Transcription
Hello, today I'd like to talk about three mistakes a lot of writers make when writing historical fiction.
Number one, including an anachronism. It is important to do historical research in the period of time that your story takes place. Now, usually these anachronisms come in the form of a piece of technology that didn't exist at the time, but they can also include a name of a character that wasn't in wide use at the time, an expression or vocabulary that a character uses that doesn't fit the era, or something from the culture, such as clothing or food that is consumed by the characters.
Now, it's important to realize that not only do you need to do historical research into what was available at the time, but you need to keep in mind what readers think was available at the time. For example, you could name a character Tiffany in the Victorian era, but the truth is, most people associate that name more with the 1980s. So, including it could draw them out of the story, even if it's historically accurate.
Number two, are the attitudes of the characters. Not only do you not want to include a detail that is anachronistic, but you don't want the characters to have an anachronistic attitude. Remember, the past was a different place, almost like an entirely different country. People did not think the same way in the past as they do now. If the attitudes and actions of the characters are no different than if the story took place today, and the period is nothing more than set dressing, you're probably going to lose the impact that your story has, and you might find yourself losing readers along the way.
Now, all these tips are helpful, but there's another way to ensure that you write great historical fiction, and that is by emulating the style of great historical fiction authors. And if you go to autocrit.com, you can run our reports, and you can see how your writing matches up with the best of the best of historical fiction authors before you send that off to an editor or publisher.
Now, number three is missing out on an opportunity for stakes. Sometimes we forget with these technological differences that there are options to create higher stakes for the characters than you have in a modern era. For example, a character getting a cold in an older era is going to be a much higher stake situation than somebody getting a cold now. Why? Well, medical intervention simply was not the same in the past as it is now, and people wouldn't know if it was a more severe illness, which would carry great complications. Something like childbirth for women was an emergency situation, even in the most mundane, in the past. Nothing like it is today. So, the past really allows you to ratchet up tension in different ways than you can today, and don't be afraid to use it.
For more ways to make your writing better and to try our powerful software for free, visit autocrit.com.