A Bit of Research

At the moment and on a very sporadic basis, I'm trying to help a young teenager with story set sometime during the Middle Ages. Even though we've barely gotten past the first chapter and we have very little communication for various reasons, it got me thinking about historical fiction or fiction set in the real world.

Because of the communication issue, I've yet to bring this up with the girl I'm helping, but there is one thing that I'd like to tell her. She started her historical fiction with a basic story with a basic enemy but no clear indication of the story's setting or anything of the sort. The problem is that she should have done some research on the issue first because, depending on the year and location, it may have a huge impact on the story.

The Middle Ages are commonly used in fantasy and in other genras, and it has, to me, been overdone. However, part of the problem is that the Medieval worlds people create for their stories are not well-researched and come across as very flat. Most commonly think of that time in history as having kinds, knights, lords, the prominent church, and chivalrous acts, but they do not stop to look into that period of time more deeply. They often neglect looking into things like the following: what was housing like back in those days, how was society organized, what were towns and cities like, and other detailed glances. This will help your story seem more realistic, which is a good thing in regards to historical fiction.

Another thing for any form of a historical story is to get a detailed look at the history for the time period. The Middle Ages, depending on what year the story's based in, was a very tempestuous period with frequent wars and tensions between countries. In the early years, you have the Vikings running around all over Europe and wrecking havoc there; then you have wars between England and France; and then you have different invasions such as the Normans invading the British isles and taking over. Things like those need to be taken into consideration because it will help define the world that your story is set in and may also help you create a plot for the story.

So, in conclusion, if you are setting your story in the real world in any time period, do some fairly extensive research for that time. It will help your story seem more accurate, and it should help prevent you from creating a story that seems too modern.