Crafting Her Story

Kate’s journey in crafting Maid of Steel was one deeply rooted in historical research and character-driven storytelling. As an author with a keen interest in blending fact with fiction, she set out to develop a compelling female lead who could resonate with modern readers while staying true to the challenges of the early 20th century.

Her protagonist, Emma, is a quiet yet determined young woman navigating the fight for equality in 1911 and 1912—a time of great social and political upheaval. Inspired by real historical events, such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and the suffrage movement, Kate ensured that every element of her story was meticulously researched. She travelled to Ireland, studied the suffragette movement, and immersed herself in the history of the period to bring authenticity to her novel.

Through this case study, Kate Baker reflects on the process of shaping strong female leads in historical fiction, the balance between research and creative storytelling, and the challenges of making characters both historically accurate and relatable to contemporary readers.

On Character Development

Emma, the main character in Maid of Steel, achieves her goals with a quiet demeanour (apart from during that suffrage march where she is imprisoned!). Certainly, the challenges she would have faced in 1911 and 1912 meant she was fighting for a voice, equality, and suffrage. Research taught me she’d have been inspired by her English counterparts. While the women of New York were, of course, a force to be reckoned with, the Pankhursts in England were leading the way when it came to action over words.

For two years I researched aspects that made up the plot to ensure authenticity. I returned to Ireland for a second weekend of research following the 50th birthday trip in May 2019 when the idea first came to me.

Ensuring Emma remained relatable to the modern reader was straightforward each time I remembered a great piece of advice from a past writing mentor: whether a human is alive in contemporary times, the 1980s, the 1840s, or the 1500s, their emotions and reactions to things that affect their lives will be the same. We’ve fallen in love for centuries. We’ve known hate, fear, and excitement since medieval times. What’s changed is perhaps how we verbalise those emotions. I elected to give Emma a very similar dialogue to what a woman living today would use.

My opening two chapters were very much inspired by a tragic event that took place on 25 March 1911 in New York. At the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, a fire on the eighth and ninth floors of the factory killed over 140 of the workers—mostly women—because the doors were locked to keep them on the shop floor. This was common practice in those days, and the tragedy led to a huge rise of workers fighting for better rights. This, for me, linked perfectly to the suffrage theme of the book.

Supporting characters are fun to write, but in the first big rewrite, three were removed from the story! This was because I was given the invaluable advice to “go deeper, not wider.” In other words, don’t have too many surface characters, but instead, dig deeper into fewer lives that go on to carry the story you’re aiming to tell.

Emma’s love interest, Thomas, was the perfect character for me to give men a voice who are, shall we say, under the thumb. I often say during author talks that I dislike bossy men, but bossy women I dislike a hundred times more. Giving Thomas this role at the beginning of the story enabled me to develop his character with a backstory I was keen for him to share.

The third main character in the novel is Thomas’ wife, stage-actress Alice. She desperately wants to be a black-and-white movie star and has zero interest in the fight for equality. She was fun to write and a great contrast to quiet Emma.

Blending History and Fiction

My story is hugely influenced by real events over the fourteen months the novel is set—March 1911 to April 1912. A few examples: the factory fire, the first recorded Northern Hemisphere heatwave in June 1911, and Titanic’s maiden voyage. These events gave me the “shape” of the novel, and the hard work came in ensuring the developing relationships between the characters hit the right notes at the right time in the calendar! If the setting and timeline of a novel are totally fictional, then it doesn’t matter who does what and when, but in Maid of Steel, I had to ensure certain details were correct. For example, meetings happen in the story in Cork and the southern harbour of Cobh—or Queenstown, as it was then known—about a huge new ocean liner docking in April, so the astute reader may deduce Titanic is about to make an appearance. For readers who don’t see the clues until the chapter when she is named and due to sail, the stakes are raised, and the book—so I’ve been told on numerous occasions—becomes even more page-turn-worthy!

Keeping the characters’ actions realistic for them is, I think, the key. We don’t want the reader to pause and begin to analyse the fact I’ve woven fiction through a historical event. What we all aim for is to achieve a narrative that the reader simply is compelled to follow, without question. They shouldn’t notice the storytelling, the style it’s told in, or the author’s voice or thoughts. They should—hopefully—be swept along on the story, believing in the characters they began to care about on page one!

Some of my research was online, but much of it was from reading books I bought about Ireland and the history of the Cork area. I also bought books on the suffrage movement. I visited Cork museums and St. Colman’s Cathedral twice (and then a third time in March 2023 after publication so I could gift copies to people who had helped me with the research). The book took four years from idea to publication, although because I work full time, there were months sometimes when I wasn’t typing. But I was never not thinking about it!

Writing Process

The most rewarding aspect of writing this historical novel was my newfound interest in history, as I’d been bored by the subject at school. Once I decided I had a premise with legs and began to collect research materials, I loved discovering how people lived and fought for the things we now take for granted.

If there is no emotional journey taken by characters in a novel, I wouldn’t expect a reader to engage with the book. A novel with no character development is simply a list of plot points. The backdrop of real events in 1911 and 1912 gave me huge scope for Emma, Thomas, and Alice to put their hearts on the page. All I had to do was ensure the right words went in the right order!