Writing Stigmas

The Stigma of Genre

Rebecca Mikkelson, Editor-in-Chief Authors 4 Authors Publishing

We’ve been noticing a troubling trend when either we participate in Twitter pitch events or authors submit their work to us. We think it’s time to start talking about it. We’re Authors 4 Authors because we’re passionate about fellow authors and helping them succeed, and sometimes that means speaking up for them when they’re too scared or unable to do it for themselves.

(Note: This blog has been updated since its original publication.)

What’s Happening?

Authors, friends, readers, we’ve got some news for you that you probably already know. There are stigmas against writers across every genre. Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Romance, and the list goes on. And on. And on.

Today we’re going to be talking specifically about the stigma against romance writers. Before we get too far into this blog post, I wanted to make it clear that this is written from an outside perspective. I don’t typically read romance, nor do I write in the genre. (Note: Since the original writing of this post, I have dipped my toes into writing romance.) I wanted to write this post to look at this issue with a more critical eye and less of an emotional retaliation of my genre being talked about poorly.

We recently participated in a Twitter pitch event where we were specifically looking for romance and romance subgenres, and we had to dig and dig and dig to find them because they aren’t marked as such. It breaks all of our hearts at A4A, seeing authors pitch their work that is clearly a romance without the accompanying tag because they’re worried it will diminish their desirability as an author, which means publishers and agents who are actively looking for romances aren’t seeing them unless they dig through everything else. And let’s be honest, most agents and publishers do not have the time to look through every pitch and play guess-the-genre. 

Because romance can be its own genre and combine with any other genre, we see more examples of this stigma with romance than with other genres.  We’ll give an example of what we’ve been seeing using A4A founder Brandi Spencer’s romantic fantasy, Kiss of Treason: 

#PitMad Two forbidden lovers share the rare gift to heal others with a kiss—but at a cost. Odelia and Kennard navigate a world where power always has a price. If they choose the wrong paths, they could destroy not only their hearts but lives and nations. #F #A #SPF #IRMC 

Why would a romance writer withhold a romance tag when it’s clearly a romance? Because they hear varying comments that all amount to romance is not for serious writers when they talk about their work with others. It makes authors fearful of the reactions they’ll get and hesitant to share their work.

Other happenings

Hellooo, beefcake. 

It’s no secret that romance novels often have people on the cover, and they’re often incredibly muscular, oiled up, and generally very attractive. Sometimes with an equally attractive woman on the cover.  This might be to people’s taste; it might not be. All of that is fine. We’re all allowed to like what we like, and you should celebrate what you like. 

However.

There’s a long history of viewing romance novels—particularly for the last several decades—as nothing more than written porn, and having a greased-up muscle man on the cover is just the model the reader is supposed to file away into their spank bank while reading. There are books like that, sure, but there are plenty more that aren’t. 

Having attractive people on romance covers does not automatically mean there isn’t any substantive content within the work, and people still thinking that today feels much like trying to keep the romance genre in its ridiculed origins. 

Why is it happening?

The short answer? Patriarchy. 

Who runs the world? Sorry, Beyoncé, it’s not women. Especially in the writing world. And that’s something we want to change because, as women authors and women business owners, we’re especially passionate about uplifting women and helping them succeed. 

Romance is considered the fluff of the writing world. Why? Because it’s primarily written by women, and men don’t take women seriously. It’s seen as akin to women in the 1950s going to college and getting degrees in art history for the sake of finding a husband. They didn’t really need the degree, but they needed the husband. Their degrees were “cute,” much like the effort of women writing a book is seen as “cute.” Because, you know, real books can only be written by men. 

This is particularly true for young adult romances, the most poked-at demographic of all. Take Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight books for example...likely, you’ve heard a wisecrack about the books and movies, no matter the skill you think she has as an author. We’ll take this a little further and compare her to Dan Brown. Their books both came out around the same time and received backlash, but Meyer has continued to receive backlash for years after Brown’s books. Why? Because she had “teens” in love. And in the patriarchal world, there’s nothing sillier than a female teenager in love. 

