The Blog

How Much Fact is in Historical Fiction?

Aug 7, 2018 | Guest Author

Debbie Harpham

Pat-Bracewell-books

In historical fiction, there is always the question of how much of the story is true and how much is invented. How do you go about making that decision? Can you give examples?

Patricia Bracewell, historical fiction author of the Emma of Normandy Trilogy book series, was recently posed with these questions.  Here are her thoughts:

My first rule of thumb is: do not re-write history. So, I begin with the history that we know. That being said, I’m extremely lucky as a writer of historical FICTION that much of what happened to my central character, Emma of Normandy, is unknown. So I have a lot of opportunity to write into the blank spaces: to imagine what she thought and felt about the things that we DO know that happened in her life, within the context of the culture and the time in which she lived. When writing a novel, though, the author has to keep in mind the needs of the story for drama and, especially. for conflict – because conflict is the driving force behind any good story. For example, I chose to make one of the central conflicts in my trilogy the relationship between this young bride, her much older, somewhat villainous husband, and her eldest stepson. Was there any such conflict? I don’t know, but it is not impossible, and it certainly added conflict to my story. It works on several levels, so that there is the internal conflict of a son in love with his father’s wife, and a queen in love with her stepson, and both of them resisting that temptation. There is also the older king who is suspicious of his ambitious son, his foreign wife and, really, just about everyone else in the book. So this creates a great deal of inner tension and conflict that adds to the exterior conflict of ravaging vikings and court intrigue.

Even the history that we do have is quite baldly stated. For example, in 1012 the Archbishop of Canterbury was murdered by Danes, and his body was carried to London. When the body was brought to London, what happened? Who delivered the body? Who was there to receive it? What was said on either side? We don’t know. I had to answer those questions, and it gave me an opportunity to insert Queen Emma into that scene and make her an active participant, because we don’t know the details of what actually occurred. That’s where the fiction comes in. It is story that springs from speculation about the known facts.

Patricia’s third book in the trilogy is in the works.   She is available to visit with book clubs via NovelNetwork.