Articles

Step 6: Character motivation and agency in historical fiction

Today I want to look at how to ensure your characters have agency. That’s often tricky in historical fiction, particularly for female characters who in their daily lives would have been highly circumscribed.

Step 5 – Writing a killer historical hook

You may have heard literary agents talking about ‘hooks’ and books being ‘hooky’ or, devastatingly, ‘not hooky enough’? What the hell does this mean, and how do you find a killer hook for your historical novel?

Step 4 – Researching for historical fiction

Today I’m discussing the bit most historical writers love just a bit too much: the research. How much research should you do? Should you research in depth before you begin, or only as you go along? And how do you avoid getting lost down a research rabbit hole?

Step 3 – Establishing rules and finding your voice

Today, I’m asking: How do you decide what kind of historical novel you’re writing, and what kind of rules you’re following? And how do you find the right voice for your novel?

Step 2 – Defining historical fiction

This is the second in a series of blog posts discussing how to write historical fiction and following how I wrote my own historical novel, ‘The House of Whispers’. Today, I’m asking what is historical fiction? Why write it? And how do you find a good idea?

Step 1 – How to start writing a historical novel

This is the first in a series of blog posts discussing how I wrote my fourth historical novel, ‘The House of Whispers’.How do you get started on the first draft? How do you research and plan it? How do you edit it and get it published?