When I was writing Lionwood, I worked hard to capture The Lion’s words authentically. The 1790s were a different time, with spoken language a distinct beast and written language an entirely different species. It was a constant balancing act—back and forth. I don’t know if I got it right, but it was a labor of love.

Fortunately, there was no shortage of historical arguments from the time, providing colorful and readily available language, much of it still in print. Some of the articles that helped teach me the patterns and nuances of language usage were the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers.

Here’s an excerpt from Anti-Federalist No. 1 that I hold near and dear to my heart:

“At length the luminary of intelligence begins to beam its effulgent rays upon this important production; the deceptive mists cast before the eyes of the people by the delusive machinations of its interested advocates begins to dissipate.”

It’s a long way to say, “People are finally catching on to the lies!” One of the things I find striking is how many words they took to say anything! I’ll stop short of saying English has dumbed down since then, but I will say it has become much more efficient.

They took more time back then, and I think it’s because they had fewer things taking their time. They didn’t have the many forms of communication we do today, nor the firehose of data coming in from all around the globe. Today, with one flick of my thumb, I can get news from Barbados to the Barbary Coast, from LA to Lebanon, and that’s without trying. A few swipes up, and the world is at my fingertips.

It saddens me to admit that as much as I love the way they spoke back then, it simply wouldn’t carry the information density of today’s expectations. It’s wild to think that someone might only read one or two newspaper articles in a day, spending the rest of the time working or speaking to family, many of whom would sleep in single-bedroom homes.

I try hard not to lament the passage of time, despite its many regrettable vicissitudes, and instead point my eyes toward what we have now rather than dwell on what’s been lost. Still, I felt immense gratitude when my full pantser writing style led me to a place where I needed a deep and rich understanding of 17th- and 18th-century written and spoken language. That opportunity had never come up before in all my drafts and projects.

I’ll admit, it was almost spiritual to return to our collective heritage and revel in the majesty of the old tongue.

How about you? Is there an old piece you love? An old book perhaps? Or an old writer’s beef that saw two scholars verbally jousting? I’d love to hear form you!