No novelist thinks historians have an easy job. If historians think fiction is easy, you wonder what novels they are reading <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
However much you learn, factually, there is plenty of scope for imagination. You are allowed to speculate, and to fill gaps, as long as you do it plausibly. If you don\u2019t want to pay attention to plausibility, it is more honest to write some other kind of novel. The facts are not a constraint; they are your raw material and your source of inspiration.<\/p>\n
Read more | The downfall of Thomas Cromwell<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
Do authors of historical fiction have a responsibility to treat their subjects fairly, as their works often shape public understanding?<\/h3>\n
You must be fair \u2013 yes. Neutral \u2013 no. You can leave that to the historian. It\u2019s permitted, if you\u2019re dealing with real people, to pick your man or woman and get behind them. Essentially, you are making a case, it can be argued. You are offering a version; there will be other versions. If you find all historical persons and causes equally appealing, and can view them all with dispassion, then you lack the ferocity of imagination required to keep your reader entertained.<\/p>\n
On the\u00a0podcast | Listen to Diarmaid MacCulloch discuss the Tudor statesman Thomas Cromwell:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<hr\/><h3>Can you understand why some historians dislike historical fiction, and how would you counter their views?<\/h3>\nPerhaps they think we are parasites and that we steal their sales. To be fair, I think historians worry about the prospect of the public being misled. And if a novelist is giving factual information, I think she shares the historian\u2019s obligation to be accurate, to be up to date with research and to be aware of variant versions.<\/p>\nBut readers know what they\u2019re doing when they pick up a novel. They don\u2019t blunder into fiction by accident. They are able to work out, I think, what can be drawn from evidence, and what can\u2019t. A novelist does not have access to private conversation whispered behind the hand, nor to letters burned on receipt, nor to the stream of consciousness of long-dead men and women. If she offers these things to the reader, clearly there\u2019s an element of invention.<\/p>\nAnd if the reader wonders, \u201cIs this true or made up?\u201d and does a little investigation, isn\u2019t that all to the good? One of the things a historical novel can do is to prompt a reader to think about what we know, and what we could know \u2013 given luck and diligence \u2013 and what kind of things we can never know.<\/p>\n<ul><li>Read more | <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/tudor\/does-historical-accuracy-really-matter-in-period-dramas-like-wolf-hall\/"\">Does historical accuracy really matter in period dramas like Wolf Hall<\/em>?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>In general, historians are more friendly to the form than they used to be. They recognise the need to engage the public and that our efforts are complementary, and that some aspects of our trade are the same. All narratives depend on shaping, selection and emphasis. They have to hold their audience by pace and style. These virtues are intrinsic to good communication \u2013 they are not optional extras. The narrative historian will wrestle with complexity: how to simplify without distorting and how to foreground what seems to him important, without slighting other factors. He wants to tell the truth, but it can\u2019t be the whole truth; his book cannot be as long as life.<\/p>\nThe novelist faces the same difficulties, the same tasks of organising her story, choosing what to show and what to tell, how to mediate competing versions to the reader. No novelist, I guess, thinks historians have an easy job. If historians think fiction is easy, you wonder what novels they are reading.<\/p>\n<h3>Does a historical novelist also have to be a historian?<\/h3>\nVery few of us have the skills of a trained professional historian. We depend on their deep archival work. So in the narrow sense, no. In the broader sense, I don\u2019t think you can write good historical fiction without a deep curiosity and engagement with the discipline.<\/p>\n<ul><li>Read more | <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/tudor\/why-did-anne-boleyn-have-to-die\/"\">Why did Anne Boleyn have to die?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><h3>What are the crucial elements for ensuring historical fiction works well in TV and film?<\/h3>\nTime is the enemy. TV screen time is limited; only bloated American dramas drag themselves out until their audience is weary.<\/p>\nIf we\u2019re talking about adaptation, it\u2019s necessary to pick strands from the master narrative, prune the number of characters and storylines, and concentrate on good storytelling for what\u2019s left, finding a visual language to replace exposition. You need a team with a dedication to the source material and ingenuity in finding equivalents for what is lost. Readers may lament what\u2019s missing \u2013 but after all, the original is not wiped out.