Writing Believable Historical Fiction

I’m not one for rulebooks. I’ll listen to advice, cherrypick the best and apply it, but I don’t think there are hard and fast ‘rules’ of writing. For every book that follows them, there is classic literature that breaks them and gets away with it. That said, every writer can do with a few tips. Writing believable historical fiction was most important to me and has been one of my biggest challenges.

To learn about writing believable historical fiction, I think it is important to read widely in the genre. You will soon learn what you like reading and what drags, what details must be included and what can be left to the reader to fill in. Here I list some of the most annoying reasons I’ll stop reading historical fiction and how I try to overcome them in my own writing.

What turns me off

• Too many corsets and pirates

We need love stories, right. After all, the setting is important but it is the characters we return to. I love romance as much as the next person. However, sometimes it is a little obvious, when the female character meets a pirate, he is going to kidnap her and/or there will be some bodice-ripping. Think outside the normal tropes of princess and pirate, servant and lord. What about the other ninety-nine percent of the population at the time? Were they not getting married too?

My story focuses on a family aspiring to the bourgeois class; they are relatively poor so I guess a lot of their time would be spent earning money, keeping house and getting food to eat. I can intimate this, while focusing most scenes on the character interactions.

• Lack of details

This is where researching comes in. Read great examples of the genre you want to write in. Perhaps, an author mentions a detail of lighting fires that you never considered. It can be tucked away for your own worldbuilding. Historical films are also starting to have amazing, detailed sets which can be a wealth of information to mine.

Reading nonfiction books about different aspects of the time, letters and journals helps to build up the world your characters inhabit.

Sometimes, a brilliant novel comes along, in which the reader can see the setting so vividly that it becomes an escape. This is due to the worldbuilding the author has done. They have gathered all those little details; the buildings, the fashion, the food, the traditions, the plants. The writer has formed them into a full picture in their mind, then added only the relevant details for a scene. A novel where the author hasn’t researched fully stands out starkly to the reader.

• Slow pacing

This is a general reason why I stop reading novels, and I think it is very relevant when it comes to historical books. The author may have researched one particular aspect of the history of the time, so they want to show you every little step that went into a craft or recipe. It is tempting to do it. I know, I have read a lot about childbirth, soap-making and indienne fabrics in 18th century France. I’ll sneak those details in somewhere. This is fine, as long as it is mixed in with the story. Historians write the text books, writers write the novels.

• Lack of women characters

Sometimes, a novel has a female protagonist, but she is literally the only woman in the whole book who has opinions. The time for that has passed. Yes, women were largely written out of history. But we know there were women doing amazing things behind the scenes. I think, for the purposes of writing believable historical fiction, it is time to write them back in.

• Characters who are not believable

A character can have the loveliest dresses, but if their motivations don’t strike a chord, the reader won’t sympathize with them. First, the motivation and goal should be universal so that a modern reader can understand the person, for example, themes like power, greed, fame, revenge. The reader can compare the wishes and emotions of the character to their own life and people they know.

Second, the motive should ring true for the time period. In early 18th century France, women weren’t likely to take a holiday to find inner peace. Their motives might be poverty, powerlessness, escape. Their goals might have been marriage, safety, survival, wealth.

“Writing history is like drinking an ocean and pissing a cupful” – Gustave Flaubert

Do you wish you had started off with an easier book?

I was asked this a few months ago. It is certainly a challenge trying to weave all of the above in with the actual events of the time. But it is a fun challenge. I am learning so much about France under the ancien regime.

Also have a read of my post Researching 18th century France

See these great resources:

Word Wenches: A group of published historical fiction authoresses on everything about the past and writing it into stories.

Historical Novel Society: A society of readers and writers of historical fiction set up to promote the genre. It has many reviews which can be searched by period, century, author etc in order to read books set when and where you are interested in.

Project Gutenberg: 56,000 Free eBooks, many of them older works. I have found letters and diary entries from the early 18th century, which are invaluable primary sources.

Pinterest: Search for images of period dress, jewellery, furniture, artworks to build an accurate picture of the setting.

Check out my Pinterest board on daily life in 18th century France for inspiration.