How to Dress Your Victorian Female Character - Part 1

When writing a Victorian era fantasy novel, even though it's fantasy, you'll want your world and characters to represent the period with accuracy. Even if you loosely develop a fantasy world based on the Victorian period, the information in this article will help dress characters in Victorian style apparel with enough detail to make it real in the reader's mind.

In this article we'll study the clothing of a Victorian Lady. Lady was the proper title of any woman whose husband ranked higher than baronet or knight, or who was the daughter of a nobleman not lower than an earl. A Lady's affluent lifestyle followed fashion. With that in mind, this article takes a look at how to dress a fantasy character based on historical dress.

Details down to underwear reflect a Victorian character's placement in time. In the first half of the nineteenth century undergarments served a utilitarian function. At that time, underwear lacked trimmings and decoration. But in the second half of the century, frills like lace and embroidery came into style. When dressing or undressing your character, keep details period specific.

Basic Victorian Undergarments

• Chemise: a loose-fitting, white linen shirt-like undergarment designed to hang straight from the shoulders, fit loosely at the waist, sometimes more tightly at the hip and reached to the calf. You'll want to research neckline shapes and other small alterations for the timeframe of your story.

• Drawers: an undergarment that covers the lower part of the body with legs reaching to the knees. Legs of this garment were sewn separately leaving the crotch open. Drawstring casings gathered at the back above a loose-fitting seat. This loose fit design prevented the open seam from separating. Again, depending on the exact time frame, you'll want to research whether the legs to the drawers for your character should be flared or wide, or gathered at the knee.

• Corset: a close-fitting undergarment, stiffened with whalebone or similar material and often tightened by lacing. It fit tight around the trunk of the body. Women wore this garment to shape and support the body. It was worn over or under the petticoat.

• Petticoat:(most often made in one piece with the bodice attached) Commonly made of flannel, this garment worked as a slip or underskirt worn for warmth and to hide the contour of a woman's legs. Often a decorative petticoat was full and trimmed with ruffles or lace. Three Petticoats were usually the minimum worn.

• Stiffened petticoat, crinoline or bustle: Several petticoats were worn to support the bell shape skirt (before the cage crinoline in the 1850's). Early petticoats were starched and corded (cords ran through them to hold the hem out). Petticoats changed with fashion. As you design your character's wardrobe, consider the decade you want to target within the Victorian era. Do some research. Should your character be wearing a narrow paneled skirt or a wide bell skirt? Bustles came and went. Be sure to check if it is appropriate to add a bustle to your character's fashion sense.

• Decorative petticoat: Depending on the year, decorative petticoats included things like flounces down the back, popular colors like scarlet or added decoration at the hem that showed below the hem of the dress

Don't leave your character standing there in her undergarments. Be sure to watch for part 2 of How to Dress your Victorian Female Character to give her an authentic look.

Chivalry In Fantasy Writing - Part 2

Adulterated Chivalry In Fantasy

Just as the contaminated code of chivalry went forth with the crusades, such scenarios make for interesting fantasy civilizations. In today's culture we think any man can be considered chivalrous, but historically it wasn't so. In practice, chivalry was limited to knights, barons, and earls. Men of noble birth.

Unusual fantasy cultures present new and unique qualifications for what constitutes noble birth and chivalrous behavior. Questions to consider when developing a fantasy culture include: Are characters born into nobility or similar social distinction? Does wealth and poverty play a part? In Windwalker the distinctions presented by the racially divided society offer opportunities for underdogs to shine the light on what is truly chivalrous.

Growth Of A Chivalrous Fantasy Character

Chivalrous behavior is a matter of heart more than living according to a set of rules. Chivalrous development within the fantasy character builds on lessons learned. Lay a foundation showing how the fantasy world works. This leads readers to form an opinion of what is good and honorable. It doesn't have to be an extensive detailed account that tells the reader what to think, but rather snippets that allow the reader to learn along side the character as they grow.

Historically, a youth of noble birth went through years of training before he could be admitted into the ranks of knighthood. The title of knight was not only earned but a sign of military excellence. About the age of seven, he started his pilgrimage to knighthood as a page. He ran errands and performed humble tasks for noblemen and ladies. During the process, he learned proper manners and received an education. This was the foundation.

Training A Fantasy Character

Rites of passage open the door to creative plot basics. Youth can tend to be rather cruel or overly sensitive. Training forges the fantasy character as they move away from what is known into a new environment that tests the character's integrity. In the right scenario, times of training draw lines between internal good and evil-right and wrong. These situations not only define a character, but also draw the reader to care-to love or hate.

Traditionally, when the page reached young adulthood (about age 13) his training became serious. He moved from the comforts of home into a castle owned by a friend of his father. Within this castle, he'd live and work as a squire. This is the time he learned the skill of using a sword, lance and shield. These skills were honed in mock battles with other squires.

