My history writing was based on what I saw in strange, exotic places rather than just reading books.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I tend to like to read history - recent history, because I find that much more intriguing than just a writer's imagination.
I like writing historical fiction.
When I began writing that I was able and did travel and met some fascinating people and also uncovered some history, which has not been discovered before.
I am in the interesting position of being sometimes skimmed by the critics and called literature and sometimes called historical fiction.
I don't separate my books into historical novels and the rest. To me, they're all made-up worlds, and both kinds are borne out of curiosity, some investigation into the past.
I've always been drawn to historical fiction.
I write novels, mostly historical ones, and I try hard to keep them accurate as to historical facts, milieu and flavor.
We've all faced the charge that our novels are history lite, and to some extent, that's true. Yet for some, historical fiction is a way into reading history proper.
My instinct is to write under the cloak of an opaque historical setting.
As an author of narrative history, I read a lot of history books.