If you want to write good historical fiction, whether your aim is to entertain, sell millions of copies, subvert reader expectations, win the Booker or an ambitious combination of the above, you need to understand the genre that you are working within. This means reading widely and familiarising yourself with the books that are already out there. This is a broad church, and even within the over-arching genre of historical fiction, you will find a wide variety in terms of subject, form and style as well as historical period. My advice is not to read narrowly within the sub-genre that interests you, but to spread your net widely and read as much as you can across as wide a spectrum as possible.
A slight difficulty here is that historical novels can be lengthy and time consuming to read. (Relatively) short historical novels I would highly recommend are Mrs Shakespeare by Robert Nye, Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue, The Passion by Jeanette Winterson, Affinity by Sarah Waters, Perfume by Patrick Susskind and Orlando by Virginia Woolf. On my current reading list is Pure by Andrew Miller and and An Instance of the Fingerpost by Ian Pears. And books that I have mentioned before that weigh in more heavily but were well worth the effort include both Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies, and The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.
I'd also recommend developing sub-genre awareness. If you want to write a Tudor crime thriller, make sure you read C.J. Sansom. If you want to write about the the hidden lives of women, read Philippa Gregory and Susannah Dunn. And if you want to read books that experiment with historical themes using literary innovation, I would recommend Ros Barber's The Marlowe Papers, Unexploded by Alison Macleod and When Nights were Cold by Susanna Jones.
It's great to immerse yourself in the work of other writers, whether they are your contemporaries or the long-dead authors of literary classics. As well as enjoying these novels and losing yourself in their pages, it is also worth jotting down notes as you go, and reading acquisitively, so that you can learn from the example of others.
How do they set the scene? Why are they writing the story now, and what does it say about the 21st century? How important are the various ingredients of the conventional novel - character, theme, plot, pace? Is the story undermining any of these conventions? Is it part of a sub-genre? Is this sub-genre literary fiction, and if so, what makes their approach 'literary'? Which elements of their technique might you want to emulate? Which elements do you feel are less successful?
There is no need to write reviews of everything you read, but I'd recommend making notes, and using Post It notes to mark your place easily. Writing historical fiction doesn't just involve researching your period, it involves researching the ways in which you can bring that period to life, and customise lost reality for your own purposes.
How do they set the scene? Why are they writing the story now, and what does it say about the 21st century? How important are the various ingredients of the conventional novel - character, theme, plot, pace? Is the story undermining any of these conventions? Is it part of a sub-genre? Is this sub-genre literary fiction, and if so, what makes their approach 'literary'? Which elements of their technique might you want to emulate? Which elements do you feel are less successful?
There is no need to write reviews of everything you read, but I'd recommend making notes, and using Post It notes to mark your place easily. Writing historical fiction doesn't just involve researching your period, it involves researching the ways in which you can bring that period to life, and customise lost reality for your own purposes.
