Getting a basic fact wrong in a historical novel can rip the reader right out of the story. As an editor, I'd say it's worth doing a fact check. As we used to say on The Gazette desk, "if in doubt, cut it out."
Absolutely! I checked the details and the language I use is era appropriate, but I know some friends who spent years reading about a time period before putting pen to paper. I don’t think you need to go to that extent and become an expert on the time period in order to write it well.
Getting a basic fact wrong in a historical novel can rip the reader right out of the story. As an editor, I'd say it's worth doing a fact check. As we used to say on The Gazette desk, "if in doubt, cut it out."
Absolutely! I checked the details and the language I use is era appropriate, but I know some friends who spent years reading about a time period before putting pen to paper. I don’t think you need to go to that extent and become an expert on the time period in order to write it well.