5 Historical Fiction Tropes (the best and worst!)

All genres have their tropes, though historical fiction stands out by being more about the setting than the elements of the story or characters. However, there are still a few tropes in this genre, some you may want to avoid, and others that can bring a lot of life to a historical novel! In today's video, we're talking about tropes in historical fiction, and the fun of bringing your favourite tropes into a historical setting.

0:00 - Intro
1:04 - Relying on bigotry for worldbuilding
2:46 - The 21st century protagonist
4:29 - Showing your research
5:44 - Filling in the gaps of history
6:19 - Make your favourite trope historical!

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[bicho]

I love HF but one trope I wish was less common is the dual timeline. Though if handled well like anything it can be compelling, often it feels like the author is worried about readers relating to historical characters. So the modern character is kind of just there, reading a diary or something, and being kind of irrelevant.

[rociomiranda]

I'm Costa Rican. I'm writing a novel set in colonial times, circa 17th century, under Spanish rule. There is no way I can get around slavery, religious terror, social discrimination due to race, and the subjugation of women. I'd have no story if I did.
Maybe it's cultural. Writers of historical fiction in Latin America don't shy away from the ugly truth of our blood-drenched history.
I love all your videos.

[hazelthenut]

An annoying criticism I got a lot when I wrote my historical fiction was that the characters "Didn't speak historically enough". I never used any modern slang or terms, nor did they have modern social/political standards, but for some reason people expect every historical character to speak like a fancy pants Victorian noble. My main character was an Italian renaissance peasant. Why would the man sound all poetic and fancy when he can't even speak latin? Its already inaccurate that he'd be speaking English, so why is making him speak like a normal person considered "not historical"??

[alejandrarodriguez]

Historical fiction writer and reader here! I loved it

[josephstanski]

I'm writing a historical fictional romantic (kinda like "The Waltons" ) screenplay, set in the early thirties (1933-1935); centering around the building of a State Park during a farm crisis and just after WWI; would love any suggestions you might suggest have centering around you video topic. As a retired school teacher (social studies and industrial sciences) I must say, you are one of my favorite writers on the internet, both as a novelist and writer. Thank you some much for all the directions you have given me with your great videos. :o) Joseph

[ficheetah]

What if "progressive for the time" is actually more progressive than our current day understanding of what is progressive? I hope somebody as educated as yourself appreciates that societies and cultures often regress, though seldom will the cultural managers at the time recognize it as such. Sometimes it takes a few generations to understand that a change took us backward.

[brycesonflowers]

Yo Shaelin after writing my 17th personal Short Story, I finally notice a pattern in my writing. I broke down and conducted it all into a formula that can help inspire new writers in crafting their own original Plots Using 4 Steps. I'm just gonna show you my favorite original Plot I created. No. 1 Sketch out a plot outline /To do this you want to list three subjects. A noun, adjective, and verb. The noun is the theme. The adjective is the climax. The verb a passion. Here's my subject list: Area and Perimeter, Trace, and Dance. No. 2 Dive right into the action /To do this you want to create a segment line as your setting. For example, my story happens to a girl who dedicated her life to dancing but in the environment, she lives in will gets in trouble for it. Like at school for not doing her work and is persuasive to dance instead. No. 3 Layout the groundworks / Next create a ray line to indicate a new issue like her house burns down and they have to move to a new environment with a new conflict about her dance. as the ray continues to expand continue to raise the stakes. No. 4 Your Final Greetings/ After you traced the full perimeter back around. pause the story to answer the question based on the verb. But answer it from the perspective of your main character's point of view, "What does it mean for her to dance?" This question is considered to be an area of this story. But the perimeter is considered to be the many different in environments of this story.

[markovichamp]

Great video, really helped me, thanks. One thing I would say, is that whilst you shouldn't drop a 21st century protagonist into the past (5th century, in my story), you can give them 21st century brains, because there is no difference between us and our ancestor in that short time period. Don't send 21st 'nurture' back in time, but do send 21st century 'nature' back.

[mathiaspoelman]

Well, I include bigotry in my stories but I always bring up the necessary nuance and do not go into gory bashing. Like, a queer character can get in trouble but not because they are queer and they grow stronger out of it. I think that's something more writers should do. Queers, blacks, indigenous people etc, they really had ways to live a decent life. Tragedy must not be the standard in fiction either.

[silvanam]

21st century protagonists? You mean like Bridgerton?

[kawadashogo]

I like what you say about making a progressive character progressive for the time. Too many people claim "standards of the time" as if everything was always just rigid. But societies have always contained struggles between progressive and reactionary tendencies and social forces. Societies are always changing, sometimes forward and sometimes backward. You can find examples of ancient Romans criticizing things other Romans did. For example, Seneca in one of his letters strongly criticized the Roman practice of using the execution of criminals as entertainment in the arenas: "'But he was a highway robber, he killed a man!' And so? Granted that, as a murderer, he deserved this punishment. What did you do, wretch, that you have to watch?" In no society in the history of the world has everyone agreed on everything. So yes, having someone with fully updated early 21st century values (which themselves might become outdated in many ways by the end of our century) wouldn't work, but it's definitely possible to make a character progressive within the framework of their society and historical setting. There have always been people who tried to change the world. If there weren't, the world would never have changed.

[Voosti]

A bit too much moralizing here and not enough on good writing.

[tabuknight]

Hello, can you do a review on The Forbidden Man by Gerald R. Knight

[Torch]

What is fake dating, or did I misunderstand what you're saying?

[riyasethi]

Can someone give me some examples of these tropes?

[katemcmanus]

The 21st Century Protagonist is why I had to stop reading Lessons in Chemistry, even though everyone loved that book. Good lord, Elizabeth Zott. You were the least interesting character in that book.

[noahgibsonspeninsularwarsa]

Very interesting on sewage lol. However, if I use something, it's not realism or empathy: it's for the moral dilemma of the protagonist choice.

[gwalchmai]

Bigotry is not the center of fictions of ancient times (not all of them I mean) (I know some things about pre-19th century French literature) why would you want it in your fiction?
If you talk about nobles the notion of honor is very important.for examples.
The importance of family, of extanded families, the idea of the individual personality, of the importance of the individual, which is not really a thing before late 17th century...

[ChickenBiscuits]

The first trope isn't a problem (if done right of course) in my opinion. If the book is supposed to be historically realistic, it needs to have realistic character interactions of the period they are depicting. Sure it can be overblown (excess violence or bigotry) but if done right, it is a must for every historical fiction book.

Now your sewage comment. I assume you are referring to the Medieval or Renaissance period, if so, no, no one threw poop or waste out of their windows... There were laws against such behavior and it doesn't make logical sense. People back then weren't these disgusting, filthy, barbarians that pop culture loves to depict them as. They were humans like the rest of us (shocker) and we humans do not like being filthy or having our living area be filthy. Cleanliness was quite important back then just like it is in the present day. I would even argue it was more important as illnesses were very serious back then.

[DammitVictor-H]

There are a whole lot of historical cultural values for a protagonist to hold that aren't bigotries, but aren't modern progressive, either. Also, a lot of authors need to be reminded-- forcefully-- that racism didn't exist _before_ the 1500s, either and the prejudices of the day simply weren't just bigger versions of the ones we're struggling with today.