Historical nonfiction is so much more than the history textbooks you read in school. Many of them even read like adventure novels, except for the fact that they portray real events.
What is Historical Nonfiction?
Historical nonfiction is any writing that seeks to present information about past events, people, places, and cultures as accurately as possible. Unlike historical fiction, which blends facts with imagination, this genre adheres strictly to facts and evidence.
Writing historical nonfiction demands thorough research. Authors sift through documents, artifacts, and other historical sources to reconstruct and interpret the past.
Despite this, gaps in records or conflicting sources sometimes necessitate educated conjectures. These conjectures must be clearly distinguished from established facts and supported by any available evidence or logical reasoning.
Historical nonfiction can take many forms, including historical textbooks, biographies, memoirs, and essays. Its main goal is to help readers understand and appreciate history.
Tips on Writing Historical Nonfiction
Here are a few tips you should keep in mind when writing historical nonfiction.
1. Research, research, research.
This principle applies to all types of books, but conducting research for historical nonfiction can be particularly challenging. In this genre, you’re reconstructing the past, which is sometimes poorly documented.
Records and artifacts may have been lost or destroyed over time. Additionally, what was considered trivial in the past might not have been recorded at all. There’s also the risk of misinterpreting information, whether by yourself or by others before you.
Historical nonfiction is rooted in truth. To ensure accuracy, interview experts, consult books, visit historical sites, and examine available artifacts.
2. Fact check.
Every detail you include in your book should be precise and true. Make sure they are verifiable by multiple, credible sources.
While some speculation may be necessary, aim to minimize it and fill in any gaps in knowledge as much as you can. Support each speculation with reasonable logic.
Check your facts multiple times, even when you’ve had enough of the task. It’s better to exert additional effort now than do corrections after your book is published. A single error can damage your credibility, leaving your readers hesitant to read your future works.
3. Utilize a narrative structure.
Viewing your chosen topic as a story provides you with a clear direction, which is particularly valuable when writing a historical memoir or autobiography. It helps you determine where to begin, how to progress, and where to conclude.
Now you have an outline. It ensures that your writing remains focused and avoids unnecessary tangents. It also helps you maintain consistency and accuracy in conveying your message.
Without a narrative structure, the information you present can be dull and uninteresting. By framing your topic as a story, you’ll captivate and engage your audience more effectively.
4. Stay true to the facts.
While it is important to tell a compelling story, staying true to the facts is equally important. Avoid embellishments. Present your story accurately and objectively. Your story will speak for itself.
This is often hard to notice. Sometimes, the more you immerse yourself in your topic, the more your imagination runs and you begin to think of your conjectures as facts. They’re not. You weren’t there. They might be fascinating conjectures, but they are conjectures all the same.
Your experiences and personality will influence your work but only in terms of tone, techniques, and writing style. The facts themselves must be presented as is.
5. Provide context.
Historical nonfiction should not only recount events and present facts but also provide context. While focusing on significant events, it’s important to help readers understand their significance.
Contextualizing information involves explaining how events fit into the broader scope of history. Give details on how social, political, and cultural factors influence these events or the individuals involved. However, it’s important not to delve too deeply into these factors; provide just enough information to give readers a basic understanding.
For example, take the sun being the center of the solar system. It’s trivial knowledge today, but was groundbreaking and controversial during its time of discovery. Why? Because it challenged and contradicted long-held beliefs and religious teachings, causing significant shifts in scientific and political thought.
6. Use visual aids.
Visual aids help readers immerse themselves in events and visualize complex objects or situations. This is particularly useful when discussing unfamiliar topics.
Even if your readers are familiar with a topic, visual aids serve as convenient references for them. These can range from photographs, charts, graphs, illustrations, tables, timelines, and infographics.
Maps, for instance, can be utilized in various manners. An author describing an expedition can easily depict the route taken. Likewise, a writer discussing a battle can illustrate the arrangement of troops and the placement of routes.
7. Respect the past.
It’s important to understand that historical nonfiction is a representation of the past, shaped by the knowledge, experiences, biases, and beliefs of the time.
For instance, bloodletting was a common practice in ancient to medieval times, believed to cure patients by “balancing their humors.” It’s easy to ridicule such a ridiculous method but you have to acknowledge that people were working with the knowledge they had at the time.
This gets more confusing when talking about ethics and morality. While it’s crucial to learn from history, applying modern ethical and moral standards to past events can lead to oversimplification or anachronism. As discussed in tip #5, always consider the context.
There is merit in considering the modern relevance of past events. Historical nonfiction often aims to show how history impacts the present and highlights humanity’s progress. However, it’s equally important to present a balanced and nuanced portrayal of history.
Writing about History
In some ways, writing historical nonfiction is harder than writing any fiction. You are constrained by facts and evidence, necessitating much research and accuracy.
At its core, historical nonfiction is a retelling of real events—a true story. So how do you turn something that’s already happened special in your retelling? It is this difficulty in making the details engaging that many writers struggle with.
The freedom to write whatever you want is taken away from you. If you take liberties, then it’s no longer nonfiction and you risk distorting information. However, it is this constraint that also distinguishes historical nonfiction. Readers can trust that they are reading accurate portrayals of historical events.
Why do you think book categories and genres matter? Share them in the comments below!
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Cole is a blog writer and aspiring novelist. He has a degree in Communications and is an advocate of media and information literacy and responsible media practices. Aside from his interest in technology, crafts, and food, he’s also your typical science fiction and fantasy junkie, spending most of his free time reading through an ever-growing to-be-read list. It’s either that or procrastinating over actually writing his book. Wish him luck!
