The Case for Authors'Notes in Historical

Fiction

Do we like them? What are they good for?Most important, when should we read them?

Cindy Vallar investigates.

After finishing Anne Fortier'scaptivating novel, Juliet, Iread her Author's Note with

eager anticipation. Its inclusion wassomewhat surprising given the book'smodern-day setting, but this story offamily curses, murder, and star-crossedlovers also takes place in medievalItaly. Hence the Author's Note. Shediscussed the origins of Romeo andJuliet and why the actual event origi-nated in Siena, rather than Verona asShakespeare set it; the liberties shetook with the real people of the pastwho appeared in the story; details oflife and traditions in 1340 Siena; herresearch, and those she thanked fortheir assistance. These final pages wereas interesting to read as her exquisitetales of a fictional Alessandro and Ju-lie and their real-life ancestors, Romeoand Guilietta.

I volunteered to write this article be-cause I included one at the end of mynovel, The Scottish Thistle, and I alwaysread them. Curious as to how manyof the sixty historical novels on mybookshelves actually included one, Icounted.l Thirty-four included them,although they appeared under a vari-

. ety of names - Afterword, HistoricalNotes, To the Reader Note, Preface,or Postscript. "Author's Note" was the

most prominent, however, and mostwere inserted at the end of the story.Those that appeared at the start of thenovel were usually half a page or lessin length, while the ones at the endvaried from less than a page to morethan ten pages, with three pages beingthe norm. The Scottzsh Thzstle's was fivepages long.

I also noticed some authors includenotes at both the beginning and theend of their stories. Richard, one suchwriter, who completed the question-naire for this article, explained: "I setthe historical stage for the upcomingstory. I did this after critique groupsfound the sudden introduction into theaction of The SZJJordsof Faith confusing.My style involves lots of dramatic ac-tion, \\-ith a minimum of narrative ex-position. I like to burst into a scene, toenergize the pace."

Of the readers who completed the sur-vey, the majority lm-es reading Authors'Notes. Doreen Jensen prefers them toJames .Michener's "footnotes that wenton for pages ... I found them interest-ing, but they got me sidetracked (goodthing he could always bring me back)."Readers also have preferences as towhat to include.

details she took a bit of poetic license )vith soI don't go alvqy )vondering if it Jvas all trtlthor all fiction.

Chanta: I'd lzke to knOJv what compelledhim/ her to Jvnte the book; a'!Y additionaltopics/books regarding the subject; atry othersignificant events that might have been oc-cum'ng dun'ng the time period the book Jvaswn"tten.

Rhonda Beardsley: I prefer things relevantto the actual story. Not Jvhat-ifs . , . specula-tions orgeneral comments. Just afactual tidbitif there is one. All of the other stuff Jvouldbe betterplaced on a Jvebsite,

Marilyn Penner: If the author bent the his-torical recorda little, I'd appreciate an admis-sion. I'd certainlYforgive her if she said w/y.Richard Ill's usurpation of his neplJeJvEd-JJ;ardV Jvas controversial enough that ma'!Ynovels about it areplausible, , . [An authorshould not bend thefacts too much; I probab!J'would not read her story to the end if she did.]... A glossary of archaic Jvordsand phrasesused in the book . . . Customs, ideas and be-liefs that are strange to us nOJJJ,but important

for the story.

Manyreaders do additionalresearch to learn more.Gary Weibert considers

doing so "a testament to the authorwriting a particularly intriguing note/afterward."

Eleyne Presley: I'm an info-geek, and ifthe story JJJasTHA T good, I Ivant to continuethe adventure. Even if the author leaves nonotes, if the story intrigues me, III dofurtherresearch.

Michelle:I JvasincrediblY taken Jvith DavidEbersoff's The 19th Wife, , . and for dqysaftenvard I looked up facts about the Mor-mons - their religion, their JVqyof life . . .their attitudes toward po!J'gamy.

Kathleen McRae: .. , the books that en-couragedme to do additional researchare alsothe books I keep, reread, and recommend.Those are the )vriters I SUpPOJt,bZ!)Iingeve7]!single book thrypublish. " even if thf)! nevertrigger another trip to the nonfiction section,

Only one respondent believed Au-thors' Notes rarely added to the story,As to whether anyone had read one onan author's website, Bruce did. It was

"[pJacked with interesting background'information on the period and charac-ters." Marilyn felt "~Jooking it up onthe site is time consuming and breaksthe mood ... Perhaps when I'm braveenough to buy an e-book, it will haveinternet capability." Blythe wrote, "Todo so might be a 'spoiler.' I have, how-eYer,posted blog articles ... about thehistory surrounding various books."

