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By Rosanne E. Lortz What’s the proper ratio of fact to fiction? It’s a common discussion among writers of historical fiction. Some authors feel bound to honor every known fact and only invent material where the historical record is silent. Others use history as a rough guideline and let their imaginations run wild. Some sit solidly on the historical side of the spectrum while others fly their flag more freely in the opposing field of fiction . But in both cases, historical novelists’ books meet the requirements of their genre. They are, to a greater or lesser degree, inspired by and based on the actual events of history, but no one mistakes them for history itself. No one looks for historical novels in the nonfiction section of the bookstore. Geoffrey of Monmouth lived in the twelfth century, an age where distinctions like history and historical fiction had yet to be drawn. His book, The History of the Kings of Britain , traced the history of Britain from its alleged establishment by B...

As a writer of historical fiction I am fascinated by the stories we inherit about history. Quite a few of these are 'urban myths' - stories that travel orally usually via bars or other social meeting grounds. I recently came across an entertaining one which apparently went viral across the internet in the 1980's.  image of Titanic from www.bbc.co.uk A Russian destroyer was on manoeuvres near Iceland when the captain spotted a strange dark shape on an iceberg floating some distance away. They went in closer for a better look and saw it was a woman, dressed in a long black dress and lying on her back. She was encased in a thin layer of ice. A party of men including a physician went to investigate and spent almost an hour freeing her from the ice. However her outdated clothes showed she had perhaps been frozen for fifty years or more. In the pockets of the woman's coat were found a brooch, a purse with old english money, and a number of documents including one that said sh...

That is a question all authors of historical fiction face when choosing a time period or incident to write about.  Yes, the answer can vary, but so can the results and repercussions of the choice. Generally, historical fiction can be broken down into 4 categories of choice regarding the amount of fiction involved. These run the gambit: history light, history interwoven, re-imagined and based upon a true story . History light and history interwoven are perhaps the two easiest to distinguish. History light would include the old Harlequin or Silhouette romances along with paranormal, where history is just a flavoring to the story and not essential. History interwoven are stories when the characters seamlessly interact with the real people and society of the time.  The more tricky categories are the last two: re-imagined and based upon a true story .  Don’t confuse the two as being interrelated, because that isn’t necessarily the case. Re-imagined or alternative takes ...