World Building in your Historical Novel
There are dozens (hundreds?) of articles on world building in fantasy and science fiction novels. But what about in other genres? We cannot forget that in any novel, no matter what genre, you are creating a world for your reader.
Whether it is a small town in middle America, Calcutta during the Raj, or a space station orbiting a different sun, you are taking your reader from their comfortable world and transporting them into the world of your novel.
So, does this mean that all writers need to study world building?
Well, it probably couldn’t hurt. But writers who write contemporary fiction don’t have to worry about a lot of the issues fantasy or historical writers need to think about. For both of those genres, an author may need to explain an economic system, mores and culture, and how people lived in their every day lives. Contemporary authors can safely assume that readers will understand the workings of the fictional world without it being fully explained to them.
It’s odd to think that the world of a historical novel could be as different to a reader as that of a reader of fantasy or science fiction, but indeed it may be.
Because of this, authors of historical books need to, first of all, fully understand the world themselves. That requires a good amount of research. For…
