Chris Oswald's Blog: History and Fiction - Posts Tagged "past"
Fiction and History but not Historical Fiction
Hi, this is the first time I've ever written a blog so please excuse if not up to scratch.
I wanted to write about history in fiction but not about historical fiction. I don't have anything against historical fiction and read a huge amount - Bernard Cornwell, Philippa Gregory, Ken Follet, CJ Sansom, Edward Marston and others.
In fact, thinking about historical fiction for a moment, there are distinct kinds - those that tell a story as it happened, filling in the gaps or telling from a different perspective. Then there is the type that is a story set in the past, borrowing on historical events but not really telling them.
But I wanted to write more about the use of history in fiction. That fiction could be anywhere on the time spectrum - historical, contemporary or futuristic. In fact, choosing the near future for my first two novels (2024: A History of the Future and 18 Acres of England - set in America in 2028) is a deliberate way of saying these are not historical fiction but dealing with future times.
It is just that they also look back to key times in the past. The two books do this in different ways, of course, but they have in common that they employ history to weave another story into the present/ future, basically the "now" of the story. And they are weaved because the historical story has a direct impact on the now. In 2024 it is within a lifetime so it is relatively straightforward. In 18 Acres it is almost 250 years earlier so way beyond human memory. But it still has a direct effect on how things work out in the "now".
I hope these thoughts are of interest and, as said before, this is my first ever blog so please read with patience and let me know what you think. I don't really know what people write in blogs and what tone they employ so forgive me if it should be incredibly witty and clever. I just wanted to write about what I was trying to achieve in writing my first two books. Right now I am trying the same approach but from a different perspective so my third book hopes to expand this way of writing some more.
Thanks for reading and bye for now.
Chris
I wanted to write about history in fiction but not about historical fiction. I don't have anything against historical fiction and read a huge amount - Bernard Cornwell, Philippa Gregory, Ken Follet, CJ Sansom, Edward Marston and others.
In fact, thinking about historical fiction for a moment, there are distinct kinds - those that tell a story as it happened, filling in the gaps or telling from a different perspective. Then there is the type that is a story set in the past, borrowing on historical events but not really telling them.
But I wanted to write more about the use of history in fiction. That fiction could be anywhere on the time spectrum - historical, contemporary or futuristic. In fact, choosing the near future for my first two novels (2024: A History of the Future and 18 Acres of England - set in America in 2028) is a deliberate way of saying these are not historical fiction but dealing with future times.
It is just that they also look back to key times in the past. The two books do this in different ways, of course, but they have in common that they employ history to weave another story into the present/ future, basically the "now" of the story. And they are weaved because the historical story has a direct impact on the now. In 2024 it is within a lifetime so it is relatively straightforward. In 18 Acres it is almost 250 years earlier so way beyond human memory. But it still has a direct effect on how things work out in the "now".
I hope these thoughts are of interest and, as said before, this is my first ever blog so please read with patience and let me know what you think. I don't really know what people write in blogs and what tone they employ so forgive me if it should be incredibly witty and clever. I just wanted to write about what I was trying to achieve in writing my first two books. Right now I am trying the same approach but from a different perspective so my third book hopes to expand this way of writing some more.
Thanks for reading and bye for now.
Chris
History and Fiction
I am interested in the many ways history can feature in fiction, from straight historical fiction to two or more time periods weaving into one main story. The way long ago events influence now has alw
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