   After all, I told myself, who’s gonna know?  I mean, aside from the historians and keen-eyed readers, and anyone with an internet connection who wants to know more about the Regency period.

Oh god.  I’m screwed.

But that’s okay.  Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

Sometimes you have to invent a heat wave.

Happy reading everyone!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 at 1:18 am and is filed under Books, Revealed, The Summer of You. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.