First Critical Article Summary

   HISTORICAL FICTION: Get more than just the facts right.


   This article written by John Edward Ames is about what makes up a good historical fiction novel. He is an author of many genres but historical fiction is one of his favourites to write. He has many views on what makes up a well written historical fiction novel, because not all are accurate and well written. They have to be written in such away that the reader is drawn into the time period and are not just getting facts. He makes it clear that in a good historical fiction novel, fiction trumps the facts. People do not want to be bombarded with fact after fact; they still need a storyline to keep them engaged. The facts should be an undertone compared to the story. To Mr. Ames well written historical fiction will have usage of wording and commonplace subject matter to the era; in the dialog and in character development. This can give a book more historical accuracy to the story, which is a common mistake to not well written historical fiction. When it is not well written it will have mistakes in references to the time period, whether it is clothing, religious views or even having a reference to a character or object not present in the time period. He also makes clear that it is important that historical fiction has themes that are not contemporary. The views and themes should be appropriate to the time period; we can not force our contemporary views on a past era. Mr Ames really focuses on how “History tells, but good historical fictions shows”. The story must come before the history, and facts must be present, to a point, and accurate; otherwise it is not good historical fiction. He is in favour of this genre and feels that historical fiction should make the past feel as an immediate experience