How True Should Historical Fiction Be? (Article)

readmikenow

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Would you say that Irving Stone's "The Agony and the Ecstasy" is a good use of fiction in a historical setting? How about Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood," which he deemed a "Non-Fiction Novel."
 

Madame de Plume

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But novelists are not history teachers.
I think this pretty much sums it all up. As historical novelists, I think we have a responsibility to remain true to history, but not necessarily accurate. Poetic license is to be expected fiction, but the degree with which you extend that license can also depend on the type of historical novel that you're writing.

I know authors writing in Alternate History or Historical Fantasy have a greater pliability with their historical facts than say, Hilary Mantel or Philippa Gregory.

I also think there is more scrutiny when your characters are actual historical figures (especially well-known ones) rather than characters you simply make up and place in a certain historical time period.

I know for my current WIP, Napoleon Bonarparte is one of my main characters and I treat him much more delicately than I do my other non-historical figures. I'm not teaching the history of Napoleon, but I do want to remain as true to his character as I possibly can.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are so many more factors to consider in a historical novel that just the fact that it is a historical novel.
 

Ian Nathaniel Cohen

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David Stewart once said "There’s a saying in historical fiction: You can make a lot of stuff up, but Lincoln has to be tall."

Personally, I find established history (or perhaps I should say historiographies) to be very interesting, and that's reason enough for me to be as accurate as possible. Part of the fun of historical adventure fiction is putting something together based on the right combination of historical events and cultural shifts happening at the same time, if that makes sense.

For my main character in my only completed manuscript, history cooperated with me so beautifully when I was developing his backstory. When coming up with his naval career background, I put him in the middle of real battles on board real ships, not because I felt obligated to be accurate, but because the actual history was just too awesome not to use. A tiny, stray, insignificant detail about fencing schools in England combined with the state of the British economy at the time my book takes place ended up inspiring the main character's entire story arc. I couldn't have come up with a better chain of events myself if I'd tried.

So the more historically accurate I try to be, the more I find that I have to work with in terms of developing the plot and character motivations.

(And maybe there's a bit of "See? I did my research!" showing off at work also - something I've frequently had to tone down during my revisions.)
 
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snafu1056

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Agreed. Thats why I consider reasearch to be part of the creative process, not just a fact checking exercise. I'd rather let the historical reality of a time and place inspire the story and characters. Thats how you end up with something unique. If you craft a story based on your perception of that time and place, youre really just working from a roladex of cliches invented mostly by other writers.
 

Raula

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I have an idea for a novel project this summer, but it will require me to create a fictional lord with a fictional estate beside a fictional market town. Would I then be able to make this parish part of a larger factual county? And have the real king from the time with his real political problems? And use real social and cultural problems to inflict on my main character?

Thanks in advance for advice.
 

gothicangel

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I have an idea for a novel project this summer, but it will require me to create a fictional lord with a fictional estate beside a fictional market town. Would I then be able to make this parish part of a larger factual county? And have the real king from the time with his real political problems? And use real social and cultural problems to inflict on my main character?

Thanks in advance for advice.

I don't see any problem with it, it sounds a lot like what Ken Follett did in Pillars of the Earth.
 

W.J. Cherf

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Balancing along the knife's sharp edge

Perhaps it is just me, a former academic in ancient history and archaeology, but I find myself teaching through my books. Giving my audience the benefit of my training and life's long experience.

That said, I prefer to "embellish" where the historical and archaeological records are wanting. Those "embellishments" must be reasonable, plausible, to the reader. If they are not, then I have not correctly prepared the reader and I have failed as a writer of fiction.
 

Ian Nathaniel Cohen

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I have an idea for a novel project this summer, but it will require me to create a fictional lord with a fictional estate beside a fictional market town. Would I then be able to make this parish part of a larger factual county? And have the real king from the time with his real political problems? And use real social and cultural problems to inflict on my main character?

Thanks in advance for advice.

I don't see why not.
 

SpinningWheel

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I have an idea for a novel project this summer, but it will require me to create a fictional lord with a fictional estate beside a fictional market town. Would I then be able to make this parish part of a larger factual county? And have the real king from the time with his real political problems? And use real social and cultural problems to inflict on my main character?

Thanks in advance for advice.

Yes, absolutely. It's what I did.
I will say, though, that depending on the period and how much research you do, you can still find yourself coming up against historical reality. You might have to squeeze in your town in a place where there was an actual town, and your lord might need to have held a position that was actually held by a real person. Good writing is specific but the more specific you get the more you clash with actual facts. It's historical fiction, though, so I don't think any of this is wrong.
I really admire H.M.Castor, whose novel about the young Henry VIII not only didn't make up any characters, it didn't make any OBJECT except for one (the toddler Henry's comfort blanket!) - everything she refers to is in an inventory somewhere! But that kind of approach is only possible where the sources are exceptionally rich, and is not for everybody.

I am a big believer in putting a historical note at the end, to make it clear exactly what you've made up.
 

ishtar'sgate

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I have an idea for a novel project this summer, but it will require me to create a fictional lord with a fictional estate beside a fictional market town. Would I then be able to make this parish part of a larger factual county? And have the real king from the time with his real political problems? And use real social and cultural problems to inflict on my main character?

Thanks in advance for advice.

Should be fine. My setting was fictional but still remained in England during the plague years with Edward III on the throne.
 

sportourer1

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Beware obsessive readers

I have one published and one almost finished novel set during the Napoleonic Wars. Those with an interest in this period can be utterly obsessive about their period so even fiction has to follow perceived historical facts but it is still fiction and has to be entertaining, it is not a textbook!
 

Elly_Green

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Just a note to say, "I love this thread!"

