When she was a little girl, IU alumna Aimie Runyan would read the popular teen drama “Sweet Valley High” book series. She said it was her first real experience with escape literature and led to her interest in historical fiction, a genre she believes is just as transporting as science fiction and fantasy.
“I love being transported.” Runyan said. “I love learning about different time periods and histories. It’s what I love the most.”
More than three decades after the first “Sweet Valley High” book printed, Runyan now has two historical novels published. She spoke to a group of students and faculty about her career and research on French history Monday.
She discussed the filles du roi, which translates to “the king’s daughters,” a group of approximately 800 French women who were forced by King Louis XIV to travel to New France in the 17th century in order to increase the country’s population.
In order to accomplish this increase, Runyan said the women were expected to bear several children after the move. The strategy was so successful that about two-thirds of modern French-Canadians can trace their history to the filles du roi, Runyan said.
Distinguished women who are claimed descendants of these women include Angelina Jolie and Hillary Clinton, according to a recent report from CBC News.
IU junior Colleen Couch said she was influenced by the story of the filles du roi.
“I think there is something inspiring about them picking up their lives and changing them and all the flexibility that incurs with that,” Couch said.
The filles du roi are the subject matter for both of Runyan’s works. She said it was a topic she learned about in one of her lectures during her time as a graduate student at IU.
Inspired, Runyan said she decided to write a short story about the filles du roi for her creative writing class at IU. After transferring to the University of North Texas, she began expanding the story.
“It read like the first chapter of a story, so I kept writing,” Runyan said.
For her thesis as a master’s student at North Texas, Runyan said she asked her teacher if she could write a novel based on her short story on the filles du roi, a request that was denied. Instead, she decided to base her thesis entirely on the filles du roi.
Very little research has been done on this topic, so she frequently traveled to and from Québec, Canada, to gather as many documents and books as she could about the women, Runyan said. Eventually, Runyan had to begin spending more time on writing the thesis instead of just learning about its topic.
“At some point, you have to stop researching and start writing,” Runyan said.
Runyan said she believes this advice applies to historical fiction writers just as much as informative writers. For fiction writing, she said writers should be more concerned about plot and characters than facts and figures.
After completing her thesis, Runyan eventually returned to fiction writing. The first two books of her “Daughters of New France” series, “Promised to the Crown” and “Duty to the Crown,” were published this year. Both of these books delve into the lives of the filles du roi. Along with that, she said she believes writers of historical fiction should explore the five senses of the characters from the period in which the story is set. She said this can be done through going to museums and historical locations and studying the food, clothing and environment of this period.
“When you go to a museum or a culture center, you will get a wealth of information,” Runyan said. “I cannot emphasize enough to you to take advantage of that.”
Runyan said it was important for writers to find their own motivation to begin writing as a career as opposed to influence from others.
“No one is going to go around and call you a writer,” Runyan said. “So you need to give yourself that permission.”
