Historical Fiction
The American West 1840-1895
Students writing historical fiction
An excellent activity involving students writing their own historical fiction
is outlined in
The American West 1840 – 1895, Dave Martin & Colin
Shephard, (John Murray, 1998).
What is good about this is the way in which the task is integral to the teaching program aimed at this GCSE depth study. The students are given a story recipe to follow and a detailed context in which to set it, that is the cow town of Abilene in 1871. The task serves as a summary task for a number of week's work. The accompanying teacher resource book gives an author's story from which the story recipe was taken. This raises the opportunity for teachers and students to explore the differing interpretations of the West that their stories represent.
Students are asked to study the artist’s illustration of Abilene to give them an idea of what the town was like. They read how the town developed and then discuss with a partner what the people in the town would be like and what they might do.
They are then given the following story recipe:
- The year is 1871. It is the last night of a cattle drive. The cattle are waiting outside the town. Your story can cover a period of no more than two days.
- Your story may have no more than three main characters. These can be real people such as Wild Bill Hickock and John Wesley Hardin, or they can be fictional. They can include some cowboys - a hotheaded drunken cowboy, a young heroic cowboy and a new inexperienced trail boss. You might also want to include a saloon girl or a homesteader’s wife.
- The events of your story can happen in only two places, Abilene and the campfire by the chuck wagon.
- Your story must include a storm.
- Your story should have a twist to it.
Don't forget that a good western is one that is exciting but believable. You need characters and a plot that your reader will find believable and a historical setting that is authentic.
Examples of students’ work
This extract is taken from the work of a Year 10 student of St John’s School, Episkopi, Cyprus. The class undertook some story writing as part of their work for the American West SHP history depth study. This particular student had previously written some historical fiction set in the Roman period.
This is a good example of effective scene setting through the clever use of:
historical detail: Cattle huddled together in a tight, crowded group against the fence of the huge pen.
strong verbs and adjectives: driven by the howling wind.
and an effective simile: the rain …cutting at their faces like a lashing whip, moreover a simile very in keeping with the context of the American West.
"Huge, dark, bubbling clouds unleashed their anger as they rumbled in the distance. They fired out bolts of lightning, growing fiercer as they came closer, moving faster, driven by the howling wind. Cattle huddled together in a tight, crowded group against the fence of the huge pen. When the storm reached the town of Abilene it seemed to halt its advance, hovering above the small town. The wind whipped up the sandy floor and the rain hurled down upon the wanderers who dared to venture outside, cutting at their faces like a lashing whip."
Students’ Openings
Year 10 students at St John’s School, Episkopi in Cyprus, wrote the following story openings. They used the Abilene story recipe and wrote their stories for homework. Their openings demonstrate that the activity can be fitted into the time constraints of a GCSE syllabus and point up the value of students writing historical fiction. All three writers are successful in quickly establishing setting. Thanks to John Mills for these examples.
What sort of story do you think each wrote?
'A case of mistaken identity'.
Town Marshall Baardsen was sitting at his desk in the town jail. He had
a cup of coffee in one hand and the Abilene Chronicle in the other. He had
his feet up and he was waiting for the deputy to turn up for the night so
that he could go home.
'Lone'
Tumbleweed softly rolled across the Kansas plains. Warm, silent winds blew
heads of wheat. Gently they swayed to and fro in the warm dry sunrise. A
stranger all dressed in denim and leather slowly rode his horse towards
the cowtown, Abilene. Slowly he dismounted his horse, brushed away the dust
from its silvery white mane and led it towards the campsite.
'The Cowboy, The Baddie, The Gal'.
"Yeehah!"
The dancing girls were driving the cowboys wild, but for one cowboy, Tex
Laramie, it was a long cold night.
It was cold by the chuck wagon so he edged closer to his small fire. He'd
just finished a long trail ride but had drawn the short straw and had to
stay and keep an eye on the cattle. Tex sat by his fire, his blue eyes staring
into the flickering flames, toying with his gun.
A loud crash brought him to his feet.
Other titles:
- The Game of Silence, Louise Erdrich (2006)
The story of an Ojibwe family in 1849 in the upper Midwest that will interest many readers
- The Ballad of Lucy Whipple, Karen Cushman (Macmillan, 1996)
Lucy is growing up in the California of the Gold Rush and hating it. She wants to get back to the comforts of her old life in the east, or thinks she does. It gives a good feel for those times. - Facing West: A Story of the Oregon Trail, Kathleen
V. Kudlinski (1994)
Ben wonders if he will have more trouble with hardships on the Oregon Trail or with his asthma. - Apache, Tanya Landman (2008)
The 14 year old heroine is transformed, by a series of bloody events, into a warrior seeking revenge. Set on the mexican border in the 1800s. - Goodbye Buffalo Sky, John Loveday (Bloomsbury,1996)
An account, told in two voices, of a girl and boy growing up on the frontier at a time of peaceful but uneasy relations between settlers and Plains Indians. A thought-provoking tale. - Save Queen of Sheba, Louise Moeri (1981)
After miraculously surviving a Sioux Indian raid on the trail to Oregon, a boy and his little sister set out with few provisions to find the rest of the travellers. - Clouds of Terror, Catherine A Welch
A fictional account of the 1870s invasion by Rocky Mountain locusts of a Swedish American family's farm in Minnesota. - Mr Tucket, Gary Paulsen (1996)
A traditional western. Francis Tucket is travelling on the Oregon Trail when he is captured by the Pawnee, then rescued by a 'mountain man'. He grows to realise that a life as a farmer is what is best for him and journeys on to the Willamette valley. - Marching to Valhalla, Michael Blake (1996)
The story of Custer's life in the form of a fictional journal. This offers an interesting perspective on the man and his actions culminating in his final entry at 8am on June 25th 1876. This might have potential for higher attaining students. - The Englishman's Boy, Guy Vanderhaeghe (1997)
For the teacher a superb book which explores the nature of history and the relationship between the historic west and its portrayal by Hollywood, between fact and fiction. Twin narratives of events in 1873 and in the early years of the film industry in 1923.
More adult fiction
To give your students further ideas of what a Western town looks like, you might choose to look at these photographs of a reconstruction, built by filmmakers in the Almeria Desert in Spain.