Having a protagonist interact with a historical figure?

I think the trick is to make sure that your protagonist has a solid, compelling plot of her own. Make sure she has goals, a fully-fleshed personality, and faces meaningful opposition.

I'm querying a MS right now that has famous historical figures as walk-on/background characters. It's a mystery, so think of how Ariana Franklin used Henry II in her books. He shows up, but the real plot is about Adelia solving the mystery. I have another temporarily trunked MS that does a similar thing with walk-on/background characters and the main plot being about the fictional character solving a mystery.

Outside of that, my last MS is also temporarily trunked. I'm pretty sad about that because I personally love it, but the narrative style is a bit too old-school for today's market. It is a first person account of a fictional character following the rise of a real-life figure. I was afraid of the real-life figure's goals and problems overshadowing my fictional character, but I made sure that my fictional character had a compelling enough problem of his own and goals of his own so that it was truly his story -- it just also happened to tell the real-life character's story, too. It probably helped that the real-life character is a little-known person from a time that is poorly documented, so I can't imagine that the average historical fiction reader would read it thinking, oh shit, I know what happens to this guy, which is a problem that you'd face writing about Spartacus. Most people know how that ended for him.

So, anyway, I would say that the trick is to find previously published books that does what you want to do and study how those writers did it. For example, Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Tales tells both the story of the reign of Alfred the Great AND the life of the fictional Uthred (I think that's his name, anyway). Alfred doesn't take over Uthred's story because 1) Uthred is the narrator and has a strong voice and 2) Uthred has a clear goal and a compelling set of stakes. I'm sure there are other examples, but that's off the top of my head.

Sword&Shield said:

Thank you thank you so much.



I was going to ask if you had any recommendations as well.

You rock. I am sorry about your MS. I am sure if you love it, others out there would too.

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Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire is another you might want to check out.

It is from the POV of a Spartan helot that brushes up against King Leonidas, Dienekes, and Emperor Xerxes.

I think it comes down to making your MC’s story the focus. Which you’d be doing anyway. Pull in the real people and events as and when you need them for YOUR story.

Elizabeth George did a really good job in The Bronze Bow with her character during the time of Christ.
Johnny Tremaine takes place just pre-US Revolutionary war with actual historical characters.
Drums along the Mohawk by Walter D Edmonds is another example.

S&S -- I don't assume that historically significant people had very interesting lives. The king of castle may have just sat around all day eating chicken wings and barking orders. Historically important? Sure. Interesting/compelling? Not necessarily.

I don't think a fictional character should have much trouble "competing" with a historical figure for the reader's interest.

Sword&Shield said:

My hesitation is that- how do your make your protagonist and their story more compelling/interesting to follow than a well established historical figure? Do you come up with an even bigger plot? Do you try to get the reader attached to the protagonist before becoming involved? Do you keep this well-known figure in the peripheral so readers can't become attached to them instead?

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From my reading of the Spartacus rebellion, that Spartacus is far from well established historically, and the sources are scant. What is well established is the idea that Hollywood has of Spartacus, and our colouring him with modern views about slave trading/ownership.

Would I read a book about Spartacus as an anti-hero? Hell, yes.

I have protagonists interact with historical figures in pretty much every historical piece I write. I haven;t found this to be a problem because it's still the protagonist's story, which means the obstacles ore ones he has to overcome, the desires and goals are ones he needs to fulfill, and it's still in his POV.

It's just not a problem. It's done on a very regular basis, and I see no difference between this and any otehr historical novel.

Jamesaritchie said:

I have protagonists interact with historical figures in pretty much every historical piece I write. I haven;t found this to be a problem because it's still the protagonist's story, which means the obstacles ore ones he has to overcome, the desires and goals are ones he needs to fulfill, and it's still in his POV.

It's just not a problem. It's done on a very regular basis, and I see no difference between this and any otehr historical novel.

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Agree. Two of my protagonists in separite novels lived at Court and interacted with the royals, Vicente de Rocamora who was a royal confessor and Bodo the Apostate a favorite of Louis the Pious and his empress Judith.

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I can't think of any reason why you shouldn't have your characters interact with real historical figures unless you distort those real figures and give them totally ahistorical attitudes and beliefs. You have a lot of leeway with Spartacus, about whom almost nothing is actually known, but if you turn Crassus into an abolitionist, I'm going to boggle. But assuming you pay attention to what is actually known, using real people can only give more depth and resonance to your work.

I totally agree with Lil. I have real persons in my first novel, set in 1833. When they were present in the scene, I made sure they were actually in that locale during the the story's time period, and what they said and how they said it accurate with the historical records. I think you'll have plenty of leeway with your timeline so distant.

I frequently have my protagonists interact with historical people. What I do not want to do is change the course of history. In other words, if my protagonist shot Al Capone before he became a big Chicago mobster, history may have been different. Contact with historical figures may change my protagonists' lives, but they are my characters. I consider changing the course of history to be alternative history and not historical fiction, like in Gingrich's book where Lee wins at Gettysburg.

I do a lot of research to make sure the historical figure was in the location where they interact at the proper time, also that the historical figure acts within their historic behavior pattern.

In my book I have someone on the way to donate a well-maintained aeroplane to Bessie Coleman, who was flying a poorly maintained JN-4 Jenny that should have been grounded. She and her mechanic fly their poorly maintained plane to practice for an airshow and it crashes while the would-be benefactor is only two hours from arriving with the good aeroplane. History records that Bessie Coleman died in the crash that day, as she does in the book. The sad repercussions of the incident bounce back to one of my characters, but history itself is not re-arranged.

To do this, you have to research, research and then research some more. I have spent more time researching than writing the book, but I am pleased with my level of accuracy. The worst that I have done historically is give an automobile to my protagonist in 1925, a year before it was introduced to the public in 1926 - but I found through research that the manufacturer did make prototypes of the vehicle in question well before it went on sale, so it is plausible that my protagonist - under a carefully controlled situation - was given one of the prototypes to use, with the condition that they keep a log of the use of the prototype automobile and send it to the manufacturer.

I most wholeheartedly agree, it is always a good ride when Flashy is around! Oh wait, did I say ride? No, I meant read.