How to write historical fiction

Historical fiction may seem to be a contradiction in terms but whenever we write a novel or screenplay set in the past, it is about relating many facts through a fictitious story which must be based on real historical fact. Some hints can help you integrate fact and fiction in ways that work best for your story.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Computer
• Paper
• Access to libraries, photos and diaries

How to write historical fiction

1. Pick a period in history which (a) fascinates you or (b) appeals to your clients/audience or (c) fits into the kind of fictional story you want to tell. Remember that a work of fiction is about a ____ who has to do ____ in order to ____ against ______ within a given period of time. Develop your main character, and attached characters, with profiles that fit them....as a general scheme...OR begin research in the historical period and do it later. Remember that fiction has a defined beginning, middle and end in which a primary life crisis is dealt with...which is unlike the way things work out in real life.
2. Research the historical period you are writing about and in which you story takes place. Include diaries of people who wrote then as well. Also look at photographs and paintings of those periods. Consider, but do not imitate, films made about those times. Also, consider point of view of writers of books, and films. Do they have a political or personal agenda? Yes, they do...but use this to develop your own point of view of the story in question. Master writers of historical fiction include James Mitchner and Gore Vidal, but there are many, many others.
3. Merge the period of history with the story, and the characters. The most bang for the buck, and the maximal freedom you get as a writer, happens when your main character (the one or ones whose survival or perspectives are most challenged by the story) are NOT recorded in the history books, but these characters integrate with real historical people in ways the historians didn't or couldn't record. Keep true to the facts as they are best proven by valid historians, but play with 'what if' events...such as...what if Albert Einstein had an accidental meeting with a **** in 1905 on his way to his desk at the patent office and this sparked his discovering the theory of relativity in a way that would not have happened otherwise. Or...what if George Washington was informed about the location of Hessian troops in Trenton by a disgrunted Hessian mercinary who was abandoned by his own buddies in camp. Do not change historical facts, but work story as a weaving pattern around them.
4. Start writing only after you get a strong feeling for the times, and your facts from one book are verified by several others, and you sense that you have all you need to tell your story. Remember that you should ONLY put into your script or book things that develop character or move story along, or both. NOTHING else should be in there, even if it is interesting historical fact. If you want to insert things about interesting events, work them into the story, or bring the story to them. Avoid doing chapter long history lessons in a didactic way. Tell history of the times through your story and characters. And try to find in those historical times elements about the human condition that are relatable to people today.

Tips & Warnings

• History will never be boring if you do this.
• If you are not sure about a historical fact or event, write around it.
• Avoid being too technical...you are telling tales, and charged with the task of giving the facts life and relevance, those two latter criteria always taking priority.