Develop Your Historical Fiction (Intermediate)

Apply this course today — places are on a first come first served basis and limited to a maximum of 15 students to ensure a tailored experience. To apply, we ask that you submit:

1. A 500-word sample of your work

2. A one-paragraph introduction to yourself.

Email [email protected] to apply. Please format your email’s subject line: ‘[your name] application for Historical Fiction’. Applications are assessed and places are allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Application deadline is 5pm BST on Monday 13 May.

You can pay for the full course upfront today, or by instalments. For details of our instalment plan, please email [email protected].

Module one – Structure and Beginning
In this first module of the course, you’ll be introduced to foundations of writing historical fiction. You’ll start off by looking at planning your historical fiction novel, before moving on to looking at popular ways of structuring historical fiction – including linked stories, flash-backs, and dual narratives. For all your assignments in this course, you can either submit based on a prompt given to you by your tutor, or you can submit a portion of your existing work in progress.

Module two – Fact and Fiction
Historical fiction blends the line between reality and imagination. Some historical stories will stick very closely to real events, whereas others stray off into imagined realities. In this module, you’ll look at incorporating historical figures into your fiction and you’ll explore counterfactual historical fiction. This module will also look at research and how to use it, with a look at both written and visual sources.

Module three – Politics
This module will look at one of the most popular subjects in historical fiction – Politics. You’ll read examples of historical fiction which focus on revolution, the decline and fall of empires, and slavery. You’ll also play with tone, and see how using different tone and voice can provide different perspectives on historical events.

Module four – Once Upon a Time
In this module, you’ll go far back in time to explore stories inspired by fairytale and folklore. You’ll discover the line between historical fiction and fantasy writing and you’ll read stories about knights in an age of chivalry. You’ll also discuss the ethics of writing about a place far from you, with particular reference to the issue of western authors writing about non-western cultures in their historical fiction.

Module five – Herstory: Historical Fiction Written By, For, and About Women
Many works of popular historical fiction centre their traditionally male led story through a female lens – whether by flipping the gender of the main protagonist or writing the history through the eyes of the women who have been forgotten by historians. This module will also look at queer history, the use of royalty in historical fiction, and examples of fiction which write about the recent past.

Module six – Endings
This module loops back to the opening module, as you’ll return to discussion of structure in historical fiction. Knowing how to wind up your story is hard, so this module will look closely at the endings of six great historical novels. You’ll analyse these in detail for inspiration for the ending of your own work of historical fiction.