{"id":5902,"date":"2019-07-23T17:53:45","date_gmt":"2019-07-23T17:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/?p=5902"},"modified":"2019-07-23T18:20:10","modified_gmt":"2019-07-23T18:20:10","slug":"the-stars-in-the-night-a-wartime-novel-by-clare-rhoden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/the-stars-in-the-night-a-wartime-novel-by-clare-rhoden\/","title":{"rendered":"The Stars in the Night, a Wartime novel by Clare Rhoden"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clare Rhoden is a writer, blogger and book reviewer inspired by politics, culture and the march of history. The third novel of her dystopian sci-fi series The Chronicles of the Pale will be published this August. Her latest book is the WWI historical novel The Stars in the Night. <\/strong>Clare lives in Melbourne Australia with her husband and a golden spoodle called Aeryn.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Stars in the Night is a moving tale set in the First World War. Is it based on a true story?<\/h3>\n

Clare: Not just one! Stars is based on many true stories. Each fictional character has a real-life model. For example, Harry Fletcher and his foster brother Eddie play the parts of neighbours that my grandparents met when they emigrated to Port Adelaide in 1914. I\u2019ve also scattered a few true historical folk into the mix, like Australia\u2019s official war artist Will Dyson who sketches an exhausted Harry about midway through the book. I used Dyson\u2019s 1917 drawing \u2018Dead Beat\u2019 (you can see it at this link) to generate this scene.
\n(Here I have attached a low-res image which is OK to use as long as the caption is included as it\u2019s the property of the AWM)<\/p>\n

Gallipoli and Flanders are both very well known to readers of historical fiction. What lengths did you have to go to in order to make sure you got the sense of period and place right?<\/h3>\n

I was so lucky to have extra funding as part of my PhD, so I was able to do a couple of study tours overseas as well as visiting various sites in Australia \u2013 we have memorials in most towns as we have no Great War graves, apart from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Canberra. I also had access to the immense archives of the Australian War Memorial, including letters, diaries, trench newspapers, photos, line drawings and paintings, and even some film. I also suspect I have read more WWI novels than anyone in Australia, and more Australian WWI novels than anyone in the world! For me, this book in particular was about total immersion in the time and places. I now know things that I never even suspected: for example, did you know that the Allied troops didn\u2019t have helmets until 1916? So every Aussie at Gallipoli only had his slouch hat as protection.<\/p>\n

How did you get into writing?<\/h3>\n

Oh, for that I blame my teddy bear. My mum taught me to read before school, but we didn\u2019t have any books about Big Ted. I had to make up stories about where he came from and what he had for breakfast. So as a child, I made things up all the time, and I haven\u2019t ever stopped. I\u2019m lucky now that I can write full time and get these stories out of my head.<\/p>\n

How do you go about planning your novels?<\/h3>\n

Uh-oh, now it\u2019s going to come out. Despite all my research, I\u2019m not a big planner. I begin with an idea that leads to a scene; more scenes arrive; I sew them up and shift them around until the flow seems right to me. In Stars, I move the narrative back and forward in time for different sections. That\u2019s because I sometimes saw Harry as an ardent young man, and sometimes as a scarred survivor, often in consecutive scenes. It works for me.<\/p>\n

How do you balance the fact and fiction when writing this type of novel?<\/h3>\n

I believe that there is history as recorded and history as lived. I made every effort to be as correct as possible with the history as we now know it, but I also kept in mind that the people of the time didn\u2019t and couldn\u2019t know what we know now. A tiny example is that they called it the Great War, not the First World War, because they never guessed that they\u2019d be back in uniform only twenty years later. The letters, diaries and newspapers of the time often have a very different idea of what was going on than is recorded in official history. I had to make sure that my characters don\u2019t have any special insight into how things will turn out, for good or for ill.<\/p>\n

One of the areas that my website is looking at currently is the way that history is interpreted and presented to the general public. How do you go about deciding how to portray your characters and the events in which they become involved in?<\/h3>\n

Excellent question, thanks Dan! One method I decided to use was incorporating letters into the narrative. That gave me a way to show a range of what the everyday people of the time were saying, thinking, and feeling during the war. Real lived experience is always more complex than a history text. I thought it was important to show some of the diversity views that were current then but are now glossed over, such as how riven Australia was about participating in the war (Australia twice rejected conscription but both votes were close to 50\/50). Some women agitated for peace; others handed out white feathers to men they thought were shirkers. Some politicians backed the Empire \u2018to the last man and the last shilling\u2019; others believed that the Dominions were being exploited as trench fodder. Some army generals wanted to introduce the death penalty for Australian troops; others resisted as the Anzacs were an all-volunteer force (Australia alone didn\u2019t execute any of its own men in the Great War, even though capital punishment was common at the time.).
\nSo while I\u2019m mindful about authenticity of the time, it is now the twenty-first century and we know so much more about the ongoing costs of war such as PTSD, which I have tried to show in a realistic way, even though it was not recognised at the time.<\/p>\n

