Do I have to??

Oh man, I don't think I'd read a story without dialogue, honestly. To me, that's one of the best ways to show the reader about characterization, rather than simply telling them all about the characters.

JMHO

You can absolutely add dialogue, but the best method is to add a few characters to interact with the real historical ones. The dialogue can then be likewise fictional. A couple of good examples of this are Johnny Tremain (a Newbery Prize winner) about a boy who was apprenticed to Paul Revere and helped the founding fathers during the Revolutionary War. Another is Fire in the Hole which is about the Ludlow Massacre in Colorado. In addition, my first novel was an historical fiction about a battle between two railroad to reach Aspen, CO, called Road to Riches. All of these incorporate dialogue purported to be spoken by real, historic figures. So long as you stay within the boundaries of historical fact, critics (and readers) are forgiving.

Good luck with it!

Cathy C said:

You can absolutely add dialogue, but the best method is to add a few characters to interact with the real historical ones. The dialogue can then be likewise fictional. A couple of good examples of this are Johnny Tremain (a Newbery Prize winner) about a boy who was apprenticed to Paul Revere and helped the founding fathers during the Revolutionary War. Another is Fire in the Hole which is about the Ludlow Massacre in Colorado. In addition, my first novel was an historical fiction about a battle between two railroad to reach Aspen, CO, called Road to Riches. All of these incorporate dialogue purported to be spoken by real, historic figures. So long as you stay within the boundaries of historical fact, critics (and readers) are forgiving.

Good luck with it!

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Cathy, I have attributed words to a character that project his ideas but eschew his language. Would critics object to this?

Also, I have him do something in character, which he definitely did not do. He has written rather fancifully about his acts, and if he had actually done what I have him doing, he would have bragged about it. Is this taking too great a license with history?

I guess it depends on what you have him do...

Really. There's a difference between taking a trip that he never wrote about, versus engaging in perverse sex that he never wrote about. One is forgiveable. One is libelous (quite possibly by the heirs if they get their nose tweaked.)

The biggest question is whether it's important to the story, or just something you enjoyed writing. If it adds greatly to the story and isn't a big thing, it's probably fine. You only need to think seriously about it if there would be a potential for offense if the person was still ALIVE.

Going back to Zanidove's question - Narrative stories that are all telling don't have much chance of being picked up by a publisher or agent. If you want to have a chance with your work, you'll have a much better one if you convert as much of it as you can to showing (dialogue and action). Puma

zanidove said:

I don't feel confident to write dialog into my story.

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I have the opposite problem. I'm rubbish at writing anything except dialogue.

Have you tried holding conversations between your charactors?