How to write Historical Fiction
The past is a foreign country with excellent records: period detail, real events, real people. Keep the dates and the dining customs straight or the letters column will find you.
Includes
Historical Fiction, Regency, Victorian, Medieval, Tudor, WWII Fiction
Beats readers look for
- Time Skip
- Ball / Assembly
- Journey
- Letter Scene
- Parliament / Court
- Season
- War News
- Anachronism Watch
- Real Event
- Household
Story structures that fit
- Three-Act Structure: The plain spine. Eight beats, no ideology. Best when other frameworks feel like too much scaffolding.
- Freytag's Pyramid: Classical rise and fall, with the turn in the middle. Best for tragedy and stories that end darker than they began.
- Hero's Journey: A transformation arc. Best when the story is about who the protagonist becomes, not just what happens.
Worth keeping track of
- Period Details
- Real Figures & Events