ShmoopTube

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[Coop and Dino singing]

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With most fiction, an author can pretty much…have at it.

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Want there to be dinosaurs in outer space? Go for it. Good luck colonizing Mars, guys. [Dinosaurs wandering on a deserted planet]

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But in historical fiction, the setting has to ring true.

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Otherwise, it, uh…won’t be historical. [Dinosaurs walking in a field]

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The time and place need to be real, even if every little bit of dialogue and each minor

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detail can’t be verified.

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In other words…the author needs to do research! [Man walks into room to read]

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And you thought you were going to be off the hook by writing fiction, eh?

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In a work of historical fiction, the characters don’t need to be real people… [Waiter brings man the bill]

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…like, there doesn’t need to be an hour-long special about their life and times on the

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History Channel… …but they should be based on how people

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acted and thought at the time. Otherwise, the story will not be believable. [Old man riding a unicorn]

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And yeah, even though you’re writing fiction, you want it to be believable.

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While you’re free to invent your own heroes and villains…

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…some of the characters in your story might be inspired by actual people. [Man sitting on a bench and Abraham Lincoln appears behind him]

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In that case, you can rely on stuff we know about ‘em…

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…to fill out your story and make it more realistic, or grounded in reality.

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Even some of their dialogue may actually have been uttered. [Man stood in a prison cell]

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But that depends on what records are available… …and how much liberty the writer takes with

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the facts. So yeah… Thomas Jefferson probably never [Olden soldiers greeting man in a prison cell]

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used the phrase, “Talk to the hand” but…hey, it’s your story. [Jefferson telling a man to talk to the hand]

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Now…what does every good story need? That’s right… conflict. [Soldiers firing a rifle]

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Your characters have to experience conflict or there will be no story…

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…and the external conflicts need to pertain to the actual times.

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i.e…no surprise invasion of Huns if your story is set in early 20th century England. [Men on horses invade]

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The plot has to be based on real events, too… …but the author has some leeway.

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The way people speak—the dialogue of the characters—also needs to be realistic.

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If your Maasai warrior from Kenya is speaking with a London Cockney accent… [A Massai Kenyan warrior]

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you’ve got a problem. That said…it’s quite common for modern

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writers to simplify dialogue for modern audiences. So just having them speak in plain ol’ English [Juliet looking down at Romeo on a balcony]

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is totally fine.

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Follow those simple rules and you won’t have any angry historians banging on your front door. [Door opens and bag on fire on the floor]

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And no one wants that. Those guys can get awfully aggressive.

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