<\/p>\nFeature films are notoriously inaccurate, sometimes to the point of distortion. I think writers and editors seldom set out to deceive. But a tiny change in a rewrite can lose or alter a vital point, without anyone noticing at the time. But how much can anyone do in 104 minutes? Better to slice history fine \u2013 concentrate on a small incident, let its implications ripple \u2013 than to try to digest mighty storylines.<\/p>\nThe screen can do wonderful things. It can do in a split second what takes a novelist six pages. It can achieve effects with heart-stopping precision. But you can\u2019t really adapt one medium to another \u2013 you have to reconceptualise. Throw down the book and dream it\u2026<\/p>\n<ul><li>Read more | <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/modern\/history-films-inaccurate-worst-best-war-braveheart-darkest-hour\/"\">11 historically inaccurate films you need to watch<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><h3>What advice would you give an aspiring historical novelist?<\/h3>\nTake your time until you feel comfortable in your chosen era. And if you are writing about a real person, make sure it\u2019s someone you don\u2019t understand. You write to find out, to make sense, rather than to tell what you already know: to discover and explore. Your constant, puzzled engagement with the characters keeps the story nimble. \u00a0If the characters seem to be changing, as living persons change, you are on the right track.<\/p>\n<ul><li>Read more | <\/strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/modern\/how-to-get-your-historical-book-published-16-top-tips\/"\">How to write a historical novel and get it published<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><h3>If you had the time, which historical character or characters\u2019 stories would you most like to tell?<\/h3>\nKind readers are not slow to make suggestions. But when they say \u201cYou should write about Elizabeth I\u201d, or Oliver Cromwell, or Napoleon, I smile and say: \u201cMaybe you should. Maybe it\u2019s your book.\u201d<\/p>\nThere\u2019s so much I want to do, ancient and modern. But with <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/tudor\/thomas-cromwell-who-facts-biography-life-henry-viii\/"\">Thomas Cromwell<\/a>\u2019s story still to complete, I am fully occupied. Luckily for me, I know less every day; I am more enthralled and creatively baffled than when I began the trilogy 10 years ago.<\/p>\nThe late Hilary Mantel won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction for Wolf Hall<\/em> and Bring Up the Bodies<\/em> (2009 and 2012, both Fourth Estate), the first female British author to win the award twice. The final part of her Cromwell trilogy, <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/tudor\/mirror-light-book-review-hilary-mantels-epic-finale-her-thomas-cromwell-trilogy-lives-up-hype-tracy-borman-wolf-hall\/"\">The Mirror and the Light<\/em><\/a>, was released in March 2020 and is among the novels longlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize<br\/><\/strong><\/p>\nT<\/em>his article was originally published in the June 2017 issue of <\/em><a href=\""\/bbc-history-magazine\/"\">BBC History Magazine<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Rob Attar Published: Friday, 23 September 2022 at 12:00 am Rob Attar: Why do you think historical fiction has become such a popular genre in recent years? Hilary Mantel: I think what\u2019s happened is that it\u2019s been lifted out of genre. Historical fiction used to be conflated with \u2018historical romance\u2019 and looked down on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":17950,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"8"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/09\/hilary-mantel-on-the-secrets-of-successful-historical-fiction-scaled.jpg",2560,1709,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/09\/hilary-mantel-on-the-secrets-of-successful-historical-fiction-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/09\/hilary-mantel-on-the-secrets-of-successful-historical-fiction-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/09\/hilary-mantel-on-the-secrets-of-successful-historical-fiction-768x513.jpg",768,513,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/09\/hilary-mantel-on-the-secrets-of-successful-historical-fiction-1024x684.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/09\/hilary-mantel-on-the-secrets-of-successful-historical-fiction-1536x1025.jpg",1536,1025,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/09\/hilary-mantel-on-the-secrets-of-successful-historical-fiction-2048x1367.jpg",2048,1367,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Rob Attar Published: Friday, 23 September 2022 at 12:00 am Rob Attar: Why do you think historical fiction has become such a popular genre in recent years? 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