Writing Historical Fiction That Readers Will Love

Historical fiction lovers are also lovers of history.

Every time we write a novel, we’re creating a special place for our readers to visit. We build a world for our characters to live in. The details of that world are up to us, but whatever we create, it must be believable. Even fantasy and sci-fi worlds must follow a consistent set of rules.

But for historical fiction, there’s an important reader expectation we need to keep in mind. Whatever historical period we choose, many of our readers will already be familiar with our story’s place and time.

Historical fiction that isn’t historical enough, no matter how skillful the writing, can disappoint a reader enough that they won’t read any more of that author’s books.

There’s only one reliable way to get the history right…do the research. We all love feeling like we’re right there with the characters, experiencing the action and emotions along with them. In our daily lives, we notice both the big picture and the little details. It’s thorough research that lets us do the same in historical times.

Whatever historical period you choose, many of your readers will already be familiar with your story’s place and time. Some may even be experts.

But any story we write is the product of our imagination. It will have people and events that exist only in our mind’s eye, not in the pages of history. Readers know that, so there’s a balancing act between sticking rigidly to what happened and what we imagine might have occurred if our characters had once been living human beings.

Several guidelines will help our historical stories satisfy the history buffs among us.

I keep these in mind as I write. I hope they’ll help you, too.

1. The details of everyday life must fit our story’s time and place.

   Food, clothing, transportation, medicine, religions, political systems, social attitudes including the class structure ―these are important to give our story the ring of truth and make a reader feel like they are right there with the characters. I list below some websites that can help with this.

   Within this historic framework, we ask ourselves “what if” and weave a story around the answer. But sometimes the real history gets in the way of a great plot.

2. Deviation from real history should be explained in a historical note that discusses what you changed and why.

   How you changed timelines to fit your plot, altered known historical events, or created fictitious ones should be spelled out. If you make a change, it should have been possible (for example, the historical person was actually alive and possibly in the vicinity) and believable (consistent with real events and conditions of the time).

3. If you use an alternate interpretation from what most people believe, explain why.

   History is not science, and there are different interpretations of the same event or person. If you’re interpreting differently than the most respected sources, you’ll want to explain why in your historical note. A less popular explanation could be a good basis for your story, but you should make that clear to satisfy people who know the preferred interpretation.

4. Don’t contradict an easy-to-verify fact.

   If using well-known historical figures or events, you have less leeway to imagine something your plot needs than if you have invented a person or filled in gaps in the historical record.

   If your story is set in a real location, check out the topographical map for the area. Read up on the weather patterns and plant communities. There are no mountain peaks in eastern Colorado. Flagstaff, Arizona, averages over 100 inches of snow every winter, so no one is mountain biking in shorts in January. The Rio Puerco in New Mexico is a dry wash except right after a heavy rainstorm, so your characters can’t go kayaking there. But knowing the real conditions where your story takes place can inspire surprising yet believable plot twists.

   Keeps historical people in the right place and time. The Roman emperor Hadrian was in North Africa in AD 128, so don’t have him at his wall in Scotland fighting the army of Genghis Khan. (Maybe you could get away with this one with some readers, but Romanophiles who don’t believe in time travel would be rolling their eyes.)

How to find detailed information for accurate world-building

I must confess. I find the research part of writing historical fiction to be as much fun as the writing itself. It feels like a treasure hunt, and sometimes an unexpected fact will start me down a path that leads to a plot twist I didn’t expect when I started down the research rabbit trail.

I’m writing Roman-era stories set shortly after AD 100. In the twelve books of the Light in the Empire series, the stories range from Germany, Switzerland, and France across Italy into Romania, the Balkan Peninsula, Turkey, Israel, and North Africa. So, I’ve had to research the local culture and geography of each setting plus do more general research into the Roman Empire that encompasses them all.

Here are some of the ways I find the detailed info I need. I’ve included much more than ancient history below. No matter the time period you’re writing, there should be something here for you.

