I am very happy today to welcome historian Catherine Hanley toHistory…the Interesting Bitsin a new instalment of my Author Spotlight series,Wordly Women. Catherine is the author ofMatilda,1217and her latest book, Lionessheart, aboutJoanna, the sister of Richard the Lionheart. Catherine also write...
In Anthony’s response he claimed “historical facts are not copyrightable,” which is true, but totally irrelevant to this discussion. That is a ‘straw man’ argument. No one is claiming ownership of facts here, we are claiming ownership of our exact words, our lengthy writings. Those are...
Annie: I always start with the primary sources, contemporary if possible, looking for any reference to the characters I’m planning to write about. I find out, or remind myself, about the timelines, then I look at the later, usually Anglo-Norman sources, to see where they embellish and ...
Petiot vehemently denied detectives’ interpretation of the facts, and police lacked any physical evidence to back it up. However French citizens continued to report that their loved ones had ascended the stairs of the shadowy beauty parlor at 25 Rue des Mathurins, never to return. Authorities t...
Toni: I’ve always been a story-teller. Aged 6, when the teacher was called away – before the days of teaching assistants – she would have me sit at the front of the class and tell them a story. It was usually a mix of various fairytales with princes, princesses, witches and drago...
(I am looking at Sweyn Forkbeard in Vikings Valhalla) someone will notice. There is a knack to historical fiction, to weaving the story within the known facts, to introducing fictional characters and creating their interactions with historical figures. The story has to have that essence of ...