Home » Writing & Publishing » Writing for Children » Writing Historical Fiction for Children

Writing Historical Fiction for Children

© Sue Reichard

If you love history and love to write fiction why not combine the two and try your hand at writing historical fiction for children?

Historical fiction if a great way to introduce young readers to events and people of years gone by. Many teachers use historical fiction in their classrooms today to supplement or enrich the curriculum.

How does one begin such an awesome project? Find a time period you are interested in and read books on that time period. You'll want to see if anything has been published recently on your chosen topic or time period. Check publishers catalogs and with your local librarian. Read current examples of good historical fiction to get a sense of the many ways to approach a subject. This will also give the writer a feel for how to use the historical events and or people in the story.

There are two types of historical fiction. Read samples of both to decide which approach you will choose. The first kind of historical fiction is when the setting is historical, but there are no historical events or persons in the story. An example of this type would be "Catherine Called Birdy" by Karen Cushman. The second type of historical fiction if when both the setting and characters are factual. "Thunder At Gettysburg" by Pat Gauch is an example of this type of historical fiction.

Historical fiction writers must be good and must like to do research. Finding primary sources can be an arduous task. Diaries, journals and other personal letters are excellent sources of material. If you include dialogue in a historical fiction book about a real person, the dialogue must be accurate. Today researchers can gain access to many primary sources through the Internet. Many libraries in colleges and universities now have primary source material available on-line. Local libraries also contain a wealth of information in their archives. List-serves that pertain to a certain group such as civil war re-enactors and the like can also serve as a means to begin a research project.

One thing to remember, no matter how good your research is, you must still write an interesting story that will captivate young readers.

Good historical fiction will meet the include the following elements:

1. A well-told story that is historically accurate.

2. Characters are realistically portrayed.

3. The setting is authentic.

4. Historical facts are skillfully woven into the text.

5. Illustrations are historically accurate and appropriate.

6. Ethnic and minority groups are portrayed accurately.

The copyright of the article Writing Historical Fiction for Children in Writing for Children is owned by . Permission to republish Writing Historical Fiction for Children in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.