The Principles of Historical Fiction

This is a bit I wrote a while back while I was working out my personal approach to writing historical fiction, whether for the page, or for the screen.  For filmmakers, simply substitude the word “reader” with “viewer.”  The principles hold true.  Some people might find it interesting, and I hope it is helpful and edifying to everyone…

Fiction is intended first to entertain.  Not to educate.  Fiction in a historical setting can and should be very educational, but must not interfere with the first and primary goal.  By all means, educate the reader.  But don’t make him feel like he’s being educated.

Do not be pretentious.  That goes for exposition as well as for dialog.  It is a good rule for all fiction, but one that is especially easy to break in historical fiction.  In general, keep to the rules of Strunk and White.  Use as many words as necessary and not a single one more.  Above all, avoid Victorian style histrionics.

Do not jolt the reader out of the story.  If you have a historical detail that you believe to be important to the story, weave it into the exposition or the dialog.  Don’t just drop it onto the reader in an undisguised parenthetical form.  Fiction is about the illusion of reality.  Do not dispel the illusion by reminding the reader that it is fiction.  The reader is not going to be impressed with the author’s knowledge of history or period if he feels like he is reading a textbook.

Do not jolt the reader out of the story (and that is not a mistaken repitition).  The author, along with his personal view and opinions, should be invisible.  The author is always behind the scenes, working the plot, laying down exposition, and directing the flow of dialog to subliminally influence the reader’s perception.  The writer should work to put a thought, perception, or an image in the reader’s mind as if she were the one who first thought of it.  It takes more skill and effort than stepping up to the soapbox and preaching to the reader, but in the end it is much more effective, both as fiction and as instruction.

Do your research.  Nothing jolts the reader out of the story more than glaringly anachronistic details, events, or dialog style.  Make sure you know your history.  Just because this is fiction does not give you the liberty to make things up entirely. If you must change actual details, be sure you know you are changing them, and why.  History is God’s story.  Treat it with respect.

Finally, be a writer, not merely a scholar.  In fiction, excellent writing can make some minor historical inaccuracies (such as time compression, geographic fudging, etc.) excusable, but historical accuracy cannot make up for slipshod prose.