We are living in contested times, but the genre of historical fiction broadened and flourished with the restoration of erased voices of the past that are now folded into the prevailing historical narrative. The art and practice of writing in this popular genre matters because these stories, set more than fifty years ago, plant seeds of connection and understanding between people. For a long time, writers were intimidated by this genre, however, the approach to writing historical fiction can be broken down in an organized way, and allow writers to learn this craft in a set of enjoyable exercises. In this three-hour master class, I will talk about writing historical fiction as a set of concentric circles that organizes the traditional fiction writing aspects–character, plot and setting—in an approachable way so that participants can write historically without fear.
