Tag Archive: Young Adult Fiction/Nonfiction
By Melissa L.
Like nearly everything else in life, it seems that writing historical fiction comes with its own set of rules. While browsing the Internet, I discovered an article entitled “Seven Rules for Writing Historical Fiction,” by Elizabeth Crook, the author of three historical novels. Crook’s article is intended for authors of historical fiction in general, but I found some of her rules especially applicable to writing for children.
At first glance, Crook’s first two rules—“Sweat the Small Stuff” and “Cut the Ballast”—seem to contradict one another. In reality, though, both are vital to a good novel for young readers. As a historical fiction author, you need to know virtually everything about your time period in order to write accurately; after all, you don’t want to give your readers a false impression of history. At the same time, though, all of the details you learn don’t have to make their way into your book. Kids have notoriously short attention spans, and if you bog them down with information they don’t want or need to know, they’re likely to put the book down.
The idea of including only necessary details echoes in Crook’s sixth rule, “Don’t Get Bogged Down by Back-story.” You need to know the entire back-story, of course, but your readers only need it to a certain extent. Kids in particular like their books to open at a fast pace. If you devote your first chapter entirely to the back-story, you’ll quickly bore and lose your readers.
What do you think about Crook’s set of rules? Are there any other rules you would say are important in historical fiction for kids?
Melissa L. is the YA Editorial Assistant for Wonders and Marvels. You can read more about her here: Editorial Staff.
By Melissa L.
Most children’s book authors are familiar with the Newbery Award, which is, as I’ve written in another post, very friendly to historical fiction. But there’s another award in children’s literature that is less well-known but definitely more interesting to historical writers. The Scott O’Dell Award, named for the author of the Newbery-winning Island of the Blue Dolphins, is given annually to the best work of historical fiction for children. And in addition to its specific focus, there are several things that make this award unique.
First of all, an author actually has to apply in order to win the Scott O’Dell Award. This may not seem that unusual, but consider all the other major awards given out in the children’s publishing world. A committee selects the winners from all of the eligible books published in a given year; authors don’t need to do anything for their work to be considered. This submission requirement may be part of why the award isn’t very well-known: since authors have to submit their books, the pool of eligible titles is presumably a lot smaller.
Second, the Scott O’Dell Award comes with a cash prize—the only award in children’s literature (at least to my knowledge) that does so. It’s true that winning any major award will help boost sales, but if you win this one, you’ll also receive a check for $5000. While I don’t know the exact rationale behind the cash prize, I’ll say that it’s definitely another incentive for you to submit your book for the award if it’s eligible.
Are you familiar with the Scott O’Dell Award? What do you think about these features that make it unique?
Melissa L. is the YA Editorial Assistant for Wonders and Marvels. You can read more about her here: Editorial Staff.
By Melissa L.
Since my historical fiction is set mostly in non-English speaking places, I’m not especially concerned about when particular words entered the English language. But when I attended a historical fiction conference recently, one of the presenters shared a link to an etymology site, and I must admit: I am now obsessed.
The Online Etymology Dictionary (www.etymonline.com) can tell you when any word, prefix, or suffix was first used in English—and includes a fair number of phrases and expressions, too. This obviously comes in handy if you’re setting your novel in a specific year and are unsure about a particular word. It can be surprising to see when words first appear: I would have thought that “bomb” was fairly modern, but its use actually dates back to the 1580s. Similarly, I always believed that “D-day” was first used to refer to the operations at Normandy during World War II, but it actually came into use in 1918.
The Online Etymology Dictionary does offer the disclaimer that its dates may not be entirely accurate, “since a word may have been used in conversation for hundreds of years before it turns up in a manuscript that has had the good fortune to survive the centuries.” I also believe that a word’s appearance in one manuscript at a given time doesn’t necessarily mean it was in common use. Still, if your novel is set in 1776 and a particular word wasn’t in use until 1976, you need a substitute. Resources like this one can make your novel stronger by pinpointing such anachronisms.
(And by the way: If I were writing this in the 19th century, I wouldn’t have used the word “pinpoint.” It was originally aviator’s slang, and it isn’t attested until 1917.)
Melissa L. is the YA Editorial Assistant for Wonders and Marvels. You can read more about her here: Editorial Staff.
By Melissa L.
Over the past twenty years or so, history and historical fiction books have been used more and more as part of the school curriculum. In many of the books I’ve reviewed lately, I’ve noticed an abundance of features that are clearly intended to make the titles classroom-friendly. Bibliographies or “further reading” sections give teachers resources they can use to build an entire unit around a historical event. Glossaries define unfamiliar terms. And author’s notes provide additional information about a topic and, in the case of historical fiction, help to explain what parts of the book have been fictionalized.