Fantasy Readers And Characters That Connect

Fantasy readers learn along with characters in well-written fantasy. They gain external knowledge, and through body language and internal dialog learn how characters feel.

For example, consider a squire character involved in a training tournament. Readers learn the character's riding technique. They know what he's thinking as he approaches the target. Is he confident or fearful that he will fail before a love interest sitting in the stands? If the squire's lance hits the target dead on, it falls over, but if he hits it off center, the target spins around and smacks him on the back. Readers understand the rules and feel the muscular steed beneath them. If bystanders mock, the reader feels the humiliation.

Fantasy writers strive for readers to know what the objective is and how the character feels. The character and reader become one. They know who's watching and what it means.

Knight-like Fantasy Characters

Fantasy writers learn to carry over the magic of the chivalrous past. Knighthood carried a sense of honor and could be forfeited if the knight broke his vows. Why or how a knight-like character would break his vows would of course depend on the plot and how the fantasy writer wants their character to grow. A knight without honor was regarded as a knight dead.

In the movie The Natural a young gifted ball player played by Robert Redford has the opportunity to fulfill his boyhood dream of playing major league ball. He leaves for the big city with promises of marriage to the girl he leaves behind. This knight-like character breaks his vow after being shot by a mysterious woman. His code of conduct must be proven sixteen years later when he reemerges into the baseball scene and into the life of the woman he had promised to marry.

The chivalry of knighthood historically wasn't romantic or the exciting lives we read about in fantasy today, but that is the adventure of fantasy writing. As writers, we pick up the gauntlet and run with it. Where it takes us stretches the imagination and brings the reader along for the ride.

Inspiration to Overcome Writer's Block - Part 1

People often ask me how I overcome writer's block. Working on several projects at one time helps, but when I'm looking for inspiration one of the best places to find it is to step away from the computer and go outdoors. In fact, that's where I found the idea for my creative writing book, Pumping Your Muse. (By the way, don't rush out at by it just yet. The revised edition should be out by the end of July).

Here's just a peek at the introduction from my book. It would never have come about if I didn't step outside to see that beautiful sunrise that inspired the one sentence rule. From that one idea, my imagination gave birth to Pumping Your Muse and the two novels that the exercise drew out. So if you're looking for a way to overcome writer's block, try stepping outdoors and practicing the one sentence rule.

Introduction

Write what you know. You'll find this recommendation echoed throughout literature on writing, but when it comes to fiction I wondered how 'what I know' pertains when creating a world that doesn't exist. Where do you find the inventive genius to build a world atom by atom and breathe life into it in such a way that the reader finds it entertaining and yet believable? How do writers use what they 'know' during this creative process?

Some writers naturally introduce minute particulars, offering tangible glimpses of the world in which their fictional characters live and breathe. The goal of Pumping Your Muse is to stretch your creativity beyond your norm by taking a daub of what you know and pushing your muse to carry it to new limits in a concise but descriptive manner. Challenging exercises reach deep into the recesses of your imagination forcing ideas in resourceful new directions of development. We'll take these creative bits and pieces gradually connecting them in sequence while painting verbal details with subtle brush strokes crafting a picture that engages the reader's senses.

I designed these exercises for myself because this process did not come quite so naturally. My character driven plots offered plenty of interaction between characters, but 'showed' little of the character's interaction with the world in which they lived. I'd walk them down the road to get from point A to point B while offering a detail or two, such as the position of the sun to provide a time of day or dust stirring around their feet. Yes, these details feed the reader information, but they paint an incomplete picture and generate questions. Are there clouds in the sky? What season of year is it? Is there a breeze or does the protagonist work up a sweat on a tranquil day? And dust ... why is there dust? Is the road paved? Narrow? Wide? Is drought a factor? Does the scene take place in the city or a rural area? The sad thing is I didn't know the answers to these questions. I only had a plot and a main character in mind. Creating the world to make the scene work with the plot, after the fact, produces work and increases the chance for 'bloopers' by fabricating a lack of continuity and believability.

I searched for a way to bring together world building and character development in a natural, organic manner. Much like God created Adam from the dust of the earth, I wanted characters forged within the world in which they existed instead of crafting a world to fit my characters. I desired to 'know' how to build a believable world no matter how unusual and searched for a way to give my muse a creative shove. The exercises introduced in this book started one day when I pushed away from the computer and went for a walk. Dawn brightened the sky. I marveled at the colors graduating from the horizon and considered how I would describe the scene in one sentence.

Why one sentence? Practice writing short condensed clips and it prepares you for the future. It trains you to see details once overlooked and to write what you want to say without excess verbiage. Much like adding colors to a painter's pallet, this mental gathering of descriptions builds a foundation of experience from which to draw. It becomes routine and part of what you know.