When using real people in historical fiction, how far must you be true to them? Or, rather, how wildly may you traduce them? William Sutton ponders a common concern for writers. Do you worry about misrepresenting historical figures? “You faithless writer,” cry my characters, as I attribute to them words and attitudes they would renounce. […]
Research and Reenactment
Christian Cameron on how experimental archaeology and reenactment influence his writing. I was recently in a panel that discussed the limits of authenticity in historical fiction. A wide variety of views were put forth, including some that might surprise; one author suggesting that it was impossible for any modern writer to accurately understand, much less represent, […]
The Story That Wouldn’t Let Me Go
Years ago, I worked as the features editor on a magazine. My job was to come up with ideas and find writers who wanted to tackle them. I remember thinking that my brain must be changing, the billions of neurons connecting in different ways, because I saw the whole world in terms of potential features. (I […]
Historical Fiction for Children
Tony Bradman on writing historical fiction for children. I first started getting published as a children’s writer in the mid-1980s. My own kids were young at the time, and I was reading lots of picture books and nursery rhymes to them, so it was natural for me to write picture book texts and poetry. My books did […]
Historia Interviews: Antonia Senior
Antonia Senior talks to Elizabeth Fremantle about her new novel The Tyrant’s Shadow. The Tyrant’s Shadow follows on from the events of your previous novel Treason’s Daughter, was it always your intention to write more than one book with these characters? I had intended to write only one book. It was my then editor’s idea […]
All Clio’s Children
Sarah Hawkswood, author of the Bradecote and Catchpoll series, on how being an academic historian influences her fiction. I am an historian, and I am also a writer of historical fiction. Being the former influences how I write as the latter, imposes a ‘morality’, but I do not see it as constricting. I also do not […]
A Place In History
Jane Harlond explores how real places inspire authors. There is a cave in Iceland that I will always remember. It is a place I have never been, but Karen Maitland took me there in Falcons of Fire and Ice and I have never been able to forget it. There is a valley full of butterflies […]
On Writing Agatha Christie
Alison Joseph on bringing a a literary legend to life. Georges Simenon once wrote a playful little volume called Maigret’s Memoirs. It is a witty, insightful piece of work, in which Maigret attempts to put the record straight about what happened when this odd little man called Georges Sim was given permission by the French […]