The content of the books aren’t that much different in their fantastical natures. Brown has a scavenger hunt for Jesus’ hidden descent and stopped just short of Lizard Men living in the sewers, while Meyer’s had a teenage vampire in love with a human teenager, with a teen werewolf in heat thrown in for good measure. When explained in plain terms, both sound, well, ridiculous. So why does Meyers get made fun of more and for longer? It’s a romance, and she’s a woman.

Hiding in Plain Sight

Throughout history, women have had to hide behind a man’s name to be taken seriously. There have been so many female authors that have used pen names or ambiguous initials to hide their sex. We do want to acknowledge that there are other reasons women use pen names, such as privacy or a dislike of their names, but historically, it’s been to be taken more seriously. Even though they’re revered for their writing skill, the Brontë sisters wrote under pen names. Louise May Alcott originally published her gothic stories under A. M. Barnard before publishing Little Women with her real name. 

To give a more modern example, Joanne Rowling published under J. K. Rowling because of her publisher. While they thought that the story would appeal to both boys and girls, they still wanted to hide her gender.

When even a publisher thinks that women won’t be taken seriously, there is something wrong. And it needs to be changed. Quickly.

How to stop it

This is a simple answer, but not a simple change. When an author tells you they write romance, don’t automatically say, “Oh, romance. Those are silly. It’s not what real life is like,” or, “Who reads this trash? No respectable woman, that’s for sure.” You’re discouraging people to write what they love, and you should be ashamed of yourselves. Genre shaming is never okay, no matter the genre. 

Romance isn’t for everyone. Let us repeat that and add a little more to it. Romance isn’t for everyone, just the same as Sci-Fi isn’t for everyone. Or Fantasy isn’t for everyone. There are so many kinds of romances, and they don’t have to just jump from one sex scene to the next. You can have anything between a sweet romance, where the fiction is chaste, and erotic romance, where it gets hot and steamy. If you want to read more about those, you can check out our past blog posts about romance and erotica. You might even like them…if only romance were for serious writers.

Twitter has an amazing writing community, so why don’t we speak up more about this? If you see someone genre shaming—no matter the genre—say something. Call for an end to it, let the shamer know it’s not okay and never will be okay.

Own your genre

Whatever you write, you should be proud of it because it’s yours and something you love. It’s something you’ve put your blood, sweat, and tears into. Don’t let anyone tell you or make you feel that what you do isn’t good enough just because it’s a certain type of fiction. Fiction is just that: fiction.  It’s not entirely like real life. It’s not supposed to be. Romance is about the fantasy, the escape, just the same as any other genre. There’s just more sex—sometimes.

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Genre: Thriller

What is a thriller? What makes it different from similar genres?

Madison Wheatley, A4A Author

Last week, we talked about the action genre. This week, guest writer Madison Wheatley is here to tell us about the thriller genre.

What is a thriller?

They keep up us reading well past midnight. They hook us in and keep us engaged with their dark, twisty plots. They keep us guessing (or even dreading) what will happen next. In some ways, though, the thriller genre is hard to define. After all, don’t stories of all genres have the potential to thrill us in one way or another? And what’s the difference between a thriller and a mystery or a thriller and a horror story? Nonetheless, the thriller is a distinctive genre with unique traits that both set it apart from other types of literature.

History

According to many experts, this genre dates as far back as ancient Greece, with Homer’s The Odyssey being the first example of a thriller; throughout the epic tale, the reader follows Odysseus as he battles the raging sea, faces dangerous creatures, and overcomes challenging obstacles on his journey home. Despite its archaic form, The Odyssey exemplifies many characteristics of the modern thriller.

While stories like The Odyssey, fairy tales, and other early legends have thrilling elements, the thriller novel as we know it would not emerge until the mid-1800s with “revenge thrillers” such as The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. In the early 20th century, spy fiction by authors such as Edgar Wallace and Robert Erskine Childers helped to further define the thriller genre.

Today, the thriller is one of the most popular genres among adult readers, and some young adult thrillers are gaining popularity, as well.

Elements of Thrillers

What makes a thriller a thriller? Well, it’s all in the name. While a thriller can center on a number of different scenarios, its primary purpose is to thrill the reader. Authors do this by employing a variety of tropes and literary devices.

