My notes from “Fact or Fiction? Writing Historical Crime”

Last week I attended a webinar about writing historical crime thrillers. It was called Fact or Fiction? Writing Historical Crime and it featured authors Anna Mazzola and D.V. Bishop in conversation with show host Luke Deckard about their writing and research processes. As they had some excellent insights, I thought I’d share my notes here.

Something I found especially interesting was that what worked for Anna did not always work for D.V., and vice versa. It just goes to show that there’s no one right way to write!

My favourite takeaways were:

• They both seemed to agree that while research is important, and part of the process, at some point you have to accept that you’ll get some things wrong. The book is about telling the story.

• Writing historical crime fiction that’s set before the discovery of DNA is easier. There’s less for a writer to get wrong than with contemporary crime fiction.

• D.V. recommended visiting the place where your story is set, to get a feeling for it as this can really help to bring the story to life. Other options include seeking out diaries and letters of people who lived during the time as the minutiae of everyday life is what brings historical stories to life.

• Authenticity readers can help writers craft stronger stories.

• They talked about how stories set in the past often have resonance with current events, and this is what can make them especially interesting. Anna gave the example of her novel The House of Whispers which is set in fascist Italy and how it was her anger at the rise of the far right that made her want to write about this topic. D.V. Bishop talked about his current series, which is set in Renaissance Florence and how he sees the practice of exorcism as a sort of metaphor for extreme conversion therapy.

• In terms of their writing processes, Anna tries not to research once she starts writing her first draft. Also, her first draft is very rough, and she doesn’t worry about this. On the other hand, D.V. revises as he writes, and his first draft is fairly polished.

If you’d like to watch their discussion, it’s available on YouTube via The Luke Deckard Show. Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1oF1QRKDrk

If you’re writing historical fiction, mystery/suspense or historical suspense and find yourself in need of some support, I’d love to hear from you! You can get in touch by clicking the button below.