Which authors have been most influential to your own writing to date?<\/h3>\n

Oh dear, how long a list is allowed? Mary Renault\u2019s Athenian historical novels are the first which transported me to a different time and place (that\u2019s if we don\u2019t count Anna Sewell\u2019s Black Beauty, the first book I stayed up all night to read). I\u2019m inspired by writers who deliver engaging characters in interesting situations: TH White, Georgette Heyer, Mary Stewart, JRR Tolkien and Ursula Le Guin. I review for Aurealis (sci-fi and fantasy) and every month I get to meet new, exciting authors through their work. At the moment I\u2019m floored by the brilliance of CSE Cooney\u2019s \u2018Desdemona and the Deep\u2019 for its luscious setting and wonderfully diverse, entrancing characters.<\/p>\n

Have you got any plans for future books that are in a historical setting?<\/h3>\n

Oh, yes \u2013 once I get past the launch of the third instalment of my dystopian sci-fi series later this year. I\u2019m planning to revisit the original stimulus for The Stars in the Night \u2013 the story of my grandparents\u2019 immigration to Australia. I want them (or their fictional representatives) to meet up with the characters that their lives inspired. I feel quite grounded in that era. And strangely enough, dystopia doesn\u2019t feel that far from the Great War\u2026<\/p>\n

What advice would you give to an aspiring author?<\/h3>\n

Three tips:
\n1. Treat writing like learning a second language, because telling a story in written words is very different from using spoken words.
\n2. Read as widely as you can so you can see what works in different genres and settings and think about why.
\n3. Then write as often as you can, before the story idea disappears.<\/p>\n

\"Clare
Clare Rhoden author of The Stars in the Night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Author Biography<\/h3>\n

Clare Rhoden is a writer, blogger and book reviewer inspired by politics, culture and the march of history. The third novel of her dystopian sci-fi series The Chronicles of the Pale will be published this August. Her latest book is the WWI historical novel The Stars in the Night.
\nClare lives in Melbourne Australia with her husband and a golden spoodle called Aeryn.<\/p>\n

Clare\u2019s links
\nAll Clare\u2019s books: http:\/\/viewauthor.at\/clarerhodenbooks<\/a>
\nClare blogs about writing, books, and dogs at: https:\/\/clarerhoden.com\/<\/a>
\nInstagram: @clarerhodenauthor<\/a>
\nTwitter: @ClareER<\/a>
\nFacebook: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/clareelizabethrhoden\/<\/a>
\nPinterest: https:\/\/www.pinterest.com.au\/clareer55\/pins\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Related content<\/h3>\n

Ros Rendle<\/a> also writes fiction set in the First World War<\/p>\n

Des Burkinshaw: Dead and Talking Q&A<\/a><\/p>\n

Finding Rose by Julie Ryan<\/a><\/p>\n

First World War<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Causes of the First World War<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Battles of the First World War<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0First Battle of the Marne\u00a0<\/a>\u2013\u00a0The Gallipoli Campaign<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Battle of Verdun<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Battle of Jutland<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Brusilov Offensive<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Battle of the Somme<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Battle of Passchendaele<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0The Spring Offensive<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Battle of Amiens<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Victory on the Western Front?<\/a><\/p>\n

The Home Front<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Revision exercise<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Changing role of Women<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Propaganda<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Censorship<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Conscientious Objectors<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Rationing and Recruitment<\/a><\/p>\n

Personalities<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Douglas Haig and the Somme<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Charles Gass<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Billy Bishop<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Ludendorff<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0The Bradford Pals<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Black History and the First World War<\/a><\/p>\n

Technology and New Weapons<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 Trench Warfare<\/a> –\u00a0<\/strong>British Tanks<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Machine Guns<\/a><\/p>\n

Medicine in the First World War<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clare Rhoden is a writer, blogger and book reviewer inspired by politics, culture and the march of history. The third novel of her dystopian sci-fi series The Chronicles of the Pale will be published this August. Her latest book is the WWI historical novel The Stars in the Night. Clare lives in Melbourne Australia with… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8333],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-author-interviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t