Words on a Page

Real and Perceived Risks I think there is always going to be an element of ‘riskiness’ in historical fiction simply because we are taking material considered to be ‘factual’ and reshaping it to fit our purposes. Readers knowledgeable about the historical details I include in my novel are bound to be critical if those details are not presented accurately, and readers more engaged with the fiction will be critical if the plot reads like an academic treatise. But historical fiction is fiction at the end of the day, albeit a form which demands authenticity. The key, then, is to be meticulous in my research. Perhaps the greatest challenge I face, however, is one which is self-imposed. At the centre of my novel is an historical personage about whom very little is known – Halahtookit, the Nez Perce son of the explorer William Clark – and my original aim was to present one strand of the narrative from his point of view. Many fiction writers would rejoice at such a find – an intriguing ‘charact...

A big 'thank you' to Ian Kampel at the Synergise.com for publishind my article on cycling across the United States. You can access the artlcle here .