How do historical fiction authors hook and hold readers?

1. How do historical fictionauthors hook and hold readers? • “The rich depiction of other times, places, customs, and characters drives historical fiction, pulling readers into another world.” (Joyce Saricks) • “When the research is completed, how do you make your story sound authentic without overwhelming it with too many facts? Of course, you must establish your setting, but once the background has been sketched in, work in the details as subtly and unobtrusively as possible. As with any good story, remember to show, not tell.” (Cheryl Zach)

2. How do historical fiction writers persuade their readers? • “Both historians and historical novelists construct narratives. That crucial word comes from narrare, whose latin stem means "knowing." Both groups of writers are in the business of helping readers understand the past with fresh insights and information. But the historical novelist is in search of emotional truth. As more than one critic has pointed out, historians seldom deal with feelings. The historical novelist makes feelings crucial to his narrative.” (Thomas Fleming) • “Take advantage of the profusion of fascinating titles and series, and invite readers to enjoy these well-researched and memorable stories, rooted in a time past, peopled with characters long dead, and brought alive again through an author’s imagination.” (Joyce Saricks)

3. What is the relationship between historical fiction and truth? • “The two main rules for juvenile historical fiction might seem contradictory--make sure the background is accurate, but don't allow the facts to slow or obscure the story--but both are essential ingredients for successful historical juvenile fiction.” (Cheryl Zach) • “The historical novelist does not simply make things up. He or she is not entitled to write anything that comes into his or her head, especially about characters who are part of the historical record.” (Thomas Fleming)

4. What truths are best communicated through the historical fiction genre? • “But other aspects of history are not as clear cut. Anyone who has ever had an argument with their spouse or attended a trial in a courtroom may have realised that history has at least two ‘truths’, possibly many more. What is often cited as “truth” is often just point of view.” (Colin Falconer) • “It is worth thinking for a moment about why you want to bring the past back to life at all. Perhaps for the reason offered by Edmund Burke, that we have a moral duty to keep history warm and alive in our minds, to brood over it, because the past is an organic thing growing into us, or, to change the image, because it is the soil we are rooted in.” (Max Byrd)

5. How do historical fiction authors adapt a historical event and turn it into a historical fiction storyline? • Historical Fiction authors will often take a famous historical event and write the story from a little known character’s perspective. (Thomas Fleming) • “I explained that sometimes, in order to be most true to history, one has to change the facts. By that I mean that to accurately convey the spirit of a time, place, situation or historical figure, one may have to tamper with the truth.” (Staton Rabin)

6. Why might an author alter a historical event to tell a story, and is it ok to do so? • “When writing novels or movies based on history, the "truth" must always play second fiddle to the dramatic needs of the story. ” (Stanton Rabin) • “We may retell their stories badly or well. We may embellish them or get them wrong. But we should not do so blithely, just as we should not scrawl slogans on other people's houses, or stride into their living rooms to replace the furniture.” (Carlin Romano y Brainard)

7. Does the setting reflect the reality of the time period? • “Books may focus on characters (real or fictional) or events, or they may simply offer a glimpse into another time and place.” (Joyce Saricks) • “In addition to details about clothing, keep in mind details about their homes, the food they ate, the chores they were expected to do, the schooling young people at that particular time would receive, the mode of transportation they would use. Remember that family structure and community mores were different in other times, that the attitudes and beliefs of your characters must be authentic for the time period, yet interesting to readers today. All this can keep you balanced on a thin line when it comes to moral or ethical issues.” (Cheryl Zach)

8. Does the reader have a greater understanding of a time period after reading historical fiction set in that time period? • “Sure, anyone reading an historical novel wants to learn a little bit about history, and I believe it’s the writer’s obligation to inform – never misinform – their reader. But I believe we do just that if we try to make history an absolute.” (Colin Falconer) • “Moreover, I think that readers always liked historical fiction, not because they wanted to drag history into the present and make it useful, but because they wanted to put themselves back into history, into the past, to wander around it as if in a dream, to ponder themselves as having been born too late.” (Thomas Mallon)

9. Works Cited • Fleming, Thomas. "Historical Truth Vs. Historical Fiction?." History News Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. <http://hnn.us/articles/20879.html>. • Fleming, Thomas. "Historical Truth Vs. Historical Fiction?." History News Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. <http://hnn.us/articles/20879.html>. • Rabin, Staton. "'But that's the way it really happened': In history-based novels and screenplays, how much can you embellish the facts?." Writer 123.7 (2010): 32. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. • Zach, Cheryl. "Bringing history to life for young readers." Writer 109.4 (1996): 14. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. • "Revisiting Historial Fiction." Booklist 104.16 (2008): 33. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. • Byrd, Max. "The Brief History of a Historical Novel." Wilson Quarterly. 25. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2007. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. • Mallon, Thomas. "Writing historical fiction." American Scholar 61.4 (1992): 604. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2011.