Historical Fiction - Definition and Evaluation Criteria

Submitted by Joyce Faulkner on December 15, 2011 - 21:20
  1. Historical Fiction - Historical fiction tells a story that is drawn from documented events from the past. It often contains actual historical persons, but the principal characters tend to be fictional.
    1. Writers in this genre focus on the spirit, manners, and social conditions of the times. Characters must look, act, and sound like people would at the novel's time and place. For example, if your book is about World War II, Nazi soldiers using an Amana microwave oven to heat their coffee -- or an American Marine reading To Kill a Mocking Bird in a foxhole on Iwo Jima -- would be considered jarring errors. 
    2. In this genre, the stories take place during notable periods in history, and usually during significant events in those periods. Authors often present actual stories from the point-of-view of fictional people living through those events. In MWSA member Kathy Rodgers novel, The Final Salute, a whole community experiences Operation Desert Storm within the context of their relationships -- families, neighbors, colleagues, spouses. The reader learns how that event impacts each person through a deluge of letters back and forth between home and the war zone.  
    3. In some books, famous events appear from points-of-view not recorded in history, with fictional characters either observing or actively participating in these actual events. In Gone with the Wind, Scarlett O'Hara escapes from a burning Atlanta -- and as a result, the reader feels like he/she is experiencing this well-known event personally. In the movie, Titanic, first class passenger Rose and steerage passenger Jack play out their personal love story as the doomed ship steams toward an iceberg. 
    4. Historical figures are also often shown interpreting  famous events in a way that has not been previously recorded. Written in 1880 by Civil War General Lew Wallace, Ben Hur tells the story of a Jewish Prince who brushes shoulders with all the famous characters who represented the world during the life of Christ. And in the movie, Forrest Gump, Forrest puts his own spin on everything from George Wallace standing in the doorwary of Ole' Miss to prevent black students Vivian Malone and James Hood from registering to the 1980s AIDS epidemic.
    5. Sometimes, a historical event is used to complement a story's narrative, occurring in the background while characters deal with situations (personal or otherwise) unrelated to that event. In member Rosalie Turner's book, Sisters of Valor, a group of women meet for dinner once a week while their husbands are deployed. The story is about their everyday lives while the Vietnam War looms over them like an approaching tornado.
    6. Sometimes, the names of people and places have been in some way altered. As this is fiction, artistic license is permitted so long as it does not deviate in significant ways from established history. If events do deviate significantly, we would consider the book alternate history. Philip Roth's The Plot Against America speculates on what could have happened if Charles Lindbergh was elected President of the United States and his work is consider alternate history. 
    7. On a similar note, events occurring in historical fiction must adhere to the laws of physics. Stories that extend into the magical or fantastic are considered historical fantasy. The Lord of the Rings might fall into this category if you believe that Tolkein was actually using alleghory to interpret events leading up to and including World War I. 
  2. When evaluating a historical novel, reviewers will be looking at these critiera. 
    1. CONTENT – these criteria evaluate plot, characterization, message or theme, believability, intent of book, storytelling, and construction.
      1. What is the intent of the book? Does it do what the author sets out to do? Historical Fiction should educate, entertain, and engage. Does it?
      2. Does it appeal to those folks who know and enjoy stories set in other time frames? Does it appeal to audiences who traditionally embrace historical fiction?
      3. Is the story well-researched and entertaining? 
      4. If the author veers away from known facts, do readers believe that it is a mistake or a reinterpretation?
      5. Is the novel easy to follow and do all the pieces fit together in the end?
      6. Do the characters seem like people who lived at the time and place and in the culture the author is presenting? Can readers relate to them - like them, hate them, respect them, find them seductive? Disgusting?
      7. By the end of the book, does the reader feel like he/she understands the point the author was developing?
    2. STYLE (0-4) – these criteria evaluate readability, book structure, language,  % dialogue to narration, % description to action, %passive to active voice.
      1. Was this book readable? Are most of the sentences overly-long and hard to read? Does the author use unusual vocabulary without explaining it? Does the sentence structure support function - for example, do sentences get shorter during action sequences? Does the eye dance over the pages or is it slow going?
      2. Is the book structure appropriate for the story being told? Is the book well-organized and easy to follow? Is the book too long or too short? Is there a beginning, middle and end? Can the reader understand and accept alternate sequencing like flash-backs and flash-forwards?
      3. Does the author allow his characters to inform the audience and other characters through dialogue? Through action? Is the percentage of action to dialogue to narration skewed so as to interfere with the appreciation of the story? Example, do pages of description slow the story to the point that the reader pages past them?
      4. Does author include information that does not add value to the novel in either plot or characterization?
      5. Does the author's use of passive voice intrude or slow the read?
    3. VISUAL (0-4) – these criteria evaluate cover design, cover art, book block layout, font size, font serif, use of illustration. 
      1. Is the cover aesthetically pleasing and relate to the content of the book?
      2. Does it catch potential reader's eyes with color, design, or copy?
      3. Is the copy correct and easy to read? (Does it stand out from the background? Is the font large enough? Is there sufficient margin and is the text properly spaced?)
      4. Is the artwork on the cover eye-catching and pertinent?
      5. Is the book block properly designed? (Are the margins too small or too wide? Is the font serafed and at least 11 points?)
      6. Are the illustrations clear and do they help illustrate the story?
    4. TECHNICAL (0-4) – These criteria evaluate redundancies, spelling, grammar, word usage, sentence structure, adverb and verb tense usage.
      1. Does the author repeat the same information several times without a purpose? Does he use the same non-article word more than once in a single paragraph? Do the situations in the plot repeat without purpose?
      2. Does the author misspell the same word the same way throughout the book or does he mispell it different ways throughout the course of the story? Does he have typos and mispellings to the point where it intrudes on the reading experience?
      3. Does the author use a consistent style throughtout the book? Does he use grammar standards consistent with the style he has chosen? 
      4. Does author consistently use the correct word for the intended meaning? (To, too, two? or their, there?)
      5. Does the author use adverbs to modify weak verbs?  
      6. Does the author use simple past tense as often as possible?
Tags: 
Fiction
Historical
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