• Suspense: Suspense is a natural part of everyday life; whenever we find ourselves hoping that something will happen and fearing it won’t at the same time (or vice versa), we’re in a state of suspense. This mixture of fear and hope is what Plato refers to as the Paradox of Suspense, and it is an effective motivator to keep readers turning the pages.
• Plot twists and red herrings: Good thrillers have plots that leave the reader shocked. While a skillful author may drop hints pointing toward a plot twist, she may also include red herrings to intentionally mislead the reader. Plot twists and red herrings keep the reader guessing, never knowing what will happen next.
• High stakes, danger, and adventure: Although not every thriller will include car chases or serial killers, all thrillers are known for having high stakes and a sense of danger. Danger can take many forms, some violent and concrete and others more psychological and abstract. Regardless, in a thriller, authors will ramp up the tension as the story progresses, making it all the more readable.
• Emphasis on plot over character (sometimes): While good fiction depends on good characterization, some genres emphasize plot over character. This is the case with many thrillers; it’s the twisted plot threads and the action that keeps us reading. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, though, and there are plenty of exceptions. Psychological thrillers, for example, heavily rely on character.

Thrillers vs. Horror and Mystery

While many people confuse thrillers with horror, again, the difference between the two is all in the name: the purpose of horror is to horrify you while the purpose of a thriller is to thrill. The two genres may share similar elements, but they each evoke different literary moods. In the same way, thrillers and mysteries are not interchangeable; a mystery novel may have thrilling elements, but it will focus on the mystery itself more than a thriller would.

While there are plenty of things that set the thriller genre apart from others, I found in my research examples of books that are called thrillers by some and horror novels by others. Genre is not always clean-cut, though, and is ultimately up to the reader’s interpretation.

Subgenres

The thriller is a genre with a number of unique subgenres. Here are just a few examples:

• Crime Thriller/Forensic Thriller/Police Procedural: These are examples of fiction that center on a criminal investigation. Crime thrillers, however, are often written from the criminal’s point of view while forensic thrillers and police procedurals center on detectives or forensic scientists trying to catch a criminal. (Example: The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris.)
• Psychological Thriller: As its name suggests, the conflict in this subgenre exists within a character’s own mind. While psychological thrillers may have scenes of action or violence, the main problem should be solved by a protagonist’s wits and mental stability. (Example: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.)
• Action Thriller: While psychological thrillers emphasize mental conflict, action thrillers on the other hand heavily utilize physical action. This subgenre, more commonly seen in movies than in novels, is known for its fast-paced, action-packed plots. (Example: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.)
• Spy Thriller: One of the first examples of the modern thriller, this subgenre is known for combining the high adventure of an action thriller and the mental elements of a mystery. (Example: The Bourne Trilogy by Robert Ludlum.)
• Supernatural Thriller: Supernatural thrillers include otherworldly elements; a protagonist may have a psychic ability, or the antagonist may be an entity from another realm. This subgenre is a good example of one that blends fantasy and reality. (Example: The Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz.)
• Disaster Thriller/Eco-Thriller: In a disaster thriller, the protagonist must protect himself from or prevent a natural disaster. Similarly, in an eco-thriller, the protagonist must stop a threat to the environment. (Examples: Twister and State of Fear by Michael Crichton.)

In addition to these subgenres, there are also examples of thrillers combined with other popular genres. Examples include romantic thrillers, mystery thrillers, sci-fi thrillers, and others. There are also thrillers that center on specific professional fields, such as financial thrillers, political thrillers, and legal thrillers.

Conclusion

Although thrillers can be difficult to classify and are easily blended with other genres, remember that their mood is what sets them apart from other books. When writing a thriller, keep the reader on the edge of their seat with plenty of twists and turns, engaging conflict, and an exciting conclusion.

Do you have a favorite thriller? Let us know on Twitter or Facebook!

Madison Wheatley is an author and middle/high school English teacher from Northwest Indiana. When it comes to writing, she has a love for genre-blending; her current projects are an urban fantasy police procedural and a paranormal psychological thriller novel. Her YA horror short "All That Glitters" is published in Seven Deadly Sins, a YA Anthology: Avarice. When not writing, Madison enjoys reading, video games, and spending time with her husband and her Mountain Feist. You can connect with her on Twitter or on her website.

