“[My wife] liked to collect old encyclopedias from second-hand bookstores, and at one point we had eight of them. When I wrote my first historical novel---back in 1980, before I was online---I used them often as a research tool. For instance, I learned that the Bastille was either 90 feet high or 100 feet or 120 feet. This led me to formulate Wilson's 22nd Law: 'Certitude belongs exclusively to those who only look in one encyclopedia.'” FirstsLooksHandsLawUsedNovelWifeFeetResearchToolsHistoricalEightMy WifeInstanceOnlineBookstoresWilsonEncyclopediaSecond HandCertitudeHistorical NovelsBastille Author:Robert Anton Wilson
“I have rarely read a more wonderful book than To Win Her Favor by Tamera Alexander. Rich with historical detail and fully developed characters, this novel held me spellbound until the last page. If you read one historical novel this year, make it To Win Her Favor. It will linger with you long after the last page.” IfsYearsLongBookCharacterLastsWinningNovelRichWonderfulPagesHistoricalDetailsFavorsHistorical Novels Author:Colleen Coble
“Intricately plotted, beautifully paced, The Music of the Spheres is an elegant historical novel rich in detail, at times Dickensian in its description of London. Elizabeth Redfern has made an exciting debut.” MadeNovelRichExcitingHistoricalDetailsLondonDescriptionSpheresElegantDebutHistorical Novels Author:Martha Grimes
“My remembrance of the past is a novel I am constantly recomposing; and it would not be a historical novel, but sheer fiction, if the material events which mark and ballast my career had not their public dates and characters scientifically discoverable.” IfsCharacterPastFictionCareersNovelEventsMaterialsMarkHistoricalSheerRemembranceHistorical NovelsBallast Book:The Essential Santayana: Selected Writings Source: The Essential Santayana: Selected Writings
“There are some varieties of fiction that I never touch - mystery stories, for instance, which I abhor, and historical novels. I also detest the so-called "powerful" novel - full of commonplace obscenities and torrents of dialog.” StoriesPowerfulFictionNovelMysteryHistoricalInstanceVarietyCommonplaceDetestObscenityHistorical Novels Book:Strong opinions Source: Strong opinions
“You think you're writing one historical novel and it turns into three, and I'm quite used to a short story turning into a novel - that's happened through my whole career.” ThinkingWritingWholeStoriesUsedTurnsThreeCareersNovelHappenedHistoricalShort StoryHistorical Novels Author:Hilary Mantel
“When you read a history or biography you are entitled to imagine that it is as accurate as the authors can make it. That research has gone into it and we say "This is a history of the civil war, this is a biography of Lincoln" whatever. But you don't make any such supposition when you say "This is a historical novel."” WarNovelGoneImagineResearchHistoricalCivil WarAccurateImagine ThatEntitledBiographiesSuppositionHistorical Novels Author:Nicholas Meyer
“With a historical novel you know that liberties are being taken. Since Walter Scott, we know that poetic license, dramatic license, that events been conflated and that liberties have been taken, characters ditto, dates rearranged. But people don't seem to understand that movies are fictions, they are dramatizations, at least historical movies, and we should accord the moviemakers some of the same understanding and latitude. When you go to a movie you know it's a dramatization and not history.” PeopleKnowsShouldHas BeensCharacterSeemsUnderstandingFictionLibertyNovelTakenEventsHistoricalDramaticPoeticLicenseAccordLatitudeHistorical NovelsPoetic License Author:Nicholas Meyer
“I've been told by people who write historical novels that you just sort of write the emotional truth first, the story at the core, and then you go back and research it at the end.” PeopleWritingFirstsEndsStoriesNovelEmotionalResearchHistoricalCoreHistorical Novels Author:Jami Attenberg
“Historical novels are about costumery. I think that's the magic and mystery of fiction. I don't want to write historical fiction but I do want the story to have the feel of history. There's a difference.” ThinkingWantFeelsWritingStoriesDifferencesFictionNovelMagicMysteryHistoricalHistorical FictionHistorical Novels Author:Chang-Rae Lee
“As far as benefits to reading historical novels, there are several! For one thing, you learn about life in another era. Secondly, these novels help us to develop a deeper understanding of the legacy of women who came before us and the strides made by our ancestors.” MadeHelpingReadingUnderstandingNovelOne ThingBenefitsHistoricalDeeperErasLegacyAncestorStrideDeeper UnderstandingHistorical Novels Author:Mary Pope Osborne
“The historical novel gives us perspective on our modern lives and helps us connect with the story, which we are continuing ourselves.” GivingHelpingStoriesNovelModernPerspectiveHistoricalContinuingModern LifeHistorical Novels Author:Mary Pope Osborne
“I'm not entirely sure what a historical novel absolutely has to be, but you don't want a reader who loves a very traditional historical novel to go in with the expectation that this is going to deliver the same kind of reading experience. I think what's contemporary about my book has something to do with how condensed things are.” ThinkingWantKindBookReadingNovelReaderExpectationsHistoricalContemporaryTraditionalHistorical NovelsReading Experience Author:Danielle Dutton
“I loved reading historical novels when I was young, but I definitely don't think I wrote one. When I read my book through, when it was completely done and in printed galleys, I was surprised by how uninterested in the passage of time and history the book seemed to be. Even though you can feel it all there, that's just not what it's focused on.” ThinkingFeelsBookDoneYoungReadingNovelHistoricalFocusedPassagesPrintedPassage Of TimeUninterestedHistorical Novels Author:Danielle Dutton