Yes, the reader of your historical romance may not know that there was a law, and it may never come out that there was one. But they are sure to know that a teacher (which was the domicile of conservatives back in those days) would have been expected to quit after marriage.

In addition to the legal battle mentioned by Randy, think about the character battles it creates. Mother giving daughter unwanted advice. Love interest feeling scorned by her commitment to teaching. Not to mention the school may not want to support her out of fear that it’s reputation will be besmirched. After all, it’s certainly not that type of school;).

It can also help you add depth to your characters. How your characters interact based on her actions says something about their values and beliefs. If your story is character-driven don’t pass up this valuable opportunity to explore their psyche, surroundings and how they interact with it.

To have a marriage with a woman teacher existing in the 1920s-50s time period without any recognition of the fact that no such marriages were permitted to exist is a disaster waiting to happen. The initial violation might seem negligible, but imagine if your novel began to gain some popularity, and then someone called you on your facts? It could potentially ruin your career.

I’m not afraid to admit that historical fiction is way too difficult for me at this point in my life. I’m definitely historically “challenged.” I’d rather stick with writing based in the future: Science Fiction & Fantasy. Of course, that category has its own research requirements, and they can be quite hefty as well.

This blog is great and I expect to visit here fairly regularly once I get over a bit of a life hurdle I’m involved with. I offer a big thanks to Randy and anyone who raises valuable questions like Micky’s. I’d imagine that adherence to the perhaps unspoken “rules” of writing is one of the biggest chores of a writer.

And I really hope paper books don’t become extinct. I read them every night to fall asleep and don’t think it would be the same having to lay down and hold up an electronic device. Besides, a good old-fashioned book is something you know you can always turn to last minute - in a power outtage, doesn’t need any batteries, cheap, etc. And I spend all day at work on the computer (not to mention usually a bit in the evenings catching up on e-mails and Facebook), so when I lie down for a good read the LAST thing I want in front of my face is another glowing screen!!! >_

Some of us may not admit that we learn stuff from novels. Speaking for all fiction fans, honest and not, I beg you to give us true facts, because we believe whatever you tell us! We want to learn something we didn’t know! And we’ll never buy your books again if you make us look like idiots when we argue about 17th century exploding pirate ships!

There are other situations in which absolute adherence to the truth is necessary. I’ll pull a couple of examples from personal life.

My husband is a railfan. He and the people like him know everything there is to know about the trains in which they are interested, whether it’s modern day diesels or old-time steam locomotives.

The best way to alienate them is to mispresent any part of the life or history surrounding the railroad. Getting anything wrong in such a story makes the entire story irrelevant to them. You may have a good story and it may appeal to a lot of people, but get one thing wrong and you’ve lost your railfans.

I paint horse paintings for fun and profit. I know if I get one detail wrong in a painting, I’ll hear about it from people who know that part of the equestrian world. Someome once told me the type of carriage a horse was pulling based on the way I’d drawn the harness. The carriage didn’t show in the painting and I couldn’t disagree because I don’t know the carriage world that well.

As a reader, I know when something is either miswritten or mispresented if it has anything to do with a field in which I have personal experience and expertise. I’m left wondering just how much the author got wrong about other details if they got anything at all wrong.

Granted, those sorts of things happen more often in fields of special interest, but authors need to be aware that if they choose to write about a field of special interest, people who know that field inside and out will be likely to read the resulting story. If you don’t want to lose credibility, pay attention to those details.

As Randy pointed out, the same holds true for certain genres within the world of publication. People who read historical fiction, for example, usually know more about the history involved than most people. That’s why they read historical fiction.

It’s a lot better to pay attention to those sorts of details and/or to make them work for you, than it is to regain whatever you credibility you lose with readers for fudging or openly disregarding the details of the era.

Carrie

Just because a rule seems obscure to one person, doesn’t mean it isn’t common knowledge. I also agree including the rule as part of the story conflict is going to make the story much more interesting.

Alaska in the 1920s was probably not the easiest place to find teachers. That’s my take from over here in Australia as someone who has teacher friends (a married couple) who spent a few years in the town of Old Crow in the Yukon (within yelling distance of Alaska). That was in the 1970s.

I can quite easily imagine a local school which pays lip service to the rule, yet bands together to keep their teachers in practice.

Change has to start somewhere. So why not here?
Change starts with people. Why not these people?

Confronting things head on is always a place of conflict, and is often a ‘romantic’ course of action, in the sense that adventure is romantic.

Hiding the marriage might not work for the author/story/character. But it does not necessarily have to be hidden, that’s my point.