The greatest degree of variabilitycomes when answering the question,"\Vhen do you read the Author'sNote?" Some say before, some after.Five alwayswait until the end. A fewconsult them while reading. Brucereads it once he finishes the novel be-cause "I want to experience the novelfirst as a story." l<:.ilianalso reads it af-terward, saying, "It's lagniappe. I saveit for dessert." Stephanie reads "it inthe middle of the novel when I comeacross something that puzzles me andI want to see if the author has an ex-planation for it." She prefers, however,to wait until she finishes the novel be-cause she doesn't "like for the experi-ence of a novel to be interrupted byacademia." Gary reads it before since"it even helps me decide whether topurchase the novel."

Everyone agrees they respectthe author for revealing lit-erary licenses. They only

feel betrayed when this information isomitted.

Kathleen: I respect the author's honesty first(and am more likelY tofollo)JJher/ him to theirnext bookfor revealing the truth) and trulY donot care if thry change events or not. IF thrytell me thry are doing so . .. If af!Jthing, theAuthor's Note ... has increased my lqyalty to- or envy of - the author because.! marveledat how thry made theirplot fit true events, evenif certain tJJJeakingJJJasneeded topull it off.

Stephanie: I ahJJqys respect an author forexplaining their choices- all the more if anauthor reveals a historical inaccuracy or mi-simpression the plot mq)/ have left Jvith the7'(JadeJ:Better that an author JJJI7tesa compel-ling novel lvith a lengthy author's note thanIP7itesa boring novel that needs no explana-tion or qualification.

The Historical Novel Society invitereaders to visit the websites of all theauthors who participated to learn moreabout them and their novels:

Allison Knight, Heartsongwww.AllisonKnight.com

Blythe Gifford, His Border Bridewww.blythegifford.com

Bruce Macbain, Roman Gameswww.brucemacbain.com

Cathie Dunn, Luck of the Irishwww.cathiedunn.com

Chanta Rand, The Highest Bidderwww.chantarand.com

Cindy Vallar, The Scottish Thistlewww.cindyvallar.com

DeAnna Cameron, The Belly Dancerwww.deannacameron.com

Diana Cosby, His Conquestwww.dianacosby.com

Elayne S.Venton, Constant in Lovewww.esventon.com

Gabriella Hewitt, Dark Waterswww.gabriellahewitt.com

Jean Adams, Eternal Heartswww.jeandrew.co.nz

Kris Kennedy, The Irish Warriorwww.kriskennedy.net

Maggie Anton, Rashi's Daughtersserieshttp://www.rashisdaughters.com

Michelle Cameron, The Fruit of HerHandswww.michelle-cameron.com

Richard Warren Field, The Swords ofFaithwww.richardwarrenfield.com

Stephanie Dray, Lily of the Nilewww.stephaniedray.com

Syd McGinley, Bys Vykenwww.sydmcginley.com

Terri Brisbin, Mistress of the Stormwww.terribrisbin.com

points out Jvhat theyJitdged on, If I find outon my OJvnI Jvill indeed resent the author jortrying toJOol me , , , a ftaJv in a story is onething, trying to coverit up and assuming I amtoo stupid to notice nOJvor in the future is alittle insulting.

Marilyn: S ometime.r... I'm arguing Jvith theauthor in 1l!J1 head. I lvas ticked off by Car-oilY Erickson~ The Last Wife of HenryVIII because I admired her non-jiction abotttthe Tudors .. , she kneJv better than to Jvritegarbage abottt the rejiJrmist Cathen'ne Parrbeing anxious over the vengeanceof Catholicghosts. CatheJine didn't believe stich rot. Cm~oilY didn't apologizeJOr it, nor did she shOJvatry bibliograp!?Jthat backed her up.

The consensus regarding length wasone to three pages, although severalsaid it depended on what it containedand where it was located. Two felt theauthor should determine its length.

Among the memorable Authors'I otes, respondents mentioned: Mar-garet Frazer's, Jonathan Raab's ShadOJvand Light, Mary Stewart's Merlin books,Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl,M. M. Kaye's Trade Winds, Sharon KayPenman's When Christ and His SaintsSlept, James Tipton'S Annette Vallon,

Robin Maxwell's Signora da Vinci, Col-leen McCullough's The October Horse,and Stephanie Crowell's Claude and Ca-mille. Another fascinating one appearsin Donna Woolfolk Cross's Pope Joan.Intrigued with her subtitle, "Was Therea Pope Joan?", I had to know more,Until the middle of the 17rh century,the papacy accepted her reign as fact.Only later did they attempt to wipe outall references to her existence. Beingthe second edition of the novel, Crossalso discussed changes she made to theoriginal version to improve the accu-racy of her depiction of life in the 9rh

century. Some readers provided thesecorrections to that first edition,

In polling author partlClpantS,all but one included an Au-thor's Note for various reasons,

Allison: I lvanted readers to knOJv what Ilvas doing and lv/Y. They lvould understandthen that the infOrmation I provided lvas inac-curate bttt I kneJv Jvhat the correct informa-tion should be.

