I have written at length about the nuances and special needs involved in writing historical fiction, crime or otherwise. An awareness of slang and other word usage as well as daily living are all practical matters. Eliminating computers and modern technology can be seen either as limiting or freeing, depending upon the writer’s personal perspective.

               In the end, you hope the final result transports the reader back to a time they either are unfamiliar with or, in the case of an elderly reader, reminiscences of things past. The bottom line is telling a good story.

               I have lived in Wichita, KS since 1995. Much has changed just in the past twenty-nine years. What has been built and what has been demolished. The look and feel of things, whether in downtown or the surrounding areas. I can imagine someone at the time I arrived looking backwards to 1966 and feeling pangs of nostalgia as well. It is unavoidable. Whatever we can remember of the past both haunts us and amazes us as we look around where we stand on this day.

               But I have chosen a different course while writing a new crime fiction series, The Wichita Chronicles. Taking place in 1946, we experience the city just after the end of World War II. There had been a great influx of workers to support the aircraft industry which was important during the war. Many of those workers remained.

               As I continued my research in order to craft as realistic a setting as possible, I became enamored of the lifestyle of the time period as it related to the city in which I live. My main character’s apartment still stands in as ostensibly a similar fashion as it had in that day. I lived in that part of town until recently and would smile as I drove by, yes, hoping to catch a glimpse of a fictional character.

               The Orpheum Theater, built in 1922, has been undergoing restoration for a number of years now. Both inside and out it has the ambience of a bygone era. However, the old King’s X diner across the street is long gone.

               I realize many people have a problem imagining or even considering life of any kind before they were born. Well, your parents lived before you as their parents before them. Grocery shopping, dining, entertainment all existed in one form or another. It just wasn’t what you are used to currently.

               In continuing these efforts of writing historical fiction, I make no judgment of how people lived and worked and laughed and loved. They survived and records of their existence are to be found. Additionally, I have absolutely no idea at all if I would be able to survive in another decade. Perhaps, it is incorrect to imagine things in that fashion. I have become who I am because of the time in which I was born and the experiences I have had during various decades of my own.

               What I continue to do is paint a picture of a time and make it as real as I can. Then the characters I have created can live and breath and talk and fight as they would under those “normal” circumstances. This is the confluence of history and fiction.

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In forthcoming weeks, I will be presenting a “travelogue” showing photos of Wichita, KS years ago with contemporary photos to see the changes. I hope you will enjoy that short video, currently scheduled for release in November.

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The End of the Treachery, Volume 2 of The Wichita Chronicles, will be released December 9, 2024