Have you ever noticed that movies based on real events have different taglines? If it says ‘based on a true story’, it will stick fairly closely to the facts. The producer and director still take some poetic licence, or it would be a documentary rather than a movie, but the main elements will be true. However, if the tagline says ‘inspired by true events’, a lot more liberties will be taken. They may keep a couple of historical details intact, but most of the story will be made up. (Click here for an interesting short video on this topic by the Movie University.)
How ‘True’ Should True Characters Be?
This got me thinking about historical fiction, especially novels that include actual historical figures. Just like the movies, authors take some creative licence, or it would be non-fiction rather than fiction. But how true to life do readers expect the characters and story to be?
If you write a novel based on the story of Esther in the Bible, as Tommy Tenney and Mark Andrew Olsen did in Hadassah: One Night with the King, how closely should it stick to the account in scripture?
Should you have Winston Churchill interacting with fictitious characters in your epic World War II saga? (Though I’m pretty sure he didn’t really interact with Dr Who and Amy Pond in the TV episode Victory of the Daleks. Please correct me if I’m wrong!)
Case Studies from ‘Scattered’
I had to consider this issue in my novel Scattered, set in Nova Scotia in 1882—not whether to include Daleks, but whether to use actual historical figures. All of my main characters are fictitious, but the story is set against the backdrop of the Home Children migration scheme which saw more than 100 000 British children sent to Canada from 1869 through to the 1930s (with some beyond that). You can read more about that scheme and my inspiration for the story here.
In the end, I only included three actual characters: Duncan and Barbara McDonald, and Maria Rye. As my heroine Maggie is shipwrecked on Sable Island in 1882, I thought it was important to mention the actual superintendent of the lifesaving station and his wife, rather than make them up. However, it wasn’t easy finding information. I gleaned some facts from the book Sable Island Shipwrecks by Lyall Campbell and another account of a Sable Island shipwreck by Janet Carnochan in which she mentioned some of the kind and hospitable things Mrs McDonald did for the survivors. So I decided to make the McDonalds nice, kind people. Did they have children? I have no idea, so I left that out altogether. Other Sable Island characters like Tom, Gus and Sapphire the mare are purely fictitious.
There is a lot more information available about Maria Rye, one of the original figures involved in the Home Children Scheme, though I have read mixed reports. Some see her as a champion of orphans and disadvantaged children, while others haven’t painted as rosy a picture. As she is only a minor character, I decided to portray her in a fairly neutral way. Two of my characters visit her orphanage and she is polite and offers them tea. Apart from that, she is just mentioned a couple of times when my heroine tries to gather information about her missing sister.
Hopefully, I’ve portrayed the essence of these characters in a way that supports the rest of the historical background. However, I think it would be much more difficult if your historical figures played a major role in your story.
How Much Liberty Can You Take?
So how much can you ‘play around’ with the facts when dealing with actual historical people?
There are no right or wrong answers; however, you do need to think about your audience and their expectations. If you are clearly writing in the alternate history genre (e.g., Philip K. Dick’s Man in the High Castle in which America has lost World War II), your readers know you’re playing the ‘What if?’ game with history. If you’re writing satire (e.g., Sue Townsend’s 2006 novel Queen Camilla, about the British Royal Family), readers will understand that you’re poking fun at certain individuals.
However, if you’re writing traditional historical fiction, I think readers will expect that you’ve gotten the main facts straight. They probably won’t mind if a fictitious character has dinner with Jane Austen, but they might complain if Jane pops up in the middle of the Crimean War with Florence Nightingale.
There may also be ethical issues in how you portray a particular person. Do you show them in a positive or negative light? How reliable is the research on which you base your conclusions? Do you have any biases that might affect how you tell their stories? (Hint: We all have biases.)
This post has probably raised more questions than it’s answered, but it’s often good to ‘think out loud’ as we grapple with these issues.
What do you think about the portrayal of actual historical figures in historical fiction? Do you have any good or bad examples you can share? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
(Featured Photo: ImaArtist from Pixabay)
I really enjoyed reading this, Nola. I have shared it with my friend who leads our Book Chatter group since they chose to read your novel recently. I thought they might be interested in the background you shared.
Hi Heather – I’m glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for passing it on. I always like to read extra author notes in the backs of books, especially ones that are historical or set against real events. I always want to know how true they are. I do the same thing with movies. I usually google the character afterwards to see how true to life it was. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Good questions, Nola. As a reader, I think I learned to modify my expectation of ‘actual factual’ in fiction (on screen or paper) after I read Maria Von Trapp’s biographical account of ‘The Trapp Family Singers’ as a teenager. I loved her comment that, although ‘The Sound of Music’ diverged substantially from her account, she’d felt that Rogers and Hammerstein had captured the essence of their story and faith very well. Though very different, I love both versions.
As an author … the challenge of appropriate portrayal is real, and not just in regard to actual people but well-known organisations, locations, minor yet factual events, etc. Even there, I think the questions you’ve raised and suggestions you’ve made are relevant and helpful.
Thanks for that, Mazzy. I felt the same after reading Maria von Trapp’s book. The real Maria was much younger, the Baroness was a Princess, and I think one or two more children had arrived before they whizzed over the mountains. Though it probably did cover some of the essence of the true story. Whenever I watch a biopic now, I’m usually on google straight away afterwards to find out what was real.
And yes, you’re right about all those decisions to be made with other ‘true’ facts. I’m plotting my next novel now, and there will be a couple of actual organisations, like the harness racing industry in 1896. The track I’m going to be using is still in operation today, so there will be choices to be made. Probably good to discuss over a cuppa at our next meeting.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
I found this to be soooo interesting, Nola. I like reading ‘based on real person/life’ stories, and often wonder about the ‘truth’ in some of the ‘telling’.
Thanks Susan. Glad you enjoyed it. I always like to read the author notes at the end of books where they sometimes say which bits were true and which weren’t. If it’s a biography, you’d expect it to be pretty accurate, but a lot of licence is sometimes used in historical fiction. Always interesting trying to weave in those historical facts, but remembering that you’re trying to write an engaging story. Thanks for taking the time to comment.