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Genre: Humor

What makes a novel comedic? What makes humorous writing different than other forms of comedy?

Brandi Spencer (formerly B. C. Marine), Secretary-Treasurer Authors 4 Authors Publishing

Humor is subjective. We all have friends and family who will laugh themselves silly at things we don’t find funny in the least. And we’ve all been baffled to see someone greet a hilarious joke with a blank stare. How can something so subjective be used as a fiction genre?

Form and Intent

While people may not agree on what’s actually funny, most of us can recognize a joke, regardless of its quality. Comedy follows well-worn patterns and forms, most of which depend on what culture you belong to. For the sake of my sanity, I’m only going to look at Western, English-speaking humor. If you think there’s a lot of variation in sense of humor between your friends, the variation between cultures amplifies that!

Even if we don’t know the proper name for elements like irony or the difference between black comedy and blue comedy, we’ve been socialized to know that laughing is the expected response to them. In the humor genre, stories are packed with moments that are intended to be funny. While every genre (and I mean every genre) can be funny, in a humorous story, joke-telling is the primary purpose. For example, a romantic comedy tells the story of a couple falling in love, like all other romances, but instead of emphasizing feelings, it might escalate absurdity for the climax.

Types of Written Humor

Without the inflection and timing of a live comedian or the sight gags of comic strips, television, and movies, written humor has some limitations. Slapstick, physical, prop, deadpan, music, improvisational, and cringe humor can be difficult, if not impossible to translate into written form.

So what are some forms that work well?

Wit and Wordplay

This is the bread and butter of written comedy. Since the humor comes from the language itself, there’s nothing that needs be to translated to the page. In fact, clever wordplay can sometimes work solely in written form.

Satire and Parody

Most humor novels are cross-genre. They take a popular genre like fantasy, sci-fi, or romance and play with it by twisting the usual premise or exaggerating it. Satire is usually meant to be a biting mockery of society and may or may not actually be humorous. Parodies borrow popular elements from and require a deep level of familiarity with their genres that tends to come from a loving fan and are always comedic. Fantasy and sci-fi are popular cross-genres for parodies because they already push the limits of reality, and it doesn’t take as much effort to stretch them to the absurd.

Black and Blue

Both black and blue humor deal with taboos and can overlap, but are distinct. Black humor draws comedy out of tragedy, making light of serious and painful subjects like death or violence. It’s common in many genres but especially horror or action. Blue humor is vulgar and crude, using bodily functions or sex for laughs. Children’s humor and romantic comedies tend to have more toilet humor and bawdy jokes respectively.

Conclusion

Though the quality of humor is wildly subjective, it’s easy to identify. Have you ever read a humor novel? Let us know some of your favorites!

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Genre: Mystery

What is a mystery? Is it anything with intrigue?

Brandi Spencer (formerly B. C. Marine), Secretary-Treasurer Authors 4 Authors Publishing

Every good story has questions that need answers, either for the reader or the characters. So what sets the mystery genre apart?

Finding the Solution

Every mystery revolves around answering a question. Answering a question raised at the beginning of the story isn’t unusual in and of itself. However, most stories have the main character find the answers by the at least the midpoint and spend the rest of the story on the consequences of that information. In a mystery, the answer doesn’t come to light until the end because mysteries are about the intellectual journey.

Whodunnit?

The most common question is the classic “whodunnit?” Who is the antagonist? Defeating the antagonist is simply accomplished by finding out who they are, so following the clues to that makes up the vast bulk of the story.

What is it that this who has done? Usually murder. Why? Because the victim cannot contribute any help to the main character. It forces them to rely on their wits and reasoning to piece things together. It also raises the stakes for solving the mystery. Finding out who stole the main character’s sack lunch isn’t worth much time or effort—it’s more of a nuisance—but catching a killer is vital, especially if they might strike again!

That isn’t to say that all mysteries are about murders. Any crime or misdeed can work if it’s both difficult to solve and worth it. Theft or vandalism are also common, as well as more creative situations.

What Happened?

Sometimes, the question isn’t about who did something. It’s about what that something was. Missing person stories are a common form. The subgenres of paranormal, fantasy, and science fiction mysteries also tend toward asking what happened because whatever it is typically defies standard explanations. Archeological or historical mysteries often have this question built in because everyone who was around for a particular event is now gone.

