From: Jeanatkins at aol.com <Jeanatkins>
Date: Fri, 7 May 2004 10:52:22 EDT

Thanks, everyone, for provoking so many thoughts, beginning with Megan???s launch of the themes of accuracy and intimacy. As a writer of historical fiction and picture books, I???m drawn to both. I???ll come across facts about a life that lead me to history books, biographies, diaries, conversations, and inevitably what every researcher finds: a kind of hole where reliable information ends. Historians here may bridge the gap with abstractions big enough to cover contradictions, or they may pile on clauses and footnotes. Others plod on for years in search of elusive facts, while others throw up their hands and stop.
    Historical fiction writers often use our imaginations, which we???ve steeped in another time and place, to try to answer questions that history doesn???t

supply. Some people find this brazen, and they???re kind of right, but I mostly feel humble when I do this, in a state where I???m trying to let someone else???s voice come through.
    I???m grateful to teachers who include fiction alongside history, because, like some others who???ve posted, most of the insights and pleasures I???ve had from history have come from one-to-one contact, in biographies and novels. Even when it???s fiction, I tend to trust a first-person voice more than the royal
???we.??? Most of my college English courses required that we learn some history to understand the texts, and I???m happy to hear about history teachers who also opened doors to literature.
    Jeannine Atkins
    www.Jeannineatkins.com
Received on Fri 07 May 2004 09:52:22 AM CDT