Of course, there are definitely some budding history buffs who read historical books outside of school, and these resources can also help them to sink their teeth into a topic. But overall, it seems to me that features like this are designed to make it easier for teachers to use books in the classroom. Being unpublished myself, I don’t know whether authors write glossaries and author’s notes early in the process and submit them with the manuscript or if the publisher suggests them later, but all of these things are definitely something to consider as you write.
So have you noticed any particular features in historical titles that seem engineered for use in the classroom? What do you think about them?
And if you’re a published author who has experience with glossaries, bibliographies, and the like, I’d love your input on when they become a part of the book!
Melissa L. is the YA Editorial Assistant for Wonders and Marvels. You can read more about her here: Editorial Staff.
By Melissa L.
While many areas are underrepresented in historical fiction, there are also some that are way overrepresented. That’s not to say that books about these topics don’t need to be on the market, but they take up an incredibly large share.
In historical fiction about the United States, the overrepresented areas can be expressed in one word: wars. The American Revolution, the Civil War, and World War II are all extremely popular topics (though World War I isn’t as prominent). I suspect that wars are covered so often in children’s fiction because they’re a great chance to write action scenes, particularly if your novel takes place on the battlefield. This tactic can help to draw reluctant readers, especially boys.
In the rest of the world, it’s harder to say what areas are overrepresented since there’s a much wider variety of titles. Wars tend to be covered pretty well in world history too, with the French Revolution and World War II (especially the Holocaust) being popular topics. And there’s an abundance of fiction about Western Europe during virtually every time period.
It’s certainly not impossible to write and sell a novel about one of these topics, but you’ll definitely need a fresh angle. A title we recently featured at Wonders & Marvels, The Sniper, is a good example. While it’s a World War II story, it approaches the war from an unusual perspective: a Russian teenager recruited as a sniper.
So what areas are overrepresented in historical fiction for children?
How do you make such topics fresh? And what makes wars so popular?
Melissa L. is the YA Editorial Assistant for Wonders and Marvels. You can read more about her here: Editorial Staff.
By Melissa L.
History can be ambiguous. Sometimes there are multiple versions of the same event, and sometimes the details we most want to know have been lost. Fortunately, as a historical fiction writer, you can use this ambiguity to your advantage. As long as your book is labeled fiction, young readers will understand that it isn’t completely true, and you can fill in the gaps with your own interpretations of events.
For example, consider the two young English princes, Edward and Richard, who were imprisoned in the Tower of London in the late 15th century. In 1483, they disappeared, and no one has ever been able to say conclusively what happened to them. If you write a novel about these two boys, you might decide to say that they were murdered, or you might devise a way for them to escape. As long as the events you describe are plausible based on what we do know, no one can say that you’re wrong.
These types of situations are also good examples of places where an author’s note can come in handy, especially when you’re writing for young readers. While kids are smart enough to realize that historical fiction has at least some parts that came from the author’s imagination, they may not be clear on which parts—so tell them. This way, they won’t get a false impression of history.
What do you think about filling in the gaps in history? What’s the best way to do it? Is there a point where it becomes too much? And what are some books that do this well?
Melissa L. is the YA Editorial Assistant for Wonders and Marvels. You can read more about her here: Editorial Staff.
By Melissa L.
If you’re writing historical fiction, you obviously know a lot about the topic you’ve chosen. But when you’re writing for young readers, this can, in a way, become a problem. Kids haven’t necessarily studied the period you’ve picked in school, and they certainly haven’t done the research you have. Your challenge is to write a book that kids can understand while not talking down to them.
I remember one book I read at age seven, a short chapter book that took place during the Middle Ages. The author mentioned that the two main characters were worried for their father because he had gone to fight in the Crusades. At that age, I didn’t know what the Crusades were, and I became very confused. A few hints given in context—like mentioning that the Pope had called on all Christians to protect the Holy Land—would have made things much clearer.
When you write historical fiction, you are telling a story, and you don’t want to bog it down with too many facts. But you’ll also confuse your readers if you assume they know the topic too well. A well-written historical fiction book will introduce the facts subtly, giving readers the information they need while keeping the story moving. One valuable resource for finding books that do this well is John Gillespie’s Introducing Historical Fiction to Young Readers. It has an explanation of what makes a good historical novel for children, as well as an extensive list of books.
Melissa L. is the YA Editorial Assistant for Wonders and Marvels. You can read more about her here: Editorial Staff.
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