Novelist Andrew Martin considers why he’s drawn to writing historical fiction. I have written fourteen novels, most of them wholly or partly historical. (I say ‘wholly or partly’ because my latest, The Martian Girl, is set both in the modern day and 1898.) I am happy to identify as a historical novelist. It seems a logical […]
The New ‘Hybrid’ Author
Award-winning author C.C. Humphreys on his move from traditionally published to hybrid author. ‘Hybrid’, my Concise Oxford informs me, is ‘the offspring of two plants or animals of different species.’ Like a Tigon… or is it a Liger? I owned a Honda Accord a few years back. Part electric, part petrol. Also hybrid. I am […]
Why do Historical Authors Turn to Crime?
Our guest this month, Barry Forshaw, author of Historical Noir, examines the growing popularity of historical crime fiction. The historical crime genre might be said to have begun in earnest with Ellis Peters’ crime-solving monk Brother Cadfael in the 1970s, and Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose in 1980 (with another monkish detective), but it […]
Researching the Land of Silver
Tom Williams recalls his Argentinian adventures in the name of research. My first visit to Argentina was in 2003. I had been learning to dance tango in London and I decided I had to see how they danced in Buenos Aires. I completely fell in love with the place, so when I was looking for […]
Research and Reenactment
Christian Cameron on how experimental archaeology and reenactment influence his writing. I was recently in a panel that discussed the limits of authenticity in historical fiction. A wide variety of views were put forth, including some that might surprise; one author suggesting that it was impossible for any modern writer to accurately understand, much less represent, […]
The Story That Wouldn’t Let Me Go
Years ago, I worked as the features editor on a magazine. My job was to come up with ideas and find writers who wanted to tackle them. I remember thinking that my brain must be changing, the billions of neurons connecting in different ways, because I saw the whole world in terms of potential features. (I […]
A Step to Publication
As HWA team up with the Dorothy Dunnett Society to launch a brand new short story competition (Dorothy Dunnett pictured above), here’s Imogen Robertson on how competitions helped her get published. Have you heard that the Historical Writers’ Association are launching a new open short story competition for Historical Fiction with the Dorothy Dunnett Society this […]
Historical Fiction for Children
Tony Bradman on writing historical fiction for children. I first started getting published as a children’s writer in the mid-1980s. My own kids were young at the time, and I was reading lots of picture books and nursery rhymes to them, so it was natural for me to write picture book texts and poetry. My books did […]