Disclaimer

Authors writing historical or history-themed fiction cover a spectrum of research ability. Oddly, though, they don't seem to plot in a bell curve. Instead the numbers cluster nearer two ends. On one, there are writers with a frighteningly good grasp of their subject. (They do vary in how well they can carry along the reader; some bring the reader in painlessly and some overwhelm the reader: reaching some sort of uncanny valley with Umberto Eco, where being overwhelmed and confused by the wealth of detail is actually a large part of the draw in reading him.)

On the other peak, there are writers who are indirectly frightening. As in, it is frightening that they managed to get published (and get positive reviews!) Now I've said before that accuracy isn't everything and there is more to good historical fiction than getting the date of Caesar's assassination right.

Still, it is somewhat comforting that few people are writing straight historical fiction from this kind of poor grasp of the material. This is more a tendency of what I've been calling "Artifact Stories," where some Lost Ancient Object of Power drives what is otherwise a standard thriller/adventure/mystery. (I'm going to give a pass to historical romances, first because there's no blanket statement, but second because their goals are generally different.)

In any case the middle ground is less occupied. I have a special fondness for those authors who inhabit it. I suspect it is a transient position; a writer might assay one book set in 44 AD Rome, but by the time they've written two or three they've probably became rather informed about the era.




That's just random musings and has no bearing on where I am now with my own attempts at historical fiction. As I develop the current book, I've been discovering what it is I'd like to do if it were a series. A bit late for this one, though. For instance; I think it would be a nice pattern to always feature two eras of history and/or two distinct cultures. My plot, however, is pretty much centered on Greece, although there's bits from both Classical and Pre-Classical eras.

And oh yeah. And maybe the answer to one of my research woes is to just put in a disclaimer. I want to use my own travel experience both for the time it saves and for that intangible authenticity of actual lived experience. But I don't want to strand some poor traveler by gushing over a shop that was there twenty years ago and was in another town anyhow.

So what the hell. Go right ahead and spell it out in the front matter. "The scenes in Town X are based on my own experience in Town Y in the summer of 2011..."