How To Write A Historical Novel And Love It by TL Clark – Review by Tara Johnson Barnes

How To Write A Historical Novel And Love It by T.L. Clark
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In this book the author gives you everything you could possibly need to know about how to write a historical novel. She delves into the details one would need to consider about not only what time period you might consider writing about but also includes information to consider on location, and characters. Another bit of valuable information to consider is what type of novel you are writing about. Other than a historical novel, is it fiction or romance? Is it a happily ever after story? It is important to consider what category your novel falls into and then from there what age category it falls into, as well as what classification or category it falls into. The author provides very thorough information about all of this and gives examples to illustrate how this works. She also provides tips and pointers on writing, laying out your story, and how to format it. The author provides invaluable information on the publishing process, how to advertise your book, and some pointers on reviews for your completed novel.

Things one might consider for when their novel takes place are more than just about that era. What happened during that era? Was there anything interesting that occurred? The author gives information about different time periods throughout history and includes interesting facts that occurred throughout each time period. Not only is the information very rich and detailed but she includes some absolutely fascinating facts about events that occurred, items that were invented and so forth. I was intrigued about when toilet paper was invented and what was used prior to the invention of toilet paper. In fact, it had been something that I was recently wondering about and was intending to research out of my own curiosity. It was a fun fact that I enjoyed learning more about.

The author includes information to consider when writing about your location and things to consider about that particular location. She mentions adding details I might not have necessarily considered to provide the would-be author a more vivid depiction of the scene they are trying to describe to their reader. It is important that the reader feel immersed in the scene and feel as though they are. This can be accomplished by adding details such as whether it is in the countryside, what the countryside looks like, and if there are farmers and so forth.

Information is provided about the character one would consider writing about and how to give descriptions without providing too much at once. Things to consider other than your character’s name would be their age, their clothing, social status, and where they live. Other things to consider and include would be your character’s level of education, and whether or not they are healthy. This information is broken down and summarized in an easy-to-learn format.

This book provided a wealth of invaluable information on how to write a historical novel as well as the entire writing process from start to finish. The author provides information about things to consider about time periods, locations, and character descriptions and how to write vivid scenes that pull the reader into the story. The tips and pointers on writing, format, and the publishing process were something that can be applied time and time again for other writing projects as well. I learned a lot about the writing process and thoroughly enjoyed how the author included witty comments throughout the book. I laughed out loud more than once and thought this provided a fun element to the book that kept me reading. This is one book that I will be adding a hard copy to my library so I can read time and time again.

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