Genre Conventions: Historical Fiction
Greetings and salutations Scribblers! Thank you so much for joining me for another writing video. This is another video exploring genre conventions and expectations. Today we’re looking at the conventions of Historical Fiction.
Of course, genre conventions are important to crafting your story because you’re working within a familiar framework for the reader. Many readers will only read within a few specific genres with occasional forays into something new.
Because of this it’s vital that we understand the reader's expectations so we can deliver the story they’re expecting. And this isn’t to say that expectations and conventions can’t be subverted or reinvented, but in order to push those boundaries, you need to first understand what the conventions are and why.
Alright, Historical fiction. Generally speaking, for a novel to qualify as historical, it needs to be set at least 50 years prior to when it was written. There are some differing opinions on this, but this is a fairly simple way to decide if your novel qualifies as historical and the 50 year mark is what seems to be recognized by traditional publishing. Once you’ve decided your novel is historical, it’s common to then assign it a secondary category to narrow down the breadth of history. It might be a regency novel, medieval, ancient greece, or victorian. Additionally, authors often chose a specific event within that time period that was tumultuous or transformative. This can help you to weave in additional tension to your plot and characters and it gives readers a touchstone by referencing something they’ve likely heard about before.
Focusing in on the historical time period is important because it’s what is going to drive the majority of the factors in your story. You’ll need to do rigorous research to ensure your novel is offering an authentic look at the time period. This includes clothing, customs, slang, speech patterns, and technology. Getting any of these things wrong has the potential to throw your reader out of the story.
For me, a certified horse nerd, I immediately notice when tack or equipment is correct for the time period. My favorite example is in the movie Gladiator from 2002. They have metal stirrups, something not invented or used in 180 AD when the movie is set. Do I understand why they gave stirrups to Russel Crow and all the other actors? Yes. Does it stick in my head as an anachronism I feel compelled to point out every time? Also yes.
Horses happen to be my nerdy focus. My dad’s is cars, so when we watch a movie, he immediately points out any inaccuracies with cars. All this to say that if you don’t do your research, someone, somewhere is going to notice. It could be small and insignificant like me with the stirrup detail or it could be much bigger and end up causing you lots of PR problems.
So do your research! Ruta Sepetys, author of young adult historical fiction spends years researching her novels and the level of detail in them is fantastic. When you read them, you get a deep sense of the time period and culture in addition to the amazing story she’s weaving.
Every other convention I’m going to talk about for Historical fiction is going to track back to that research piece.
The characters in a historical novel need to speak and behave in the ways people would have spoken and behaved in the time. This means researching social norms and cultural values of the time. As the author, you have to be very aware of your own bias toward modern times and be careful the narrative or characters with modern thoughts and behaviors. This can mean writing scenes or ideas that absolutely horrid. And it really highlights how important that research is. Additionally, you have to consider why you’re potentially including that horrible idea or event. Does it actually play a role in the narrative or is it just because you feel you have to in order to be true to the time period? I think it’s worth considering what role that element plays in your story and if it adds to or distracts from the goal you had in mind.
In that vein, you might even have your fictional characters interacting with very real historical people. I’ll go back to Ruta Septys here, she includes well researched people who were influential and existed during the time periods she writes about and her characters either interact directly or indirectly with them.
This isn’t something you have to do, but it’s good to at least name drop some well researched people who were influential or maybe lived in the same city or region as your character. That’s who they would have gossiped about or maybe dreamt of living like. The same thing goes for historical events. Joseph Bruchac’s CodeTalkers takes the reader through multiple battles in the Pacific Theater during WW2. He did meticulous research with Navajo marines who’d been there in order to represent those incidents accurately.
Another convention of Historical fiction is the inclusion of sensory details to really immerse the reader in the ins and outs of daily life. This can be a description of the fabric, the smell of oil lamps, using the privy, or one of my personal favorites in historical novels, the medical practices. I get such a kick out of how we used to treat various conditions–especially those affecting women.
Now, of course, there is some wiggle room for authors to make some changes. If you’re doing this, you need to have a very clear rationale for why you’re merging events or perhaps having a historical figure be somewhere they weren’t on a particular day. When done with intention and an acknowledgement that you’ve made some alterations, the majority of readers are going to be fine with that choice. In the end though, it still means you’ve done your research and you know what you can bend and what needs to stay absolutely true.
Like most other genres you can combine historical with others. You can have a historical thriller or a historical romance. You can even have a historical fantasy meaning the world is very grounded in a historical period or event, but you’ve added in some fantastical elements. Naomi Novik’s His Majesty’s Dragons does this by adding dragons into the Napoleonic wars. There is a lot of historical elements, but also, dragons!
Those are the basics of the conventions for historical fiction. Research forms the base of all of them, so start doing those deep dives and taking notes!
I’d love to hear what your favorite historical novels are as I’m always looking to add to my TBR. Drop the titles in the comments below.
Have a fantastic rest of your day and I’ll see you next week! Happy Writing Scribblers!
As always, your mileage may vary! If you have any tips for recognizing burnout before it takes over completely, please drop those in the comments below.
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