Introduction
What is Historical Fiction and Why Write It?
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Introduction to Part One
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What Is Historical Fiction?
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Historical Fiction Sub-genres
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Why Write Historical Fiction?
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Your Teacher: Why Historical Fiction Instead of Non-fiction?
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Exercise: Generating Ideas
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Your Teacher: Why I Write Historical Fiction
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Your Teacher: My First Work of Historical Fiction
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Exercise: Come Up With a Pitch
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Finding Inspiration
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Exercise: What Inspires You?
The Research Period
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Introduction to Part Two
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Exercise: Facing Your Fears
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The Research Process: Getting Started
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Exercise: Reinventing Historical Detail
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Where to Search: Fiction and Non-Fiction
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Where to Search: Primary Sources
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Where to Search: Libraries and Museums
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Where to Search: Audio, Travel, Film & TV
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Other Writers on Research
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Exercise: Start Researching
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How to Record Your Research
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Don’t Use ALL Your Research
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Exercise: Kill Your Darlings
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Weaving In What You Find Out
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Exercise: List Those Little Things You Find
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Exercise: Delve Deep Using an Article of Clothing
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Authenticity vs. Accuracy
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Interpreting What You Find/Read
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How Research Can Lead You to New Ideas and Projects
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Authenticity vs. Accuracy Continued
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Writing Fiction Not History
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What We Know vs. What We Depict
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Exercise: Finding the Gap
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Wider Issues Within Your Story
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Exercise: Considering Your Work’s Themes
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Prescience
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Writing Back to the Past
Bringing It All Together
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Introduction to Part Three
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Where to Begin?
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Exercise: Possible Beginnings
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Plotter or Pantser
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The Structure of Your Novel
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Exercise: Thinking About Character
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The Individual
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Exercise: Getting to Know Your Character
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Other Protagonists or Periphery Characters
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Exercise: What Can You Reveal About Your Character?
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Emotions: How Does Your Character Feel?
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Conflict
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Exercise: What’s at Stake? Where's the Conflict?
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Exercise: What Can Your Character Represent?
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Tense and Narrative Perspective
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Exercise: Redrafting
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Setting
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Exercise: Create Setting
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Style
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Voice
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Exercise: Borrowing Style or Voice
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Who Tells the Story?
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How to Get Past the Fear of Not Getting Something Right?
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Exercise: Next Year
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Thank You! (0:09)
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Further Reading List
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