For middle grade and young adult books, “what happened” is even more common than in adult mysteries because murder and other nefarious deeds may be unsuitable for younger audiences, despite their love of solving puzzles. They also lend themselves better to it because that kind of question is more likely to be encountered by children. Adults often keep children in the dark about things, or withhold information from them until they are ready for it. Add to that the natural curiosity of children, and a situation that’s too mundane for an adult mystery can become a fascinating puzzle for a younger audience.

Where Did the Genre Come From?

The idea of celebrating intellect and reason in story form is owed to the values set forth during the Age of Enlightenment around the 18th century. This coalesced into what is now recognizable as the mystery genre in the 19th century with the popularity of works by Edgar Allan Poe in America and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in Britain.

Edgar Allan Poe

Although most people think of his gothic horror stories first, Poe created the mold for the modern detective story. He wrote three stories about a detective named Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin who used logic and clues to solve locked-door mysteries that had stumped the police. If that sounds suspiciously like someone else on this list, there’s a reason. Poe was an acknowledged inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Conan Doyle may not have invented the detective story, but he perfected the archetype. Using his medical studies and life experience enriched Conan Doyle’s stories and characters with realism. His characters, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, are so well-known that even people who have never touched a mystery can recognize them. The popularity of Sherlock Holmes mysteries brought the genre as a whole into the mainstream.

Conclusion

Mysteries celebrate natural human curiosity and exceptional intellect. Though relatively young, the genre has made an impressive mark on the world of modern literature.

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Genre: Literary Fiction

More than a “catch all” for non-genre fiction, this genre is more than “regular” fiction.

Renee Frey, CMO Authors 4 Authors Publishing

As writers, we discuss artistic and literary fiction versus commercial or genre fiction. But what exactly is this difference? Why does it exist?

Defining Literary

For most readers, especially people with degrees in literature, literary is what we would consider the “high art” of writing: the best examples of literary devices such as symbolism, theme, characterization, and others with descriptive language.

This also includes the “classics,” or books that are considered part of the canonical collection that define a group’s cultural literature. If it was part of your reading in education, it’s probably literary.

As there are several different components of literary fiction, let’s look a little closer at each to help understand the genre as a whole.

The Classics

First of all, the idea of canon is already under scrutiny—but let’s not get into that here. Basically, as societies and cultures evolve and change, the literature used to define and exemplify them changes as well. And in a global setting, where there is easier and faster cultural exchange, the aesthetics used to evaluate writing are no longer an aesthetic, but rather a cultural preference. So when I talk about classics in this blog, I’m referring to Western civilization cultures whose primary language is English.

This means if you take into account the diversity present in the United States, for example, you can quickly and easily see how Shakespeare is less relevant than Zora Neale Hurston or Sandra Cisneros.

Overall, something usually becomes a classic if it is the best example or representation of its type. That’s how the best science fiction or fantasy stories become classics. Take Lord of the Rings, for example. While the series is shelved in the science fiction/fantasy section of the bookstore, it is considered a classic because of how it pioneered the genre and established the tropes, traditions, and standards for fantasy.

It helps if subsequent works refer to a work—because then, in order for a reader to really understand the story as a whole, they need knowledge of what preceded it. That’s how Shakespeare, Byron, Dickens, Stevenson, and other authors found their homes as classic writers.

What we consider a “classic” is growing and expanding with the body of literature. And, as mentioned before, as we translate and read other culture’s classics, they often get added to our own canon.

Modern Literary Fiction

For works written more recently, they are usually evaluated on their literary merit and artistry. Only time will tell if the book can stand the test and become a classic. In these cases, the prose quality weighs heavily. To give an example, a Cinderella retelling that is considered commercial would have very accessible language, a definite tie to the original story, and attempt to connect with most readers through real and believable characters. A literary rendition, however, might play around with different points of view, non traditional language and story structure, or otherwise experiment with the form and function of the story.

Another way to think of it would be to compare commercial photography to new art. The two may draw from the exact same subject, but with very different results.

