I have a confession. Hang on to your hat because it’s a doozy. Ready?

I have never seen Titanic.

It’s true. I may be the only person on planet Earth never to succumb to the watery romance. I can’t even tell you why. I’m not disinterested in the story. I’ve been to the Titanic Museum in Belfast (Five stars), and I’ve seen A Night to Remember. But Titanic… no.

When I was a young adult, disaster stories were all the rage. We had Airport, then Airplane, more Airplane, more volcano and earthquake tales than you could shake an obsidian stick at. I saw most of them.

Then there are the stories based on terrible real life events, such as the deaths of JFK and Lincoln, Columbine, 9/11. I’m sure you could add dozens more to the list.

The obvious lesson to learn here is that people love a good traumatic event in their films and books.

While I don’t write disaster novels, I do use historical events as a backdrop. Some are woven into the plot, while others are more immediate in the story. For instance, one short story was based on The Theft of the Irish Crown Jewels (published in ‘No Holidays for Sherlock Holmes’ edited by Richard T Ryan (2024) by Belanger Books)

If writing a story based on a real-life event is something that intrigues you, what should you know?

Don’t be obvious

The events I mentioned already have been covered extensively. While I don’t believe we’ve hit saturation point with the Titanic (insert groan here), most ideas have been done already. Unless you have a really interesting and unique approach, you might consider one of the other shipwrecks in history. The Lusitania, for instance. Or try to find an historical event that contains a lot of drama, but hasn’t really been covered yet. It helps if the topic is one you already know a great deal about. It will make the writing all the more enjoyable for you.

Research meticulously

I don’t just mean all the big important facts, the dates, the names, the locations, and so forth; don’t forget the minutia. Things like how names are spelled: is it Smith or Smyth? Johnson or Johnstone? What products would have been available at that time. Don’t have a character in the 1960s using a mobile phone, or a Victorian era woman using a tissue. Did the Titanic send out an SOS for help? Are you sure? (Yes, but the radio operator first used the old CQ signal which the SOS was replacing). Fill notebooks or computer files with everything you’ve learned. It doesn’t matter if you never use it. It will still give a feeling of authenticity to your work.

Where does the disaster fit?

Give thought to how much of the story hinges on the disaster. Is it front and centre as it is in the blockbuster disaster films? Or does it serve mostly as a background. It helps to decide this up front, otherwise you’re apt to get sidetracked one way or the other.

Don’t write the disaster elements separate from the love story or whatever you have planned for the purely fiction part. They need to be woven together. Even if the disaster element is very much in the background, it still needs to cast an eerie glow over the rest of the tale. For instance, if you are writing about a man trying to get a job you could have him daydreaming about getting employed by the White Star Line, or being offered a job on the Titanic. His fascination with the ship allows you to incorporate plenty of facts into the tale. That said, it would be hard to pull off this particular tale without it sounding cheesy, but I offer it for example purposes only.

Sort the fiction from the fact

If your story is science fiction, you might get away with changing some historical events under the rationale that it’s an alternate time-line, otherwise keep to the facts. You can weave your historical story through the narrative as you focus on your fictional characters. However, be very careful about replacing actual historical figures with your own creations. Disasters, be they natural or man-made, tend to have passionate followers. If you substitute a fictional character for a real-life person, those follower will notice and won’t be happy.

The rules of fiction still apply

It’s all too easy to lose sight of the rest of the story while you’re learning all those titillating details about your chosen historical event. However, the usual rules of characterisation and structure apply. A disaster, whether it’s natural or man-made, doesn’t replace well crafted fiction. In fact, I suspect that one of the things that brought an end to the disaster movie trend was the lamentably poor characterisation many of them had. Don’t fall into that trap.

Beware the exposition gremlins

Once you have decided to incorporate true events into your tale, you will have to find a way to weave all those details into the narrative without getting bogged down in exposition. That’s not easy to do. Incorporate the facts in small nuggets. Perhaps present a character who is an expert on earthquakes, the Lincoln assassination, or whatever your event may be, but even then, tread carefully.

Go fiction all the way

Finally, if you really want to write a disaster novel, you can always create your own event, whether it’s a volcano, earthquake, plane crash, or the assassination of an important (fictional) figure. This allows you more freedom in how the events occur and give you full control over not just the whole narrative, but the ending in particular. We all know how the Titanic ended, but your fictional ship might survive. Or not. It’s for you to say.

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