Historical Fiction Pet Peeves by Warren Bull

Historical Fiction Pet Peeves by Warren Bull

image from Andre Hunter on Upsplash

One of the websites I read regularly invited people to post things they don’t like in historical fiction. As a writer, I find it helpful to hear from readers. Here are their responses.

The most common complaint was that authors make mistakes showing a lack of research. One post mentioned a book that had a character graduating from West Point at a time when he would have been eleven years old. Other responders said they found it jarring when characters showed modern attitudes about societal norms such as sexuality, feminism, and politics.

“Shoehorning” was mentioned a number of times. For example, some authors apparently included information about something particular to the time of the work, which had nothing to do with the plot. These readers saw that practice as the authors trying to show that they did their homework. One person commented about a novel that included a long section about an officer putting on a sash that was irrelevant to the story. Also, following the procedure described, the character would have the sash on upside down. Another shortcoming noted was when authors inserted a famous person into a scene for no reason other than to have a famous person appear. 

Although some readers did not mind the addition of fictional characters, others wrote that when those imaginary characters are assigned significant actions within major historical events the result distorts history. Apparently, guides at Gettysburg National Military Park are often asked about a fictional character who appeared in a popular fictional account of the battle. One person observed that in the movie, Patton, the General actually had a staff who saw that his orders were carried out, although the staff was missing from the movie.

More than one reader commented on classic fiction about the Civil War that romanticized the Confederacy, minimized slavery and gave a positive spin to the Ku Klux Klan.

Other things disliked included inventing events that never happened, flashbacks that leave the reader untethered in time, multiple points of view that leave readers uncertain of the point of view, too few characters to accomplish what is done in the book, and too many characters to keep straight.