Fiction that does not fall into a specific genre is considered general fiction. That is not the same as literary fiction. While literary fiction will sit on the general fiction shelf, it is the quality and artistic aesthetic of the prose that determines if it is literary or not.

So does that mean that literary fiction is boring?

Quite the opposite! Due to its elevated prose and language, literary fiction often has multiple layers of meaning—-more than you would usually find in commercial fiction. Literary fiction can be fun to analyze and discuss in depth, and often makes a great book for a book club or online discussion.

If you haven’t yet, consider picking up a literary fiction work! It may surprise you!

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Genre: Drama

Where does it come from, and how do we use it as a genre in writing?

Renee Frey, CMO Authors 4 Authors Publishing

Drama has been around basically as long as literature has. Drama first became a genre in Ancient Greece, when plays honoring the god Dionysus were created. Drama comes from the Greek word meaning “to do” or “to act.” Since its inception in ancient times, drama has grown and evolved.

Drama as Literature

When we think of drama, we tend to think of plays, movies, television series, and other visual storytelling mediums. To consider drama as literature, we have to shift gears, and instead of focusing on the representation of the work, focus on the words of the play or other story as written.

If you’ve ever studied Shakespeare, you know this is easier said than done. I can personally attest to how I was instructed to study Shakespeare as an acting student (read the play in groups aloud, watch the movie version, see a production of it) versus as an English literature student (mark out the scansion, highlight allusions, analyze the poetic form and plumb it for meaning).

This is complicated when you take into account the history of plays. In the middle ages, they were seen as immoral. Even in Shakespeare’s time, Puritans sought to close down theatres. The result was an elevation of the written form of a drama over the representation of the drama in a play.

Wait...isn’t that counter-intuitive?

Yes. Good writers are aware of their audience and their medium. When I write written instructions for software, I write very differently than when I am writing a script for a computer-based training course for the same content. If you’ve ever tried to read a play or a screenplay, you probably recognize that it just doesn’t feel the same as watching the representation.

What created this tension was Plato, who further enforced Aristotle’s teachings that plays were vehicles with which to teach moral lessons—and learning said moral lesson did not require the play being performed, merely the communication of the content within. The schism between the production of the play (for the lower classes) versus reading and discussing the content of the work (upper classes) persisted through the European Middle Ages and into the English Renaissance.

So how do I navigate this split?

Reading a play is an experience. Seeing a play is also an experience. Try to do both—use the performance to help you understand the macro vision of the playwright, while supporting the big ideas with specific examples from the text. You can also see how the idea of drama transformed over time…

Moving beyond the play

To a modern audience, drama is human beings at their best, their worst, and everything in-between. This is why you can probably think of several subgenres in the film industry alone: medical dramas, courtroom dramas, crime films, epics...the list goes on. But what all of these have in common are the portrayal of the human experience, inclusive of both the highs and lows of life.

Because of its background in plays, drama still remains linked with plays and other visual medium. We could probably all name a television drama, but naming a drama book would be a bit more difficult. And if you ask the librarian to show you the drama section, she’ll probably walk you to the works of Shakespeare and Moliere. When we think of dramatic themes in traditional literature (not something written to be performed) we generally term it fiction, or categorize it in one of the many genres already discussed in this blog.

Can I write drama?

Yes! Although plays go through a different method of review, they are still critiqued and edited to become the best version of themselves before being published or performed.

Playwrights do staged readings, and get audience and critic feedback to make edits and adjustments to their plays. They may have a close circle who reads the play and advises them, and depending on the situation, may have a producer fund and create a staged reading or workshop to further refine the piece.

Most television writers are groups of writers collaborating, so they work together to refine their ideas and perfect the script before the episode is aired. For all films, the producer has final say, and can request edits and revisions if needed to make a scene or the entire concept “work.”

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Genre: Historical Fiction

What is Historical Fiction?

Rebecca Mikkelson, Editor-in-Chief Authors 4 Authors Publishing

Last week we ended our series on speculative fictions. Today starts a new series on Genres. This week’s topic is Historical Fiction.

What is Historical Fiction?

Historical fiction is a genre of literature that reconstructs events from the past in fictional stories, characterized by the inclusion of historical events or historical people, invented scenes and dialogue with authentic and believable details. In other words, the author is trying to be a fly on the wall in the past.

