Writing Historical Fiction Bundle
With more stories from our collective past getting uncovered every day, historical fiction offers exciting opportunities for writers from lots of different genres! Authors in romance, sci-fi, thriller, and other popular genres have written captivating stories by re-telling historical events for today's audience. With the Writing Historical Fiction bundle, you can learn how published authors faithfully adapt old stories while adding their own modern touches. The included resources cover topics like when and where to embellish on source material, how to conduct your research, and how to characterize real historical individuals in your fiction. Whether you're thinking about dipping a toe into historical fiction for the first time or you're looking to supplement your experience with input from published authors, this bundle will provide essential advice and inspiration for your next historical fiction project.
Writing & Selling the Historical Novel: From Idea to Publication OnDemand Webinar: This presentation is jam-packed with advice from start of your novel to the finish, from picking a concept with immediate appeal to pitching your finished product to the agents and editors who will take it to publication. Gina Panettieri has worked with historical fiction and nonfiction of every description - from Romance and Western to True Crime and Military History - and she shares with you her insights into every aspect of what goes into creating successful historicals, and where you can derail yourself before you've even gotten started. ($79.99 value)
How to Research Your Novel Like a Reporter: This OnDemand Webinar discusses how to interview actual sources and research primary documents that can enrich your stories, whether you’re working on a crime thriller, a cozy mystery, or even science fiction that involves new technologies. As a former reporter with a master’s degree in journalism, instructor Christopher Stollar shares with you best practices from the three years of research he conducted for his award-winning debut novel. He also discusses how his research helped convince more than a dozen media outlets to publish stories about his book—and how you can do the same. ($79.99 value)
How to Breathe New Life Into Real Historical Characters:Using examples from historical fiction, including his own, Robert J Lloyd considers the ways authors use real people as characters in their stories. He discusses why real characters are used to populate historical fiction, rather than creating a completely fictional world. He looks at the ethics of using real people - the arguments for and against - and the 'rules' that seem to have become the norm. Lloyd also discusses problems he's encountered, sources used when researching, and how far research needs to go. ($79.99 value)
Inventing the Past: Making People and Places Resonate With Readers: Effective worldbuilding delivers more than an immersive reading experience. It offers historical context that helps readers understand the world of the story. Otherwise, it can be difficult for readers to understand our characters, since their behavior is informed by the societal norms of their culture and era. How can authors infuse this information into a story without overburdening the reader? ($79.99 value)
When and How to Jettison History in a Historical Novel: What makes a historical novel historical? When is a historical novel enhanced by jettisoning history? And what do these categories of genres do for us anyway? Martha Anne Toll will address these questions and more as she discusses her recently published prizewinning debut novel, Three Muses. ($79.99 value)
How to Add a Touch of Mystery to Your Historical Fiction--Whether or Not You're Writing a Mystery: Mystery--as the main plot, subplot, or even a subtler plot point--adds page-turning depth and intrigue to any historical fiction. But how can a writer smoothly blend the elements of mystery and history in a work of fiction? This session gives the why, how, and when to successfully building mystery and suspense techniques into your historical fiction. ($79.99 value)
10 Tips for Researching and Writing Historical Fiction: The best historical novels are a transportive hybrid of fact and fiction that weave the hallmarks of a great story – plot, characters, and motivation – with the most compelling elements of the past – setting and tension. In this OnDemand Webinar, learn 10 tried and true insights for crafting an unputdownable read that dovetails historical details with a compelling storyline. ($79.99 value)
The Writer's Digest Historical Fiction Interviews: This PDF download compiles our editor Amy Jones' exclusive Writer's Digest interviews with today's frontmost historical fiction authors, including Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic, The Rules of Magic), Beverly Jenkins (Indigo, Topaz, the Blessings Series), Chris Bojalian (Hour of the Witch, The Red Lotus), George Saunders (Lincoln in the Bardo), Min Jin Lee (Pachinko, Free Food for Millionaires), Viet Thanh Nguyen (The Sympathizer, The Refugees, The Committed), and Amor Towles (A Gentleman in Moscow, Rules of Civility). Representing novels from a spectrum of romance, fantasy, non-fiction, and more, these interviews reveal the wisdom and inspiration that writers of all genres can take from history. ($0.00 value)
The Ultimate Guide of Writer’s Digest Writing Prompts: 450+ Ideas to Feed Your Creativity: In The Ultimate Guide of Writer’s Digest Writing Prompts, you’ll find hundreds of writing prompts to help you at any stage of the writing process. Whether you just want to write a quick paragraph on a random topic for a daily creativity outlet or are looking for ideas about creating a new character for your novel, the prompts in this PDF will offer you a match to help start the fire in your pen. ($19.99 value)
Writer's Digest May/June 2022 Digital Edition: In the May/June 2022 issue of Writer’s Digest, featuring our 24th Annual 101 Best Websites for Writers, we focus on what technology can do for writers. The featured interview for this edition is with Kate Quinn, NYT bestselling author of historical fiction including the Reese’s Book Club pick The Alice Network, The Huntress, and The Rose Code. Kate sat down with WD's Amy Jones to talk about her 2022 release, The Diamond Eye, about the deadliest female sniper who fought during WWII (and who was also a mother and grad student). ($7.99 value)
