All right, here we go again!
For those unaware, these posts are following my historical fiction novel Persona as I serialize it online for free. You can find Persona at its story blog or at its Wattpad address. Because it’s my first historical fiction, I’ve opted to post pieces of the research I’ve had to do for the book …
Hence, Fact vs. Fiction Chapter Six!
Fact: I have a massive orange and white male cat. He is very vocal and a great deal of fun and I opted to immortalize him in this novel because … well … I’m the author and I can.
However, his name is not Grendel. In fact, a friend of a friend had a cat name Grendel once and I just loved the name so much that I opted to use it here.
Fiction: You’ll notice I had Megan keep the lights on all night. Given the war and all the bombings that were going on, that is very unlikely. It’s a small detail, I know, and I’ll probably change it during the next round of edits.
Fact: Cat box vs. litter box. I researched and found that litter wasn’t exactly a thing back then. In fact, it wasn’t really invented until 1947 by a guy named Ed Lowe.
My Americanized view of pets is completely different from what was likely the norm. While I know pets have been around for quite some time, I’m sure if Grendel were a real cat living in a real country estate like this that he would most likely be comfortable outside.
In fact, he probably would have been in charge of catching rodents in and around the house. (My own cat would be in heaven. He goes nuts when he can take on a spider.)
But this poses the problem of Gunter, since we learn here in this chapter that he’s been coming out to VanBuren’s place to care for the pet. I’m sure this is a matter of my American culture and the way I was raised with pets, but I don’t think I’m going to change it.
Fiction: Herr Rahn’s reaction to Megan is highly fictional. In all likelihood, the SS (Schutzstaffel) would have tossed Megan into a camp very quickly, with or without the word of a high-ranking naval officer to aid her. I’ve implied that VanBuren’s wealth probably had something to do with the way she has been treated, but … yeah … it’s unlikely.
This is just one of those moments where I’m hanging a large “FICTION” sign on it. I hope readers can suspend their disbelief long enough for the story to progress.
AJMaguire 