Historical Fiction

Months ago, at the behest of Roger via the book How to Write a Blockbuster Novel I read The Man from St. Petersburg. It was a fun thriller to read. It had a fast paced plot, dynamic characters, intrigue, conflict, everything that the author of How to Write a Blockbuster Novel was trying to highlight in his own book. One aspect that I have always found particularly intriguing, and The Man from St. Petersburg did not disappoint, was the way in which authors can wrap a thriller or mystery into actual, historic events.

One aspect of this publishing adventure that I have found surprising is the proportion of non-fiction books published to fiction. There are vastly more non-fiction books published each year. Prior to this year I never would have guessed that to be the fact. But, once I stopped to think about it, it made perfect sense. Whenever I go to the bookstore I am surrounded by a far greater diversity and number of non-fiction books than fiction. If I wanted to get published I believe I would have a far easier time as a non-fiction author than as a fiction one.

I believe novels like The Man from St. Petersburg are the perfect combination of fiction and non-fiction. They weave a completely fantastic plot with the realism of historical events. In the case of The Man from St. Petersburg it was the suffrage movement in London in the 1920’s. I’ve always been enamored by this style of writing, but believe I would lack the patience required for the research. The speaker at the last Sugar Land writer’s conference, David Liss, I believe employed the same or similar techniques.

But, it can be taken too far. Mischner for instance. I have read a few of his books and his style is so to the point and non-fictionesque that the reader finds it difficult to know what to believe and what not to believe. At least with The Man from St. Petersburg, one knew exactly where the real world ended and Follet’s imagination began.