Tag: historical accuracy

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History in the Making

What Time is It?

History in the making

When writing historical fiction, it’s important to be aware of your timeline. Timelines are significant in all genres of writing, but in historical fiction, they are imperative.

Why does your timeline carry so much weight? True history is becoming a thing of the past in most books and schools, so as writers who strive for excellence, we need to be sure the history of our novels is true and accurate. The truth and accuracy of your timeline is part of that—keeping historical events in proper sequential order and in the correct years.

How can you keep your historical facts in order, especially if you’re a pantser? As a historical romance writer who has always been a pantser, I have learned to become a “plantser” (that’s someone in between a pantser and a plotter). I research my time period and I make hard copies or handwritten notes of major historical facts and events, and I keep them close at hand as I write my novel.

Pacing is also an important part of keeping your timeline accurate. Determining how many historical events you want to include in your novel is key in creating your pacing. If you’re planning to create a series of historical fiction novels, you need to have a clear vision of what events will take place in each book of the series. You have to weave your fictional characters and story into that historical timeline and framework.

If you love including as many historical events as possible, like I do, this can become quite a challenge. You can collect so many historical facts and events that it can prove difficult to decide what to include in your story and what to leave out, which will also depend on your timeline.

The historical facts and timeline can be worked into every aspect of your story—the description of your setting, your characters’ clothes and dialogue. It doesn’t all have to come out in the plot. Painting your history throughout your novel brings balance and gives your readers a complete picture that allows them to experience a different time period as they are immersed in your novel.

What about your readers? Many people who read historical fiction read about their favorite historical time periods and already have a good bit of knowledge in regard to that time and its history. If you make an error in your historical facts, your readers will let you know, and that could be via a personal email or a book review posted on a prominent book site, either of which may not be kind and respectful.

As historical fiction writers, we should strive to create a story woven throughout historical events that satisfies both us and our readers.

Kelly F. Barr lives in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She is married and has three sons. She writes historical romance. She has also been a blogger for ten years, and every Friday, you can find her Flash Fiction stories posted for your reading pleasure. She loves her family, including the family dog, books, walks, and chai lattes.

You can find her online at:

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History in the Making

Historical Fiction Basics and Top Ten Time Periods

History in the making

Those of us who write Historical Fiction are drawn to re-imagining the past and reconstructing times gone by. History interests us. But the details need to be believable to be successful at blending fact and fiction. We need to research how people talked, what they wore, what they ate, and how they lived. The rules for writing the historical fiction genre include three elements and six characteristics that must be present.

The three elements:

·  Fictional events, but real people.

·  Real events, but fictional people.

·  Real events and real people, but the plot, scenes, and dialogue are fictional.

The six characteristics:

  • Setting: The time period must be real in history and the place must be authentic. Getting this right is imperative.           
  • Characters: All or some of your characters may be fictional, but they must all behave in realistic ways for the time period.
  • Plot: The plot may be based on real events, or may be based on fictional events, but has to make sense in the time period you are writing about.
  • Descriptions: Characters, places, and events must be distinct. Weave historic information into your work so your reader will learn something they may be unfamiliar with about the time period.
  • Dialogue: Reflects the thoughts and knowledge of the people in the time period you are writing about.
  • Conflict: Again, the conflict or drama must reflect and be realist to the time period.

I mentioned time period a lot and readers have favorites. According to topten.com, these are the top ten historical time periods people like to read about (plus one of my favorite novels from each era):

  1. Middle Ages (Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett)
  2. Ancient Greece/Rome (Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn)
  3. Golden Age of Piracy (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
  4. The Roaring 20’s (The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
  5. World War I (Overseas by Beatriz Williams)
  6. World War II (The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah)
  7. 19th Century Britain (Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood)
  8. Renaissance (Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel)
  9. Ancient Egypt (Antony and Cleopatra by Colleen McCullough)
  10. Wild West (Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry)

My first novel, The Story of Hagar, is set in Ancient Egypt. The second, More Than a Handmaid, is in Ancient Canaan. My current WIP, Reggie, takes place in depression era Alabama. I’m also outlining a novel drawn from 17th century Alabama and France. It’s like spinning the wheel of a time machine and I love it!

