Welcome to Tuesday Book Chat. This is where we encourage book lovers to answer our bookish question of the week.
Today’s question is:
Is it important for an author to get their facts right in Historical Fiction?
We look forward to hearing your thoughts. Please join in the conversation by commenting on this post or on the blog post shared in our Australasian Christian Writers Facebook Group.
Let’s chat!
Simple answer Yes. I have read a few books where the author too liberties with the exact order of things to suit their books however they did have a note to readers with the actual facts. It worked well as the letter had the actual facts and information and she was upfront with what she was doing. I have also read a few books where facts were not checked and one where I am sure the author didn’t think readers would care. It was partly set in Australia and WW2 having far north Queensland 2 hours drive from Sydney. I still remember and am annoyed. The author at the time was very popular and with an American audience most wouldn’t pick it up. I then could see her other historicals set outside America also were full of errors.
When an author takes the time to research facts it shows up in the story and makes me as a reader feel appreciated. I am still waiting to be asked who Rolland Garros home of the French Open was named after. Thanks to Gilbert Morris I have the answer. I appreciate how much research went into his books.
Your turn.
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ABSOLUTELY!!! In an older work that was written before the Internet, I’ll cut a lot of slack because it was hard to do the research. If you weren’t near a good research library specializing in your story’s time and location, it might be almost impossible. Like in Ben Hur, where Judah Ben Hur was sentenced to be a galley slave rowing a Roman warship. Not accurate. The rowers were all professional sailors serving 26 years for a good retirement payment. They were trained military men who could be transferred to fight in a legion if required (and it was required at least once). But how was Lew Wallace to know that as he sat writing in the governor’s palace in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1880?
But today when you can find so much information with a few keystrokes, I expect a historical author to do the research and give me a great story that also gets the history right.
Thats true. The book I was referring to was probably the 90’s but even then some of the info could have been found at the library as it was set in WW2 also a good atlas would show how far the places she mentioned were apart. (Also that where she put a major harbour for the warships was not an actual port). Gilbert Morris started the House of Winslow series in mid 80’s and gets most of the info correct. He did teach history and had a research assistant later on.
But I can see books set prior to the 70″ and 80’s would have less chance to get things accurate.
I think it’s important to do your best to make it historically accurate. Depending on the time and place, it might not be possible to research absolutely everything, but as Carol said, it’s so easy with the internet these days. There’s really no excuse for not fact-checking obvious things like clothing, modes of transport, inventions available at the time etc. If your novel doesn’t have the ring of truth about it, people won’t believe your story world. However, you also have to remember that it is fiction, so some poetic license is okay as long as you don’t mess with the main facts. I read a book once where the author included a note to say that she changed the date of an actual shipwreck by several years so that it fit better with her timeline. It was good that she clarified it in an author note, but I would have preferred her to make up a shipwreck and then say in the note that it was inspired by the actual one. It’s sometimes a tricky line though between what makes a good story and what is historically accurate.
Thats so true too. The book I was thinking of is set in the American/Mexican war and she just moved some of the timeline to fit the book. But had a detailed account of what actually happened at the end of the book. At the front was a short note to say somethings had been changed.
I know other authors have use historical figures because they were alive at the time and one or too took a lot of political license but they did make note of this also at the end of the book.
I know a lady who slammed a book set in England that had tea in it when it wasn’t introduced to England till years later. Those sorts of things I wouldn’t notice. But I do remember a WW2 movie that was full of swearing and words that would not have been used in the timeline. (I was at the movies with a friend so couldn’t just walk out). The word used really didn’t come into our speech til the 80’s and then it was used more for shock now its used way to much. I then watched a Historical before WW1 where it was used so much. Thats when I get mad one its full of bad language but they use words that were not even around back then.
Hi Jenny – Yes that is annoying when they use modern phases and swearing in historical books and movies. I guess they’re trying to appeal to a modern audience, but I think they should stay true to the era.
I agree I think it is for shock value sometimes.
I read a novel written by a lovely America lady set in Outback Queensland. It was a great story and as we have travelled fairly extensively in the outback the descriptions were very good. There was one glaring misnomer. She told of a typhoon that hit the area!
It seems to be a common issue with overseas authors often getting terms wrong or small things. It doesn’t happen as much now but I think some wrote Australia as different location not realizing Australians would notice the issues