Historical Fiction
Writing Historical Fiction Part 3: Good sources are everywhere
One of the best resources I’ve found for the sort of research I’ve used when writing historical fiction is a set of books that were published in the 1980s and ’90s by Writers Digest Books. This was a series of dictionary-like books called “The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life …” followed by whatever period of […]
Writing Historical Fiction Part 2: Finding story ideas is one benefit of doing historical research
A few years ago I was taking a graduate level course in Mexican history and ran onto the perfect idea for a historical novel set in 1785-86 in the region which became New Mexico and involved a Spanish governor, Juan Baptista de Anza, and the Comanche Indians.
I realized that de Anza displayed an understanding of […]
Writing Historical Fiction Part 1: How much research is enough?
If you’ve written a novel or ever studied novel writing, you know the term “back story” and how important that is to the development of the novel. The “back story” is the background information about characters, events, and locations which rarely makes it directly into your novel, but which you and your reader need to […]
