Creative Writing 101

Lesson 2: Genres

Which Genre? (4) Historical Novels.

HISTORICAL NOVELS.

Historical novels are just what they sound like; novels set in the past. The straight historical novel may be a mystery or a relationship story that just happens to be set "back". It is more likely that the story will concern some historical event or period.

Historicals set during specific periods tend to form sub-genres. Regency is a very specific genre that will be dealt with in the Romance section of this lesson. Other popular periods include Frontier times (USA), Civil War (USA), Elizabethan times (UK), Puritan times (USA and UK), French Revolution and the Great War. Australian colonial times occur sometimes, but it seems that most historical novels are still set in Britain, the US or France.

Historical novels are usually set in times of political upheaval. This adds drama to the story and also latches onto the familiarity factor. Most readers of historical novels will have read at least one American Civil War story, so seeing another set at the same time gives them a sense of recognition.

Apart from the well-used setting periods detailed above, you might consider Roman times, ancient Greece, Stone Age, Viking or Bronze Age times. Most historical novels use genuine places and periods, so anyone planning to write one must be meticulous in research.

Books set after the Great War are sometimes referred to as "nostalgia fiction". If writing these you need to be very careful with research as there will be readers who remember the period.

NON-HISTORICAL HISTORICALS.

A word here about what one might call the "non-historical historical". These books include non-fantasy Arthurian fiction as well as the so-called Sword and Sandals sub genre.

The times and places in which these books are set are usually based on real times and places, but legend and myth have obscured reality.

Romantic castles, beautiful maidens, brave warriors, horned Vikings and sensitive new age (yet prehistoric) Indian braves all belong more to the non-historical historical than the mainstream historical genre.

Research requirements are a little different when dealing with this genre. If writing a non-historical, you should probably adhere more to the accepted "facts" of the fiction-period than to its real-life counterpart.

WESTERNS.

Like the regency romance (dealt with later in this lesson), the western novel deals with a historical period that did exist. However, both genres present very stylised views of their respective periods. Only a small percentage of the North American population became gunfighters and lawmen, and not every landowner's widow tucked up her skirts to ride the range. Westerns and cowboy novels are less common than they were, but they follow their own well-worn paths. If you deviate too much from the trodden track you will have written a novel set in the old west rather than the Old West. It won't really be a western.

HISTORICAL SAGAS.

Historical sagas form part of the historical genre, but they tend to have a very broad canvas and may deal with the fortunes of a family or families over several generations.

HISTORICAL ROMANCE.

Historical romance is a sub-genre of both the romance and historical. These novels deal with a love affair between a man and woman in any historical period. The background may still be a tempestuous time, but exterior matters will be seen as they affect the relationship between hero and heroine. There will need to be both internal and external conflict to keep the characters apart (figuratively speaking).

That last qualification is one of two that lie at the heart of the difference between the historical novel and the historical romance.

Both may deal with a love affair, but in a historical novel it would be acceptable to show a woman farewelling her man as he goes to war or sets off adventuring, and then having him return towards the end of the novel.

In a historical romance long partings won't do. If your heroine's man does go off to war, she must either find a new love or follow the first one, disguised as a boy or in the guise of a camp follower or nurse etc.

The other qualification that divides the sub genre from its straight historical parent is the need for a happy ending.

What has the historical romance in common with the non-historical? The slightly mythic treatment of both hero and heroine. Showing a romance between 14th Century protagonists as it really was would probably not seem very romantic to the modern reader.

HISTORICAL ADVENTURE.

Historical adventure is an interesting sub-genre. It used to be a favourite for YA and children's books, because the relative lack of child-protection laws and the earlier legal maturity of characters meant the authors could sent youngsters off on a stirring adventure without worrying too much about pursuit by concerned authorities.

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