You all have added some incredible depth to the original post and, much to my eagerness, have answered some of my concerns as I'm beginning my first historical work. All without me asking - which, is even better since I wouldn't have thought to ask some of those questions.

Thank you!
 

djunamod

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I've just started writing historical fiction so I'm speaking from a total newbie. The article was very interesting and there are some good points. I guess a lot depends on how you're using history in historical fiction. There is a big difference to me between writing a novel that is based on a true historical event or includes real historical people and writing a novel that takes place in a historical time period but the story, characters, and even places are fictional. I think I can see how it's much more important to be accurate when you're writing the former. As for the latter, getting the feeling of the time period is important and so are small details but maybe a gaffe or two might be overlooked by the reader IF the story and characters are engaging enough.

For me, I know that giving the feeling of the time period does a lot for me. For example, I read a sample of a novel set in the 1920's (can't recall the writer) and from the first page I was totally turned off because the characters sounded like they were speaking today, using swear words and language that you would hear today (I'm not saying they didn't swear in the 1920's, but the slang used seemed too modern to me). In contrast, I was reading a historical mystery set in the late 19th century in San Francisco and I was quite impressed by how the writer nailed the feeling of the time, including the language, word choices, and situations (and I've studied and read a lot of fiction written in the late 19th century - this novel could have been written during that time). I was also impressed by how the writer was able to give a sense of San Francisco without sounding like a travelogue (I lived in SF for a time, so I'm familiar with the city). The writer may or may not have had some historical gaffe's in the details but I liked the story and characters and felt the ambiance of the time in her writing that I didn't bother to check.

I know others feel differently but that's my take on it.

Djuna
 

djunamod

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This is a historical novelist's bread and butter - finding gaps in the historical record to exploit and fill, as Ishtar'sgate said. It just happens that some periods and events have more gaps than others, allowing the author more scope to get creative :)

For some historical novelists, this is true, but I wouldn't say that all historical novelists do this. The novels that I write are not about trying to exploit a gap in the historical records or finding a historical event or character that hasn't been tackled in writing yet. They're about using the complexity and fascination of a specific historical time with the social and psychological ambiance of the time to create a story. For example, One of my novels is about a young woman who is sent to a small seaside town by her ambitious middle-class mother to find a rich husband but she ends up getting involved in social reforms such as women's suffrage and better conditions for factory workers. The novel is set in the 1890's Northern California. I don't plan on tackling specific events (like specific riots or events happening at specific factories during that time) but tackling these things on a smaller scale (that is, in a small location that is completely fictitious) because the story is more about this young woman's coming of age.

Djuna
 

gothicangel

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I have to say, I've been having some great fun with my WIP. I read a lot of the Bar-Kokhba letters, and Yadin's work and found some great little bits of information. One of my favourites is the name Aelianos (Greek version of Aelianus) kept cropping up in the letters, as someone who was Greek but co-operating with Koshiba (financial gain?) So, I've built a Greek called Aelianus into a major role in the plot. :)

I had a fantastic moment last week. I have a novel I trunked about three years ago about the collapse of the Antonine Wall, in which I made an hypothetical guess that you could cross the Wall at Rough Castle (near Falkirk.) Last week, I was watching a programme called The Quest for Bannockburn, and the were looking to find the Stirling section of Roman Road/Dere Street (that Edward II's army used.) It turns out that the road crossed through Rough Castle. How chuffed am I?
 

cooeedownunder

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I'm a lover of stories.

Although I don't mind reading history books, I prefer to read fiction.

I'm of the thought that the story is what is most important and history within the story should be unatrusive to the fiction.
 

CathleenT

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This is an excellent thread with some important points. Would you mind terribly if I shifted it to ask some specifics on historical accuracy?

In one of my books, where I set Snow White in Civil war California, I have the mother dismiss a maid because she's 'in a family way.' As far as I can tell, this was THE euphemism for pregnancy in upper class Victorian society. But my beta readers aren't getting it, and they want me to switch it.

They're mostly fantasy readers, not HF, and I really don't want to change it if I don't have to. It's only a clue that it's the father's doing, and I make it clear later, so if you miss it, it's no big deal. So what does everyone here think?
 

mayqueen

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Cathleen, is there a way you can hint more heavily or step out of close narration to give the reader more information? I think most readers would pick up on that euphemism, but it seems like maybe you might need to spell it out just a little more.


I'm deliberately using events out of order in my WIP. Gah! It started because the primary source I'm using tells the events out of order and it wasn't until I was researching something else that I found a completely random academic article clarifying the actual order. Now I'm afraid if I switch things around, it will disturb the emotional and narrative momentum I'm trying to build. It's just a minor reversal. Everything happened within the same six month period and telling the story out of order doesn't change the overall truth of the story. And probably only historians of this very specific, obscure time in history (I'm not writing like 16th/17th century England here) would notice. But it's still bugging me! I can't figure out how to make the actual timeline work without screwing up the character arc.

Is this a try to fix it situation or a just 'fess up in the historical note situation?
 

ishtar'sgate

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For some historical novelists, this is true, but I wouldn't say that all historical novelists do this. The novels that I write are not about trying to exploit a gap in the historical records or finding a historical event or character that hasn't been tackled in writing yet. They're about using the complexity and fascination of a specific historical time with the social and psychological ambiance of the time to create a story.

Oh, absolutely. I didn't set out looking for gaps to exploit, I looked at an era that fascinated me and simply found them while doing my research. Part of the fun for me in my current WIP is writing a plausible take on those points where historians disagree or simply don't have complete information. The story is not focused on the gaps, it only makes use of them as part of the texture that hopefully makes my tale unique.