More on writing historical novels

Dear all,
First of all, please accept my apologies for writing a couple of typos in my last blog. As a writer of historical novels (and as one who writes that accuracy is important) this is a cardinal sin! 

In my last blog I referred to several problems that writers of historical novels encounter, such as your POV, point of view, writing in  the first or third person (I've never tried the second person) and being accurate, especially when referring to dates, actions and names of people and places.

Now I wish to continue and write about a few more problems which have to be considered when writing historical novels.

One of these is the question of suspense. How can you write (and hopefully sell) a novel when the reader knows what the end will be? For example, in my novel, Gunpowder, Treason & Plot about Guy Fawkes, the 17th century would be blower-up of the Houses of Parliament, was as everyone knows, caught before he could set light to the thirty-six barrels of gunpowder he'd hidden underneath the Houses of Parliament. So what's the point of writing/reading about this failed plot? Surely, the answer is that it is more fun to travel than to arrive. It is learning to find out why (in this particular story) that he failed rather than just know that he did so. 

The same can be said for my novel, Six Million Accusers: Catching Adolf Eichmann. It is known that in 1960 this top Nazi who was responsible for the murder of six millions Jews and millions of non-Jews was found hiding out in Buenos Aires. It is also known that the Israeli secret service "Mossad" was responsible for this and also for bringing this terrible monster back to Israel where he was tried and hanged. So why write a novel about it? Because the novel adds many of the details how the "Mossad" caught him and how he was smuggled back to Israel and because above all, it makes a very good, exciting and true story.

Similarly, what happened to Henry VIII's fourth and fifth wives, Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard are also very well-documented in history books. What I hope I have done in Anne of Cleves: Henry's Luckiest Wife and Catherine Howard: Henry's Fifth Failure is to tell these stories of Henry's marital problems in an interesting way even though we know what happened to these two ladies in the end.

Another problem  that comes with writing such novels is that the author (especially those like me who are retired teachers and lecturers) do not become too heavy and pedantic with the historical facts and background. The novels you write are written to be read and enjoyed and should not read like school textbooks. Recently I was reminded of this when I started reading a novel about the Scottish King James II. The well-known Scottish author insisted on including so many facts about the various lords, ladies and other people involved that reading it seemed like reading a book for a course on Medieval Scottish history. I gave up after the first sixty pages. All that was missing was a list of specimen exam questions at the end. If I want a textbook, I'll buy a textbook, if I want a novel, I'll buy a novel.

Background credibility is also a problem. You want your readers to believe in what they read and that you as the author, know what you are talking about. This means you should immerse yourself in your topic and learn as much as you can about the people and period involved. This also includes learning about buildings, transport, food, armour, dress, language and tens of other aspects of the past. It is imperative for example to read more than one account about a person or a place when carrying out your basic research. Was King Richard III the evil man who, according to Shakespeare and others, murdered the poor Princes in the Tower or not? Did the Tower of London look the same six hundred years ago, and did it fulfill the same functions that it does today?

Travelling to places that you write about is also important, though not always imperative. However, there is a problem with this. In several of my novels I have referred to various battlegrounds in England and Europe which I have visited. These have included the Civil War battlefield of Naseby, Northants. (1645) or Towton, Yorks. (1461) and Agincourt, France (1415). 

On arriving at these sites I have been sorely disappointed. I wasn't expecting to find bodies rotting there or pieces of rusting armour or anything like that, but seeing these places looking so peaceful and pastoral made it very difficult to imagine that hundreds of years ago, thousands of men had met there, clashing arms, and cutting and spearing their fellow men to death. And all of this was accompanied by blood-curdling yells, cries of pain and shouts of victory. This contrast was made even clearer when I visited Bannockburn, (1314) where Edward II was thrashed by Robert the Bruce. Apart from seeing a stylised statue of the Scottish king sitting astride a massive horse, much of the battlefield has been taken over by a housing estate!

However, enough of the blood and guts of history and next time I'll talk about using various sources to find out what really happened.

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