How I Research History Without Losing the Story

Historians collect facts. Novelists collect trouble.

When you write historical fiction, you need both.

Historical fiction can be a tricky balancing act. On one hand, readers deserve authenticity. On the other, they deserve a good story. If a novel reads like a textbook, I have failed as a storyteller. If the history feels careless, I have failed as a researcher. Somewhere in the middle is the place where I like to work. I call it faction.