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Getting The Research Right For Your Historical Novel, by Douglas W Jacobson
As the old saying goes, “The devil is in the detail.” One of the reasons I have always loved historical fiction is that it is a truly marvelous way to learn a bit of history. Some authors of...
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Getting A Good Webmaster For Your Author Website, by Anthony Riches
Every author needs their own website. That’s obvious enough to even the newest hand at the game. When a reader discovers either the delights of your imaginary world or the insights you have to offer...
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Keep Writing: Advice For Aspiring Novelists, by Stephanie Cowell
I pretty much sold my first novel to a major publisher at a church supper. Well, there’s a lot more to the story than that, but that was the door through which my novel found its way in bookstores...
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Why I Write Novels Set In The Early 20th Century United States, by DE Johnson
The United States came into its own at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Most of the country’s traits today, for good and for bad, have their roots in this time period. I...
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Using Your Own Experiences And Interests In Your Historical Fiction, by Gary...
Were people really so different, say three hundred years ago? The answer is, “No.” Also, “Yes.” It all depends. Naturally there are differences such as in what people ate and drank; how often they...
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Writing Historical Novels To Be Published, by Paul Dowswell
If it’s your ambition to be published then it pays to have a hard-edged think about your subject. What’s worth asking, even before “Why would anyone want to read my book?”, is “Why would anyone want...
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Writing My Novel Set In 16th Century Venice, by Michael White
After five novels with twin plots (present and historical), I’m currently working on my very first novel set entirely in the past. The novel is provisionally titled The Venetian Detective. It is set in...
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On Language In Historical Novels, by Judith Cutler
Sir Walter Elliot, of Kellynch Hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up any book than the Baronetage; there he found occupation for an idle hour, and consolation in...
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Writing Historical Novels Which Have Contemporary Relevance, by Jane Kirkpatrick
One of the things I like best about writing historical novels is creating a new historical experience for readers that also has relevance for today’s world. I love discovering something they might...
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Writing A Novel About Real People In Mughal India, by Timeri Murari
In my previous articles I discussed how my wife’s curiosity on a trip to see the Taj Mahal prompted me to research the palace and the Mughal era in which it was built. So why not turn my notes into a...
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Engaging Readers Of Your Children’s Historical Novels, by Kathleen Benner Duble
Let’s say you’ve written a great historical novel for kids, you’ve edited the manuscript, sent it off to a publisher, received an offer for publication and the book is about to go to print. But don’t...
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Month In Review with Steve Rossiter (March 2013)
Writing Historical Novels has reached the end of its third month of articles, from this year’s diverse line-up of historical novelists from the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada,...
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Research To Write A Historical Novel: Written Accounts, by Adrian Goldsworthy
How you go about researching your novel obviously depends very much on its subject and style. If the setting is the recent past, then material should be plentiful – you may even be able to meet and...
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Conveying A Sense Of Time And Place In Your Historical Novels, by Anne Perry
I think there are two main strands in creating a sense of ‘being there’ in a historical novel. One is the research so that you do not get anything wrong, dealing with the specific places where your...
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A Day In My Life As A Historical Novelist, by Ben Kane
I chose this topic of a day in the life of a writer because I thought it might provide an interesting insight into how I write my books, and also provide a platform for readers of this blog to share...
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Using Historical Details In Context To Help Readers Understand The Past, by...
The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there. - L. P. Hartley, a British novelist For a writer of historical fiction this is a sentence worth remembering. They – the people who...
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Writing Historical Novels With A Sense Of Time And Place, by Emma Darwin
Margaret Atwood’s definition of historical fiction is one which is useful for thinking about writing it (as opposed to selling it): ‘fiction set in a time before the writer came to consciousness.’...
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How Fictional Can Historical Novels Get? by William Dietrich
Novelists make things up. This is not too shocking unless the novelist is writing historical fiction. Then there are reader expectations of fidelity to fact, and you have to decide what kind of...
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Setting Historical Novels In The Time Of My Childhood, by Lesley Kagen (guest...
When my first novel, Whistling in the Dark, was released, I was fortunate enough to receive an invitation to launch the book at a neighborhood independent bookstore. I spoke at the launch for an hour...
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Setting and Characters In My Historical Novels, by Julian Stockwin
What comes first; characters or setting? It’s the chicken and the egg question. I don’t think it matters whether characters or setting comes first. You can have a great main character idea then put...
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