Historical fiction inquiry

davej

Registered
Joined
Mar 1, 2019
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Hello Folks,

I'm considering writing a historical fiction/nonfiction book hybrid and have some questions. I want to write about the lives of real life people from the eighteenth-century in a fiction format. Any advice? I was considering formatting it into "journal entries," just like in Bram Stoker's Dracula.
 

ReadWriteRachel

Probably drinking coffee.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 18, 2013
Messages
271
Reaction score
18
Location
Hands on the keyboard.
This is something that plenty of people have done before, so there's no reason you wouldn't be able to tackle it, too. In fact, I particularly love historical fiction about real people. There are a lot of well-known authors who do this with historical royals, for example: Jean Plaidy, Alison Weir, Philippa Gregory (though all of them certainly take liberties for the sake of fiction). You could certainly do it in diary entries if you wanted. Eowyn Ivey's To The Bright Edge of the World is heavily inspired by a real diary following an Alaskan expedition depicted in the novel, and relies on some true-to-life historical photos, artifacts, etc. to help present the story. Or you could do it in prose; besides the authors mentioned above, one of my all-time favorite novels is Hannah Kent's Burial Rites, which fictionalizes the story of the last woman ever executed in Iceland, in 1829.

My advice: research, research, research. Research like you're writing a non-fiction book. Read absolutely everything about your event and time period that you can get your hands on, and do hands-on research in museums, libraries, etc. if you're in a place where you can. That'll give you the best foundation possible to write your book.

A lot of history is ripe for turning into a novel. You just have to make sure you know the history well enough to be able to tell its story properly, and well.
 
Last edited:

DMakinson

Registered
Joined
May 26, 2019
Messages
32
Reaction score
2
Location
Australia
Website
sharpedit.weebly.com
Hey davej,

I love the idea for the book. Go for it!

But a word of caution: Bram Stoker was a genius. Dracula uses multiple first person points of view - brilliantly.

Don't underestimate how extraordinarily hard this is. I started a novel with just two first person POV characters (best friends who become arch enemies) and had to give up - it just became incredibly messy. The manuscript is now proceeding with a tight 3rd person POV.

I'm not saying don't try. And I don't know if you plan to use multiple POVs (say Abraham Lincoln, his wife and his father, or some such). I'm just saying it's hard.

And you may in fact be a genius.

In short I'm all for first person, but think twice before going multiple.

Best of luck!
 

Iain2

Registered
Joined
Aug 13, 2019
Messages
34
Reaction score
0
Without the slightest doubt…, join ancestry.com :
(for example)
If you are creating a conversation for someone and if you know his/her sibling died ‘yesterday,’ then he/she is not ready to party…, or could eventually propose one. Knowing the names of the witnesses at his/her wedding would undoubtedly add originality. Etc.

Knowing the whole family history is even better, allowing you to add things that even the specialists know nothing about.
 

angeliz2k

never mind the shorty
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 24, 2008
Messages
3,727
Reaction score
488
Location
Commonwealth of Virginia--it's for lovers
Website
www.elizabethhuhn.com
Yep, biographical historical fiction, of figures both royal and non-royal, is quite common. I recently read novels about Thomas Jefferson's daughter Patsy and another about Eliza Hamilton, by the same two authors (who teamed up for these books). I'm reading an ARC of a novel about six different women, of greater or lesser fame, who took all part in the French Revolution. As mentioned above, there are boatloads of novels on royals of various descriptions down through the ages.

I'm currently doing my first editing pass on a novel about the five boys who inspired Peter Pan. Not royals, but relatively well-known: there have been tons of newspaper/magazine articles, a bunch of nonfiction books, a movie, a musical, and a few plays about them, not to mention all the variations on Peter Pan itself. It helps to have really good source material to use; there's one book that was my main source. You really want to survey all that is out there about your topic or else you might end up missing something important. Start wide and get smaller, I think--make sure you have a really good idea of the framework of the time period and the person's story. Then fill in the details of what happened event-by-event.

Anyway, another word of caution on the diary entries thing. That kind of "found footage" format was more common in Bram Stoker's day. Literary styles have changed. Just keep that in mind. I'm not saying that there's any problem with using the format you propose, just be aware of reader expectations.
 

Iain2

Registered
Joined
Aug 13, 2019
Messages
34
Reaction score
0
In my case…, I have found ancestors of my main characters who never knew their 3xGreat Grand Father was ever at Waterloo. In the meantime, proud of the fact, they have been doing my research for me !
 

Iain2

Registered
Joined
Aug 13, 2019
Messages
34
Reaction score
0
Depending on who you are writing about, the British Archive Newspapers are a godsend. It's absolutely amazing what I've found thanks to them !

- - - Updated - - -

Both…, amazing for 'writers block'!