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How to Write Historical Fiction?

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TonyFranksBuckley
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How to Write Historical Fiction?

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Originally I planned on only Writing and researching Local and Modern History. However over the christmas period of 2011, I had what could be called a day dream. Whilst writing my essay for my university module The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, I was looking out my window at the rain battering down on the rooftops across the road and went into a daze. For some reason I started thinking about Mother Redcaps and played out a scene of what it would have been like during that period.

It must of lasted for about ten minutes before I snapped out of it, and upon doing so I immediately closed the essay that I should have been doing and started writing notes about what I had been thinking. As I did so, more and more ideas kept popping into my head and within a few hours, I had over 3000 words written in essay form.

I was getting more and more excited at the possibility of what I was going to write next, which at the time I really should not have been doing due to my busy schedule for university. So I managed to stop myself and got back to my propaganda essay. I kept getting urges to get back to my novel over the following weeks but I managed to stay away until my essay was written.

After leaving my notes untouched until March, when all essay's had been handed in before the deadlines, I decided to carry on with the writing and managed to pick up where I had left off, thanks to the markers that I had left. The only problem was that when I read them over to myself, I realised it was not written in a fiction format and was more of an academic document. This could not be helped as I had been writing academically for the last four years, so I was sat infront of my computer screens looking at my work asking myself the question "How do I write Historical Fiction?"

Well it is now July and I am still pondering the best way forward on how to change the 14,000 odd words that I had already written. My solution was to turn the chapters into diary entries, which with a little tweaking here and there, I utilised the words that I had already written. My only problem now is that I have wrote several other diary entries, that have now taken the characters into further roles than I expected. Originally the book was to be called "Mother Redcaps and the Pirates of the Mersey" but now Hector Hornsmith who was only supposed to be the narrator, has become much more.

Polly Jones aka Mother Redcap is no longer the centre of my work and Hector has been propelled into the leading role of the story, which I think has been much better in the development of the storyline itself. I wanted the story to follow on from my first Historical book "The History of Wallasey - A Small Suburb with a Large History (Which can be purchased here http://www.amazon.com/Tony-Franks-Buckl ... r_dp_pel_1 ) so that my genre was kind of intertwined. But now Hector Hornsmith has become a character all on his own in a higher platform than the historical nature that I intended.

So now it could be said that it is more of a Fiction work than Historical as he is a character that was simply made up rather than Mother Redcap who indeed did exist. I am trying to stay true to the actual history as much as possible, which is awkward as their is not as much literature out their as I hoped in order to make things easier. So the real point I am trying to make is, just how do you write Historical Fiction with limited source material? The one thing that keeps me going is the fact that the smugglers tunnels that I have actually been in, I know that the end was sealed off which was linked to the network of further tunnels that run all of Wallasey.

So far, I have several diary entries joined together with the overview of piracy and smuggling in Wallasey for sale on Amazon in Kindle format. I have used the diary entries and history as a preface to the novel itself which is very hush hush and will not be seen by anyone until it is finished. The diary entries are in no particular order so it does not give any exact storyline proposals to keep the readers guessing. I hope that you enjoy the Diary of Hector Hornsmith and once the novel is complete, I hope you see by what I have done you will appreciate the diary entries for what they are.

you can purchase The Diary of Hector Hornsmith instantly with Amazon here http://www.amazon.com/Tony-Franks-Buckl ... r_dp_pel_1

If you are from the UK please follow the direct link here http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hornsmith-Histo ... 01&sr=1-13
Wallasey Historian & Author

My History Blog - http://tonyfranksbuckley.blogspot.co.uk/
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