Hey what does everybody think about historical novels or short stories? I like the discovering europeans era, what do you's think about it?
I certainly enjoy historical fiction. There's a lot to be said for stories set in a different reality -- one where the New World is still a vast unknown, or set in Micronesia among people living in the tropics and farming and traveling to other islands via canoe, or set in an unusual civilization like the Inca or the Mayans or the aboriginal peoples of Australia. As for the European "Age of Discovery," it's a fascinating time period to be sure. And a challenge to write, because people think so differently now; we don't actually think that witches are poisoning our livestock, or that it's a good idea to kill off large numbers of people in order to cow them into giving us gold or jewels, or in order to convert them to our branch of religion to save their souls. (At the very least, such views are much less common now.) Plus the politics of that time period were neat, in terms of how much political power the working masses got as opposed to how much power the nobility held.
I love historical fiction. I wrote one called Lanterns of the North about two ladies assiociated with my local catherdral. Currently I am combining historical fiction and fantasy the two genres I have written the most in. I have a relationship involving my MC and Lewis Carroll - that is happening in his own time and exploiting gaps in his diaries etc I also have a school which contains a host of historical characters displaced as teenagers from their own time and planet. It is fun trying to get the balance right between the 'fiction' and the facts etc
in my childhood and through the teen years and beyond, i ate up all the good historical fiction [and what was contemporary at the time, but written long ago] that i could find, since i loved learning about how people lived in earlier times... the works of homer, costain, stevenson, stewart, renault, waltari, west, and too many more to list were devoured greedily [along with all the best sci-fi and mysteries of the time, so i covered the whole time gamut of humankind, even into the future]... that's probably one of the reasons i ended up being a practicing philosopher...
I really like it, as long as it's interesting and relatable. I've read lots of historical fiction that's engaging and that draws me into the characters. I've also read lots of historical fiction that reads with an archaic, purple-prose voice the whole way through and makes no effort not to be dry. Depends on the style/quality of your writing and on how well you can pull if off. I know it's the cliche answer, but it's true.