How far in the past do you need to go?

There is no set in stone answer for this question, but there does need to be a noticable difference between the time the story is written, and the time the story takes place. Say, for example, someone wrote a story about 9/11--it’s in too recent history to be considered a historical fiction where as if you set a story only thirty years earlier than that in the ‘70’s it would be considered a historical fiction.

At Authors 4 Authors Publishing, we’ll be considering anything set in the past by fifty years or more a historical fiction.  

Can Historical Fiction be combined with other genres?

It can, and it often is. One of my personal favorites combines historical fiction, fantasy time travel, and romance to make an incredible story: the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. Nearly any other genre can be combined with historical fiction as long as you keep the plot believable, even if you stretch that believability a little bit. I mean, who thinks they can really travel through standing stones? But, the story is told in such a way that it incorporates that unbelievable aspect into the laws of the world that Gabaldon has created, and thus makes the plot still believable.

Elements of a Historical Fiction

In any story you tell, the elements will be the same: Plot, Theme, Conflict,  Characters, Dialogue, Setting and World Building. These are all essential to any story, whether it’s a historical fiction or an epic fantasy. No story can survive without them.  

Plot

Luckily, with a historical fiction, your plot is almost written for you, especially if you are focusing on a specific person or even in the past. However, when writing in this genre your plot has to make sense within the time period that it’s set. You would not be able to write a story about Richard III and the lost boys in the Tower of London and have the sixteenth Earl of Warwick Richard Neville, also known as The King Maker, swoop in and save the day to put one of them on the throne unless you are specifically writing in the theoretical history genre.

One of the most important things to remember when you’re writing in this genre is you are there to tell a story within events that have already happened, not rewrite entire histories to tell different events. There’s another genre for that. As Bernard Cornwell said,

The most important thing, the all important thing, is to get the story right. Write, rewrite, rewrite again, and do not worry about anything except story. It is story, story, story. That is your business. Your job is not to educate readers on the finer points of Elizabethan diplomacy or Napoleonic warfare, your job is to divert and amuse people who have had a hard day at work. What will get you published? Not style, not research, but story. Once the story is right, everything else will follow.

Theme and Conflict

There are many different themes you can write about in this genre; loyalty, ambition, revenge, love, temptation, guilt, and so on and so on. All of these themes are part of our daily lives whether you live in the year 2018 or the year 1578. Research will be key in this area. Your theme has to make sense within the time period it’s set. What would love, loyalty and ambition mean in the court of Queen Elizabeth I as opposed to today? According to Anne Sommerset in Ladies in Waiting From the Tudors to the Present Day, it would mean sacrificing the chance to marry the love of your life because your queen said no. These are the types of things you absolutely must consider as you write.

As with the theme, the conflict needs to make sense within the setting. If you’re writing a fifteenth century historical romance about star-crossed lovers, where a widowed noblewoman runs off with a servant when she is expected to either stay chaste or marry a societal equal, that would lead to a believable conflict within the time frame. What would happen to her reputation? What would happen to her children’s reputation? Would they be allowed back into society (and by society, I mean the royal court) without gargantuan recompense? All of those questions would be valid within the time period.

Characters and Dialogue

Your characters have to behave appropriately within the setting they inhabit, whether the author has created them or they were living, breathing people of the past. As mentioned above in Theme, what would it mean to be a person of a certain era?  A serf in a feudalistic twelfth century would not speak, behave, or even think the same way that a knight or even a peer (nobleman) would. It would be intrinsically impossible because of their environment.

The same can be said of the dialogue. A nobleman would speak with an educated vocabulary and tone while someone of lower birth would have a regional dialect. The dialogue will help your reader easily identify who is who and even their social status.

Setting and World Building

Setting and world building go hand in hand. With whatever time period you choose, you have to take your reader out of their own setting and immerse them in the time and place you’re writing in. This can be achieved through world building as well as details from actual history; letting the reader know about social hierarchy, government, family arrangements, customs, etc.

Conclusion

The most important thing while writing a historical fiction is to not rewrite the history you’re focusing on, and to make sure your characters and dialogue are believable for the setting you’ve chosen.

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