Writers of historical fiction use past events and people to create a narrative story that is entertaining for the general public. Some use this as a biographical tool to show readers what life was like for a famous historical figure. One example is the Boleyn series by Philippa Gregory. Others use events as a backdrop, but do not include historical characters except as occasional cameos. Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series is a good example of this. A third kind of historical fiction is the 'what if' type. This category takes real events and people and says what if this happened instead? This is often called historical fantasy. In this realm lives time travel, magic, and alternate history. Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series falls into this last category as well for the time travel element. Harry Turtledove is known for his alternate histories which ask questions of a military nature. Would the civil war have been different if fought with WWII weapons? The obvious answer is yes, but how would it have been different?
When writing a historical fiction novel the first question a writer must ask is when will it take place? Next is where. Will the characters be involved in an event? Does this involve traveling? How much do you know about this time period and its culture? How much research might be involved? How true to history do you wish to stay, or would you rather take artistic license in order for history to fit your story? Answering these questions will help you as you get started, but you may need to revisit a few as you write. Everyone has a different writing process. For many the story is created start to finish in an outline with characters and events in their basic form and then details fleshed out in the first draft. For others the creative process is wholly organic and the story seems to create itself.
The consistent piece of advice that every writer has every given any aspiring writer is this: Write, often. It doesn't matter what you write, just do it. To that end I have taken their advice. When I get stuck on one story I switch to another, or to this blog. Just so long as I write something everyday. Keep reading, keep writing, keep growing, keep learning.
