Do Your Historical Homework

In an earlier post, I mentioned that if you are writing historical fiction that you should do some research before diving in. I am currently in the process of proofing a work from that genre, and I have more specific examples of what to research when writing in that genre.

1. Names

When you are writing a story set in historical times and characters that are fictional, you need to make sure that the name existed at that time period because names change over the centuries. For example, in a story that I have been planning for some time, I have a character whose name is Allie; but, since she was born in sixteenth century Europe, I did a bit of research to determine what variations of the name "Alexandra" existed around the time of her birth. A simple search turned up some options, including the name "Alisandre," which I decided to use. Also, you have to keep in mind what kind of names your culture would use. The Scottish people would use different names than someone living in Italy would, and even a similar name would very likely have different spelling depending on the culture and location of the story.

2. Attitudes and Behaviors

Another common misconception in historical fiction is that people back then thought and acted the same way we do today. While to some extent that is true, to another extent it isn't. People in the 18th century thought very differently from people in the 21st century. For example, in a work I recently read, two characters (one of whom is a pre-teen and the other is a young teenager) have a crush on each other that their parents tease them about but otherwise view as innocent. While this would more than likely be true of the 21st century, this is highly unlikely to have occurred in the 18th century. Unless you're Henry IV of England and his first wife in the Middle Ages (which was likely not a romantic marriage anyway), teenagers back then were not expected to have boyfriends, girlfriends, or crushes until they were adults. And certainly not until the man had enough wealth and was settled enough to provide for a family. So a crush happening that young in life back then would have been highly unlikely or at least not mentioned; if it was noticed, I doubt the parents would have tolerated it.

That is one example of attitudes, but it is a reminder to keep people's attitudes and behaviors realistic. Otherwise, your story will be unrealistic.

3. Slang

Another thing that will be different is the slang that people use. In a story I'm reading, the characters use slang like "gosh" and "lots of" very frequently; however, I also doubt that this was very realistic for the time period. So, keep in mind that your characters are living in a different time period and will have different "slang" words, not the ones we commonly use today.

4. Food

When I think of Medieval stories, one thing that I wish writers would remember is that food back then wasn't like it was today. Fridges, stoves, and ovens weren't invented until the late 19th or early 20th centuries. Unless you lived in an extraordinarily cold climate, your meat would quickly spoil, which is why people covered it with salt or spices: to hide the fact that it was bad. Fruits and vegetables had to be dried or eaten quickly if you wanted it to taste good. There were no artificial preservatives, which meant that bread and pastries wouldn't last long either and would likely turn moldy very quickly. Not to mention that stoves and ovens didn't exist until recently, so cooking the food over an open flame would probably result in food that wasn't always cooked properly.

I will probably find other examples, but for now, think about these things if you are writing historical fiction. Do a little research, and it will definitely help you make your story feel more realistic and not like a basic modern story abruptly thrown into a previous century.