With new authors in mind, I’ve pulled together a few posts featuring books that are specifically about writing historical fiction.
Deborah Swift offers her ‘go to’ writing books for historical fiction – she features Emma Darwin’s Get Started in Writing Historical Fiction, Libbie Hawker’s Making It In Historical Fiction, and several others.
Writing Historical Fiction by Katharine McMahon – After reading this short book, I interviewed the author and pulled out some specific bits of advice.
Marina Oliver’s book Writing Historical Fiction: How to Write an Historical Blockbuster – this post highlights the author’s advice on such topics as getting started, being professional, characters, dialogue, plot, and research.
After reading Myfanwy Cook’s Historical Fiction Writing: A Practical Guide and Toolkit, I wrote two posts: Inside Historical Fiction and Inside Historical Fiction: Useful Research Links. You can also read Myfanwy’s guest post on setting.
Well known historical fiction author, Emma Darwin, is also the author of Get Started in Writing Historical Fiction. She shared an extract from this book titled Beware Your Written Sources. You can also check out Emma’s fabulous writing blog: The Itch of Writing.
You might also be interested in Author tips on writing historical fiction – a 2016 post with timeless advice from around the web.
On the broader topic of the craft of writing, I offer a few of my favourites: On Writing by Stephen King, Write Away by Elizabeth George, Write Like the Masters by William Cane, The Writer’s Book of Wisdom by Steven Taylor Goldsberry, The First Five Chapters by Noah Lukeman.
FOR MORE ON READING & WRITING HISTORICAL FICTION FOLLOW A WRITER OF HISTORY
M.K. Tod writes historical fiction. Her latest novel is THE ADMIRAL’S WIFE, a dual timeline set in Hong Kong. Mary’s other novels, PARIS IN RUINS, TIME AND REGRET, LIES TOLD IN SILENCE and UNRAVELLED are available from Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Google Play and iTunes. She can be contacted on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads or on her website www.mktod.com.
