Do you guys like writing historical fiction? It's my favorite genre! I read it, and am currently attempting to write and Epic Historical Fiction Novel about a family living in New York. What's your favorite time period? I especially love the 1870s-1910, but I also like the 1700s as it provides an especially detail-rich and glamorous setting to write about. As historical fiction writers I expect that we all know the dedication needed to even get it off of the ground--the research is like a whole other project in itself if one is looking to have a good story with detail and historical accuracy. I fear that I am rambling on--as I was just interested in seeing who else here, like me, was interested in writing under this genre.
My current project is a historical. It6's long been a favorite genre of mine - Michener, Uris, Wouk being among my favorites.
I love GOOD historicals and I love writing historical - mostly, I think, because I love the research. As much as anything, I love the learning new things about new places and people both societal and political. The emphasis, of course, is on GOOD. The irony here is that I absolutely abhorred history as a student in school until I got to University and lucked into a history teacher who loved the subject matter and taught her students to love it as well. My good fortune. I discovered things as a young adult I should have learned in high school and probably would have had I not been plagued with a teacher who literally put half the class to sleep with his boring, monotone lecturez-z-z-z-z-z-z. I since learned to love reading historical fiction as well as non-fiction and revel in the good quality work, throw out (yes, right into the trash!) poorly written, boring, tedious works. I have written time travel romance and period adventure and have always been conscious of the need to engage the reader in the STORY as much as the history. I have written of one hundred years ago and two and three. I've even dipped my toes in some very ancient times. I spend inordinate amounts of time researching various time periods and get lost in the 'little' things about a particular period and the people and what moved them. And, btw, the 1700s were not nearly so 'romantic' as you might believe! As much as society has glamourized so much of the 18th century, there was, as with every time and place, no matter how beautiful, an ugly underbelly of deprivation, disease, political intrigue. That, for me, is what makes it all so interesting. Whenever I find one of those "rocks" I always want to turn it over and see what's in the dirt underneath! NOTE: Learning moment of the day ... does anyone know why "history" is preceded by the article "a" but "historical" is preceded by the article "an"? (Bonus points if you can provide any other word with the same peculiar article/noun shift.)
i don't write it, but do enjoy the best... have happily devoured all the major historical fiction authors' works, going back to costain and shellabarger...
Oh God, I LOVE historical fiction! I'm reading a bunch right now, and I hope to one day write a historical fiction series of my own. I did attempt one, but it flopped because I honestly had no idea how to write historical fiction so I'm reading a bunch to learn.
It's like crack for me. I write something else but my keyboard always manages to write, "It was a cold day in 1660..." Haha.
I can agree with almost every previous post on this thread! I love this genre, almost reading exclusively in it because I love it so much! My novel is set in 14th century Britain and Ireland. I LOVE the research to the point that I go days just researching and have to drag myself back to the writing sometimes!
Exactly! Writing in history provides such an escape. It's so fun to discover new things about different time-periods. It's all just so fun!
Yes, it's my favourite genre as well. I don't write about famous people, but I like history, and researching my favourite periods. My current novel is set in Montana in 1885-86, the year before the big die-up that signaled the end of the free-range cattle industry. I've got about three bookcases full of research material, mostly social history of the period, as many primary sources as I could find, and other nonfiction that caught my attention. Research is a large part of the fun!
