Historical fiction and real characters

Doogs said:

Though with historical fiction, faction, what-have-you, lousy research can also generate a misery all its own.

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I agree. I can't count how many would-be historical writers I've heard complaining about research and saying they don't need to do much in order to write a good historical. I really think you're cheating your readers if you skimp on research. Readers want to feel as if they've been transported to another time and they won't if all the writer does is make a few costume and scenery changes.
Linnea

Oh, you can...

research an era to death and still not get to grips with the mind set of its people.

One of my pet peeves - apart from writers who can't get the monetary system correct - is the modern, drop-her-knickers-in-a-trice heroine plonked into any era other than today. Marriage was a business, a means of linking land and families, political connections, and making money!

Yes, you must research, lots and lots, and this means being honest, as far as it is possible to be today, in the way your characters would think.

You have to research money, clothing, food, mores and manners, and everything else you bring up in your novel such as weapons, hygiene, flora and fauna, weather, terrain, mileage.

What you cannot find or change, explain in your author/historical note section.

Given the dictionary size books written by and for every President, members of his administration, and the oppsition during the 20th and 21st centuries, plus countless op ed pieces in newspapers, journals, and blod screeds, it will a nightmare chore for a "balanced scholarly" historian to discover the truth about their administrations.

donroc said:

Few scribes would have risked their heads to tell the truth about any ruler in any historical era. The writing that survives is the true winner in History.

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So true and pretty amusing and frustrating at times, as was the practice of attempting to obliterate all evidence of the existence of an unpopular ruler. On the positive side, it leaves plenty of scope for the imagination.
Linnea