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Historical Fiction or Sagas
Historical fiction or sagas can be a challenge to write, with plenty of research usually required. What pitfalls or pleasures await?
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A Writer's Guide to Finding Source Material - Part 2
Vashti Farrer
In Part 2 I look at informal sources and provide a bibliography. Informal sources I think of as letters, diaries and journals written by ordinary people, and other eye-witness accounts. Some of these have been printed as facsimiles - eg eye-witness accounts of the gold-diggings. Old paintings, prints, and photos if available are also useful. Look for the detail, such as clothing, buildings, businesses. . . . keep reading
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A Writer's Guide to Finding Source Material - Part 1
Vashti Farrer
In writing historical fiction you can either follow the Patrick O'Brian (author of 20 novels including Master and Commander) school and pack in huge amounts of detail, whether it is relevant or not to the plot, or follow the broad brush canvas method and supply only the bare minimum of facts. There are readers who like both approaches, and personally I tend to fall somewhere in the middle. . . . keep reading
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Researching and Writing The Janna Mysteries
a medieval crime series for teenagers.
Felicity Pulman
I am not a historian; I have no formal training - so writing the Shalott trilogy was a huge learning curve for me, especially when, in the 3rd novel, Shalott: The Final Journey, I brought my central character from the parallel reality of Camelot into 'real' medieval time. I could no longer excuse any mistakes with an airy, 'Well, this is based on fantasy and legend, it's not set in real time...' . . . keep reading
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Getting Serious about Series
Felicity Pulman
There's no doubt in the world that series have always been popular with children. Here's a tip for new writers: look around for publishers of series who accept mss from a variety of authors. Read the series, check the publisher's requirements and see if you can write something that 'fits'. BUT... give enough thought to what your series is about, and how it will end. I wish someone had told me that before I wrote the Shalott trilogy, which was really a lesson in how NOT to write a series! Read more... . . . keep reading
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What's All This Research Stuff?
Steve Martin
In her article, 'Getting Hysterical About Historicals', Vashi Farrer spoke of the need to be accurate when writing historical fiction. Accuracy requires research. What is research? how do we go about it? What do we do with it when we get it… and how much is enough? . . . keep reading
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THE SHALOTT TRILOGY -
Turning History and Legend into Fiction for Teenagers
Felicity Pulman
The idea for the Shalott novels came to me from Tennyson's poem. It raised so many questions: who was the Lady of Shalott? Why was there a curse on her? Why, when she saw Sir Lancelot and left the tower, did she have to die? After that came the 'what if' questions that authors so often ask themselves, the first one being: what if it were possible to go back in time and change a legend (or history)? . . . keep reading
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Writing History That SellsGhost Boy and the Quarantine Station
Felicity Pulman
I have always been fascinated by the unknown in our world, and enjoy exploring the idea of knowledge travelling through time, time slip and parallel universes, reincarnation and ghosts. This all came together when I started asking myself: what if a ghost from the past could bring information into the future, information which helps to solve a family mystery? . . . keep reading
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Getting Hysterical About Historicals
Vashti Farrer
Every time you need to provide information, ask yourself - Does my reader need to know this? Chances are he won't and as a general rule: If in doubt, leave it out. Most of your research will probably end up on the cutting room floor, but none will it go to waste. If you steep yourself in the period it can't help but show itself by a process of osmosis. You won't, for instance, make anachronistic mistakes. You won't dress your 18th century heroine in a crinoline, or feed potatoes to your 10th century English peasants. . . . keep reading
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Historically Speaking
by Carol Harvey
So, you want to write an/a historical novel? Well, apart from a passion for history, you will need to do a lot of research -- very little of which you will actually use. Still interested? Good, a kindred spirit; read on! . . . keep reading
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Ann Harth
