by Zoltan Kubanyi

Created on: May 15, 2009   Last Updated: May 20, 2009

Although historical fiction is not a new concept, some may be puzzled by the idea and question why they would even be interested in it in the first place. The word "history" alone is polarizing. You either yawn as soon as you hear it amidst flashbacks of long and dry lectures reciting dates and important events in your eighth grade class or the top of your head tingles and are excited by it. Herein lie the opportunities and the challenges of historical fiction. It can bring history alive and give it personality for those less interested, but it can breeze over complex issues too quickly for those who want to know all the details. These problems are similar for both the author and the reader, but are addressed differently by each. The reader should not have to think about it and the author should present it so that he or she doesn't have to.

The reader will be drawn to an interesting and fun story in which history comes alive as he or she follows the main character's growth through conflict. In this manner, good historical fiction is similar in structure to an adventure novel. The reader cheers on as the main character overcomes obstacles, ends up in a bigger mess after each, but grows from the experiences so that he or she is able to triumph over the final hurdle. Without this growth he or she (from here on 'she' will encompass both genders) would not have been able to tackle it. Although removed by time and geography, the more the reader can relate to the main character the more connected to the story she will feel. For example, a teenage girl dealing with puberty during the Renaissance in Italy will not text her friends on her I-Phone and follow Ellen Degeneres on Twitter, but she will still go through the same emotional roller coaster as the LA teen reader who does. She will send pigeon mail to her friends and read a parchment letter by oil lamp under her wool covers to do the same.

It is the author's daunting task to entertain the reader with the story. The challenge here is to make the history be only in the backdrop and setting. Although the time period and it's particular features dictate how the main character interacts with her world, at no time should the author bog the reader down with unnecessary information. Only that which is necessary to move the tale forward and explain the main character's motivations. The history should be the wallpaper of the house that the main character moves through on her journey. The story and history become intertwined.

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