Writing Historical Fiction

A few weeks ago, I received a copy of Philippa Wiat’s  1983 novel about Katherine Grey, Five Gold Rings. The novel opens with a chapter showing Katherine’s older sister, Lady Jane Grey, being cajoled, whipped, and finally raped by a …

One of the biggest pitfalls which can befall the historical novelist is what has been called the  ”As you know, Bob” syndrome. This is where the writer, needing to give the reader some necessary information, has one character impart it …

I’m going out of town for a couple of days (work, not pleasure, but with pretty scenery, I hope). While I concentrate on lofty, airplane-encouraging thoughts, here’s a question for you: Do you like it when historical novelists include a …

There’s been an interesting discussion on Nan Hawthorne’s blog about historical accuracy in which the question of word usage has come up. Should writers of historical fiction try to “write forsoothly”? Or simply to avoid using any words that weren’t …

Over the past couple of days, a few posts have popped up dealing with the subject of historical accuracy in historical fiction, specifically with the question of how one should depict historical figures. Here, for instance, are posts by Nan …

1. If your hero is riddled with angst, it’ll be because someone is trying to overthrow him, not because he is having a mid-life crisis. 2. There is seldom a need to have one character say to another, “I’ll be …

Here’s an excerpt from an interesting article by Julie Bosman, “Loved His New Novel, and What a Bibliography,” in today’s New York Times about the practice of including bibligraphies in novels: “It’s terribly off-putting,” said James Wood, the literary critic …