Never forget that what you have written is fiction. If people get too serious about how real the story is and suggest things might not have happened that way, remind them they didn’t happen in any way because the story is fictional. However much you tried to be true to history, the fact remains: it’s made up.
Miriam Drori, Author 
11 replies on “2015 A to Z Challenge: F is for FICTION”
This is very true but the one thing that will stop me from finishing reading a novel is when the plot is so far fetched that it could only happen in real life. Not sure I’ve explained that properly. What I mean is that sometimes there are mind-blowing coincidences happening in real life but you know that if you tried to write them into a novel plot you wouldn’t get away with it because the reader wouldn’t believe it.
And that’s why real life is stranger than fiction.
That’s one of the pluses of historical fiction being fiction. As much as it is beneficial to make the era feel genuine, its fun to read of the things the author comes up with to make a fascinating story.
Agreed 🙂
Amen 🙂 Especially when it’s the kind of historical fiction that uses made-up characters in a historical setting…
@TarkabarkaHolgy from
Multicolored Diary – Epics from A to Z
MopDog – 26 Ways to Die in Medieval Hungary
Right.
I think this is the reason I am put off historical fiction – I spend all my time trying to work out what is fact and which people were real, which throws me out of the story.
If I want to know the facts, I read them when I’ve finished the novel.
I really hate when people harp on and on about how something wouldn’t have happened in real life! As long as it’s not something ridiculous like, say, an openly gay couple in 1950s Middle America or a woman in the 16th century with completely modern beliefs, one should just enjoy the story. The most important thing is that an event or character be within the realm of plausibility, and that a solid reason is given for something a little out of the norm happening.
Great advice. Thank you.
I prefer to write about ordinary people against a historical backdrop. I would find it incredibly hard to write a story about people who are famous historical figures. You have to make the story plausible in the context of the period and the character. I’m full of admiration for people who do take historical figures and write fiction about them, like Robert Harris on the Dreyfus case.