The Fact vs. Fiction War... oh, for heaven's sake

A Writer’s Journey

Here’s a topic I hear again and again: how much fact and how much fiction should you put in your historical fiction? I’ve seen it in forums, on blogs, in groups, at the HNS conference, everywhere.


We’re never going to solve this dilemma because it’s not a black-and-white issue. It depends on the type of book your writing, and it depends on what facts you twist and what fiction you insert. 


While all of that makes a difference, this is the one question I think determines how much fact and fiction is appropriate for you:


What is your book trying to accomplish?


That’s what it all boils down to, really. If you’re trying to write an accurate, true-to-life book that includes a works cited list, you darn well better get your facts right. If you want to write a romance or a mystery about people who never really lived, the story comes first.


This is why we can’t find a solution to this question: the answer is different for every author.


I think every hist-fic author should write their own Mission Statement. We should individually take a stance on how we think our novels should be, and we should stick by it. Readers only get frustrated when an author wavers from his stance.


Here’s my Mission Statement: There are three elements in writing a historical fiction, and I’ve ranked them according to what’s most important to me.

1. The Purpose
2. The History
3. The Story

On A Writers Journey, aspiring novelist Teralyn Rose Pilgrim talks about the excitements and disappointments that go along with her budding career. Currently agents are looking at her historical fiction about Rome’s Vestal Virgins.
teralynpilgrimm.blogspot.com

Read more at A Writer’s Journey