Physical sources:

It’s hard to beat a good book written by a historian (contemporary or ancient) to help you understand your story world. Books written by people alive at the time of your story are invaluable. I would never have known how to set a broken femur and immobilize it without plaster of Paris or fiberglass without Aulus Celsus’s De Medicina in English translation. It even describes how the Romans at the time of Augustus did cataract surgery. For anyone writing about New Testament times, there are multiple books I could recommend. One of the most interesting that I’ve found for the whole span of Biblical history is the Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology covering discoveries through 2017. What I learned there about camels at the time of Abraham would surprise you.

Many used academic books can be bought inexpensively through Amazon and through Abe Books, a global online marketplace with websites that offer books and more from independent sellers in over 50 countries. The Abe subsidiaries in nine countries include the US and Australia/New Zealand. Many out-of-print books can be found here at bargain-basement prices.

Online sources:

I find many of these to be so much fun that I get sucked into the vortex of looking at fascinating articles just for the joy of discovering what they’ll teach me. Forget writing 2000 words on a research day!

Google it, but don’t restrict yourself to the page 1 results. Click in deeper and you might find a treasure waiting. The special info you need might be at a website listed on page 13 or in a book that will be listed on page 20.

Wikipedia: It’s a useful starting place but often not where you should stop. It’s handy for an overview, and the references will link you to more in-depth info at original sources. It will also suggest other keywords to search to get to the detailed info that lets you make the world of your characters feel real.

Google Scholar: This searches academic journals and books for your topic when you need in-depth info. If the source is available free online, it gives the download link. I’ve found dozens of useful things here. Want to know how to counterfeit ancient coins? Or how taxation worked in the Greco-Roman world? Or how food was transported and stored? I found all that here.

Google Translate: I use this to see if a word I want to use had a Latin version. I also find names for characters because enslaved people were often named for what they did or for a physical trait.

Want to know if a word was in use by the time of your story? The Online Etymology Dictionary might tell you.

Want the origin of a phrase and when it came into use? Historically Speaking might tell you before you get distracted looking up lots of others for the fun of it.

Want to know about towns and roads at the time of your story?
For links to historic maps for your story’s place and time: Old Maps Online
For routes and time required for travel by foot, carriage, horseback, river boats and ships in the parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa that were part of the Roman Empire: the Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World (also known as ORBIS) It’s also good for pre-automobile travel because the Roman roads were still in use (some still are). I use this site all the time, as well as the Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire (DARE). There’s a second version of DARE since the professor who created this changed universities.

Even if you don’t write historicals but do enjoy history, you might find the following sites fascinating.
Medieval resources: Labyrinth–an online index that will link you to detailed sources on all aspects of Medieval society.

18th century US history, trekking, and wilderness living: A Woodsrunner’s Diary— dozens of videos of daily activities and more unique things like fitting a new flint into a flint-lock rifle, making a leather arrow quiver, sharpening a blade, and throwing a tomahawk.

Roman era: Life in the Roman Empire: Historical Fact and Fiction–the Roman history site I write that’s PG-13 or cleaner so teachers and teenage students can use it. Everything from family dynamics to gladiators to a Roman bread recipe adapted for bread machines. Ever wonder what the three things were that made being a Christian a death-penalty crime?

Regency: Jane Austen’s World–SO much here, including links to original sources from the 1700s and 1800s. Want to download your own epub copy of Gross’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1811 or 1823, including slang phases?

Victorian: The Victorian Web—an amazing list of resources on all aspects of Victorian society. Lists, links, and full articles on almost everything you’d need to immerse your readers in those times.

Original writings from the time of your story might be only a few clicks away. Primary sources include diaries, newspapers, and popular books written in the period. I found an 1836 manual authored by “A Gentleman” and entitled The Laws of Etiquette; or, Short Rules and Reflections for Conduct in Society through the US Library of Congress website. I found it searching for ballroom dance instructions, but it covers many aspects of post-Colonial, pre-Civil War etiquette in its 180 pages. Not something I’d use, but a treasure for someone writing this period who wants to know how a US society lady might behave differently than a UK noblewoman.

British newspapers back to the 1600s are at the British Library.

But if you really want to get sucked into the vortex, check out the Internet Archive. It’s a library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and so much more on almost any topic you could desire.

What are some of your favorite resources for the time frame you write?

If you checked out any of the links, did you find one you really liked?