Dead Letter Office, 1923
A clerk in the Chicago Post Office basement discovers a letter addressed to her with no postmark. The message warns something will come for her at midnight. What waits in the locked drawer of her desk has been patient for…
Tag: Historical Fiction (Page 3)
AmbiguityMurder at the Monastery Gate
A murdered stranger at the monastery gate. A wool merchant with secrets. And an old monk whose fifty-year penance is about to be undone by sins long buried.
Alternate History35 Alternate History and Parallel Universe Writing Exercises That Actually Teach
What if Germany won WWII? What if Lincoln survived? What if portals connected universes? Each scenario includes the craft foundation that makes alternate history and parallel universe stories work.
FictionThe Last Candle in Constantinople
In the last hours of Constantinople, a mother, her son, and a starving dog find themselves trapped in the Hagia Sophia as an empire dies around them.
Creative Writing20 Historical Fiction Writing Exercises with Craft Mechanics
20 exercises targeting subtext, structural irony, temporal layering, and the quiet devastation of ordinary life observed closely.
Historical FictionRichard III, Aaron Burr, and a Book on the Wrong Shelf: Diana Rubino on Writing Biographical Historical Fiction
Historical novelist Diana Rubino on the misplaced library book that launched her career, writing biographical fiction about Richard III, Hamilton, and Aaron Burr, and why research is the best part.
Book ReviewsDictionary of Historical Terms
Write historical fiction and you constantly hit the wall of what was that thing called, and this answers fast: over 2,000 concise entries on historical terms, events, and institutions worldwide. A quick-check tool for avoiding anachronisms, not a substitute for…
Book ReviewsThe Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life from Prohibition Through World War II
A period reference for one of America's most story-rich eras, gathering the concrete textures of 1920s-40s life, speech, dress, food, prices, technology, so the writing rings true instead of clichéd. Solid and practical, necessarily selective, and overlapping research you can…
Book ReviewsThe Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in the Middle Ages
A period reference covering a thousand years of daily life in medieval Northwestern Europe, the textures that let a writer render the era without cliche. Especially valuable as grounding for medieval-flavored fantasy. Necessarily broad instead of deep, and overlapping research…
Book ReviewsEveryday Life During the Civil War
The Civil War is among the most written-about and most easily botched periods in fiction, and this grounds it in concrete reality, economy, food, clothing, transport, balanced across North and South. Enriched with illustrations and maps. Broad instead of deep,…
AmericaJohn Lynch: A Ghostwriter and Historical Novelist Who Writes the People at the Bottom
Ghostwriter and historical novelist John Lynch joins Author Talks to discuss writing about common people, professionalism, and no writer's block.
Author TalksCatherine Meyrick: Historical Fiction, Real Research, and Characters Who Take Over
Catherine Meyrick joins Author Talks to discuss Forsaking All Other, self-publishing historical fiction, research, and letting characters lead.