Combining immersive writing with a retreat can have a powerful impact on your novel as you craft your historic world. It gives you a chance to focus on the experiences and feelings that can arise when in a particular place. Seeing, touching, and smelling things that your characters may have also experienced can add depth to your story.

History is filled with interesting people and readers are eager to see them come alive on the page. The challenge is to make sure your historical characters are compelling to modern readers while also reflective of their historical world.

Getting feedback on your writing early not only helps you improve your craft it can also help you identify what is working and what needs improvement.

Transferring real facts into a fictional world is not always easy. You are essentially building a world from known details and working with readers’ imperfect understanding of that world. Deciding what to include and what to pare away can make the difference between engaging readers and losing them.

One of the most common questions I see from writers of historical fiction is how to balance research with writing. First, you want to know how much research is necessary. Then, you want to know when to stop researching and start writing.