JAMES ALEXANDER THOM, author of 11 books, FOLLOW THE RIVER—now in its 38th printing; LONG KNIFE, FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA, ST. PATRICK’S BATTALION, etc. with over 2,500,000 books in print will be talking on historical research and writing fiction. He will meet with writers to discuss their work and how to make it ready for an agent or publisher.

“ONCE UPON A TIME IT WAS NOW”
Historical Fiction – research and writing

The course will cover in depth the genre of the historical novel.

The instructors, James Alexander Thom and his wife, Dark Rain, are prominent authors in this genre, and are historical and workshop lecturers. Over a quarter of a century, Mr. Thom’s thoroughly researched novels have sold over 2.5 million copies for Ballantine/Random House. He and Dark Rain co-authored WARRIOR WOMAN. Hallmark and Ted Turner filmed two of his novels for television.

The course will discuss the rational and the role of the historical novel, and the peculiar challenges of researching and writing it.

A comparison will be made between a historian and a historical novelist: their differences and their similarities.
A standard will be defined for good historical fiction. The author’s responsibility will be made plain: good historical fiction must have high standards of accuracy and verisimilitude. Mr. Thom’s definition of a good historical novel is: “A reliable historical account, accurate enough to be used in history courses, as told through the immediate experience of sentient characters.”

The course will show how the novelist can plot and create suspense even within the confines of historical facts and chronologies. It will cover the question of creating fictional persons as point-of-view characters within true stories, verses getting inside the psyche of real historical characters to express their perceptions of the events.

Much of the course will be concerned with methods and sources of research for two primary purposes:

1. Creating the environment and historical context of the narrative so that the reader is transported back to that time and place, to experience it from within. (Thus the title: “Once Upon A Time It Was Now”)
2. Avoiding anachronisms of environment; of inventions and procedures; of political, religious and cultural though; of speech and usage.

“The reading public includes many knowledgeable nitpickers,” says novelist Thom. “One purpose of research is to prevent them from catching you off base. Another is to describe the historical time and events so vividly that all the reader’s senses are perceiving them as of then. The best thing a good historical novelist can hear from a reader is, “I felt like I was there.”

Link to James Alexander Thom's Website