What time period is your favorite?

Blessings,

KD Holmberg

KD Holmberg is an author, blogger, and freelance writer. She is a member of ACFW, Word Weavers International, and a founding member of the Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild. She is represented by Hartline Literary Agency. A retired flight attendant, she has traveled and lived all over the globe. She and her husband, Keith, love to golf and live in South Carolina. You can find more about her: Facebook @authorkdholmberg, twitter @kdeniseholmberg, and website authorkdholmberg.com/

Categories
History in the Making

Finding Mr. Missing: Researching Period-Appropriate Technology

History in the making

Envision the hero and heroine of a story. They’re tasked with finding a missing person. They’re packed. They know where the trail begins. Transportation awaits them. But they need one more thing—a photo.

In a contemporary story, the conversation between the hero and heroine might sound like this:

            “Did you get a photo of Mr. Missing?” Hero says.

            “The family emailed several to me last night.”

            “Would you send them to my phone?”

            Heroine flashes a sassy smile. “Already did.”

            Hero slips his iPhone off his belt clip, opens his email, and studies Mr. Missing’s smiling face−clear, detailed, vividly colored.

            “Looks like we’re good to go.”

            However, if the story is set in the 19th century…

            “Did the family ever find that photograph of Mr. Missing?”

            “Yes, buried under old love letters at the bottom of his wife’s keepsake box.” Heroine carefully removed the photograph from her reticule, fingered the edge of thick paper, then passed it to Hero. “Mr. Missing on his wedding day.”

            Hero studied the grainy image of Mr. Missing and his bride. Faded shades of brown depicted the taut-faced couple dressed in their Sunday best as they sat stiff like statues. Time had etched wrinkles across the images, but the features of Mr. Missing’s face were sufficient for their purposes.

            “Better than I hoped for.” Hero says.

From formally posed 19th century daguerreotypes to 21st century selfies, determining the technology available during the time period of one’s story is important to the integrity of the work.

In addition to the stage of technology, a writer should also consider the economics of the time period. Consider the American television series “Little House on the Prairie”. Set in the late 1800s, the Ingalls barely scraped out a living from the farm. The traveling photographer would not have attracted their business. However, Mrs. Oleson, owner of the General Store, would probably have been his best customer in the area.

In contrast, today’s technological advancements have enabled the mass production of iPhones at an affordable price. Most folks carry them, not only for instant phone and text communications, but also for quick photos of anything that catches their eyes. From births to daycare to high school to college to weddings, and everything in between, our lives are easily and readily memorialized in photographs.

For writers, whose artistic skills might be bent more toward words than cameras, questions abound. Tintypes or selfies? Still photos or motion picture cameras? Black and white or colored prints? A prized digital camera or an instamatic throw-away?

An internet search would be a great place to find answers to these questions. We might start by keying in the words “History of Cameras Timeline”. Up pop a number of timelines created by people who have already done extensive research and graciously shared it with us. From there, homing in on a specific camera or photograph type will yield detailed information about everything we want to know about the subject−as much or as little as we can absorb.

Once we’re armed with the knowledge we need, we can create period-appropriate word pictures for our readers, whether simply describing an array of photos, introducing a camera-buff as a main or secondary character, or writing a cozy mystery about finding Mr. Missing.

Jeannine Brummett lives in South Carolina with her husband of nineteen years, Don, who shares his three adult sons and three grandchildren with her. Reading is big on her list of things to do, but she also thrives on TV crime dramas, NBA basketball, and marvels at the critters and fowl life that live at the pond behind their house. She loves to sing praise songs, attend Bible Study, and help at a local food pantry.