It’s Iola here. Welcome to our Australasian Christian Writers Tuesday Book Chat, where we encourage book lovers to answer our bookish question of the week.
Today’s question is:
Do you prefer historical or contemporary settings? Why?
We look forward to hearing your thoughts. Please join in the conversation in a comment on this post or in a comment on the blog post shared in our Australasian Christian Writers Facebook Group. Or, if you’re feeling wordy (like me), write a blog post and link to it in the comments.
Let’s chat!
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Iola Goulton is a New Zealand book reviewer, freelance editor, and author, writing contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist. Iola lives in the beautiful Bay of Plenty in New Zealand (not far from Hobbiton) with her husband, two teenagers and one cat.
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Published by Iola Goulton @iolagoulton
Iola Goulton is a New Zealand book reviewer, freelance editor, and author, writing contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist. Iola lives in the beautiful Bay of Plenty in New Zealand (not far from Hobbiton) with her husband, two teenagers and one cat.
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I prefer historical. I’ve always liked history, and reading a novel set in a time that interests me is always fun, especially when the author gets the history right. When they are as compulsive about getting the details right as I am with my own novels, that goes a long way toward getting me to love an author.
I have to agree that the author getting the history right is key. I love history, and I love historical fiction where I can learn the historical facts while still being entertained.
Hi Iola, I’ve always preferred contemporary, but there are many historical time periods I enjoy reading eg. Regency England. I also prefer historical romance to historical fiction. It can be fun learning about historical time periods via reading fiction.
Historical romance tends to use modern cultural norms (e.g. marriage for love, gender equality, women as people not possessions). That can annoy some readers, but it’s a fiction I’m happy to live with. Historical fiction tends to be more true to history, and that’s not always entertaining!
I just did a long post and lost it so long story short I like Historical best. I agree with Carol on getting facts right. I have read a couple where the history was changed slightly to fit the book but the Author said this would happen up front and that there was a detailed timeline of the actual facts with information at the back of the book.
Another one I read during the French revolution and it mentioned metric. I did a google search and found out it had actually been introduced at this time.
That’s interesting about the metric system. I knew it was developed in France, but I didn’t know when!
Because I mostly read fantasy, the settings are usually what we would call historic but I’ve read the occasional sci-fi which is mostly futuristic, but I have also enjoyed the occasional story set in the modern era.
Fantasy and sci fi are interesting genres in that respect. It does interest me that fantasy often has the feel of our Dark Ages or Middle Ages (with dragons and stuff).
But Star Wars is set “a long time ago” despite the sci fi nature, so the historic/futuristic analogy doesn’t always hold true.
Historical all the way. I guess I like ‘cross-cultural’ in all its forms. Historical (if it’s done well) allows me to learn more because it is different from what I’m used to.
I also find historical fiction can be a good way of discussing contemporary issues without being too preachy.
I used to like historical, but these days I much prefer contemporary, or multi-time period with the mix of both.
I was finding the historical plots were very much the same, and I think with being an older single it drove me crazy when girls at 20 decided their life was over because they weren’t married. I read one of these recently and nearly threw the book across the room (it’s not staying on my shelf).
I do really enjoy the stories that weave the past and present together (as long as it’s not to hard to figure out which character is the main one at the time).
Mostly with historical, I’m enjoying it when it’s set after 1900. World War I and II are my favourites because they can be a mystery/suspense (my current favourite genre). Nothing too graphic though.
That is one big advantage of contemporary fiction – it’s more accepting of older women in romance, or even (gasp) single women.
Yes, I like the dual timeline stories – I like the mix of past and present, and how the past influences the present.