Demystify history
What counts as historical fiction, and how authentic does it have to be? Look at how to make writing set in the past vivid and relatable with advice from Margaret James
Margaret James
What is a historical novel? One set in the past, presumably?
But when does the present end, and when does the past begin: ten minutes, ten days, a decade, a century, a millennium ago?
Do novels set during an author’s own lifetime have any claim to be historical? I don’t see why not. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Sons and Lovers, David Copperfield and Frost in May are all set during the childhoods and early adulthoods of their central protagonists, who are fictionalised versions of the authors themselves. So, in a sense, they are all historical novels, aren’t they, reaching back into a well-remembered but now-vanished past, recreating those times for both fellow novelists and readers alike?