Last Thursday, I joined a panel of published writers at a Portsmouth Writers Hub event held at the University of Portsmouth, before an audience of fellow writers and readers. The agenda was to discuss the dark themes in our writing, as well as our research and writing processes. One of the questions asked of me …
Continue reading Ancient or modern? Language in historical fiction
For a change, I thought that this week’s blog post could be something a bit different, somewhat tangential to writing historical fiction, but by no means completely unrelated to my research interests. For, many months ago, when I first dipped my toe into Facebook’s scary waters (as they then seemed), I submitted a post about …
Over the years that I’ve been writing historical fiction, I've read a few opinions about it that might have convinced me to abandon the whole business! In this third and final blog post on the so-called "problems" of historical fiction, I consider the view that it often fails to portray the strangeness of the past. …
Since I’ve been writing historical fiction, I’ve read a few opinions about it that might have made me think the whole enterprise was a complete waste of time! In this second blog post on the so-called problems of historical fiction, I look at the idea that historical fiction is a lie… In 2000, Richard Lee, …
What “problem” with historical fiction, you might well ask… Since I’ve been writing historical fiction, I’ve read a few opinions about it that might have made me consider the whole enterprise a complete waste of time! Such as: “historical fiction can never be authentic”, “historical fiction is a lie” and “historical fiction invariably fails to …