Muse & the Marketplace 2018

To give the reader of historical fiction a rich and immersive experience, the writer needs to build a world both utterly convincing yet surprisingly strange. In this session, Kim van Alkemade will use a few brief passages from her novels to open a conversation about the ways in which specific primary resources informed scenes, settings and diverse characters in her historical fiction. She will then outline strategies all writers can use to seek out sources and incorporate research that draws readers into the story while resisting clichéd notions of the past. Attendees will be invited to discuss the historical periods in which they are writing, and the session will conclude with a list of practical resources that can help writers ground fiction in fact while still inspiring the imagination.