Donna: fBjehavior ascribed to three of mystIijects is merelY surmised. I choseto use itJOr

Sthe tcottlsh hlstle- ~JC';E....

the sake of my story. I believe I'm accurate,but there are contradictory statements thatmake JfQl supposition possiblY incorrect, and Iwant to categoricallYstate that I took artisticlicense in the JJJritingof their characters.

Syd: It~ usuallY information I found inter-esting, bttt didn't Ivant to inJO-dttmp on the,·eaders.

Kris: Sometimes I elaborate on elements ofthe story itself, and give a little of the realhistory on a certain historical figure or event... I might also give real-life instances thatinspired or othenvise info1'111edthe IVfiting,perhaps Ivith characten''{fltion or plot, (Ex:in The Irish \Varrior, I explained lV0' Icreated a fictional barof!J'rather than ttsed anactual one.) AJtthor~ :'\-ote also allOJvsme togiJ'e a wider or deepe1'sense of the historicalperiod, which I kJ1OJJ}increases my Olvnenjqy-ment as a reader.

DeAnna: Historical fiction can be such atricky beast. By its very natllre, it strives tostitch together lvhat is tnle with lvhat is not (01'Jvhat can onlY be snrmised), and to do it in aIVaythat create,ra compelling ,rtory.Every au-thor handle,r this balancing act differentlY, andreaders Jvhocare about hi,rtory naturallY wantto knolv lvhere the author ha,rdraJvn the limo

Stephanie: It~ my one chance ... to havea discussion lvith my readers - to e:>:plainthepoint of my novel bryond its histOiical context.There ~ no lVqyI'd miss out on that!

Michelle: As a historical novelist, I havea double responsibility - to the histon'cal re-cord and to my own sto1]'. For a book to bedramatic, cohesive, and thematicalfy sound, Isometimes have to sacrifice absolute acmraey.In the novel I just completed, . , I condensedthe history and moved a historical characterand certain events mal!}years fonvard. [Whilethis lvas necessary to complete my o1Jerarchingtheme, it clearlY isn't "kosher" in historicalterms. So I need a medium to comtJIIll1icatetomy reader, to let them kllOl1Jl1Jherethe story isfictional and l1Jhereit is (supposed!YJfact.

Although no one has posted their Au-thors' Notes on their web sites, almosthalf thought it a good idea, Terri di.rectsreaders to her website "to point readersto ... where I haye more backgroundabout the real history." Se\-eral othersdo this, too, posting other backgroundinformation on their websites - infor-mationnot found in their stories.2

Like readers, these writers prefer Au-thors' 1 otes be kept short, althoughthey weren't as specific about the lengthas readers were. DeAnna writes, "Thereis no single perfect length. Just as eachstory is different, each Historical Notewill be different. I prefer those that arebrief and convey only the pertinentinformation the reader needs to knowabout the historical figures and eventsthat play into the novel, or the historythat has been altered to serve the story."

Almost all read other authors' Notes.Michelle wants "to learn more aboutthe novel itself, and ... to learn fromother writers ... how they have handledwriting their Notes. I love the 'story be-hind the story' aspect of these Notes,particularly if a writer includes why heor she was inspired to write the novel inthe first place." Kathleen, on the otherhand, reads them if the story is compel-ling. "If the story is slow but a certainaspect of the plot is intriguing, I mayskip ahead ... to see if [the note] gene'r-ates enough interest for me to continuereading. That doesn't happen often, butwhen it does, the notes actually sell me

on the story and encourage me to stickwith the book."

When do writers feel read-ers should read the Au-thor's Note?

Kris: After: While it~ not going to hurtreaders' e,!joyment or give aI!}thing aJ1Jqyifthry read an Author's Note before, I thinkreading an Aftenvard or Author~ Note canhelp in the 'Ivithdrawal'from story, if you'vebeen deeplYimmersed.

Kathleen: I believe it depends on the natureof the story. I've seen it both lvqyS - usedbefore the story helps draw the reader in easierbecause she/he understands this is based onor inspired by true events. A short 'before-hand' helps set the stage of the tone of thetimes, as wel4 and gets additional info to thereader much better than backstory can. '

Stephanie: I prefer thry read it latet; becauseit contains spoilers!But reallY,if it comforts areader to check the notesfirst, I lvon't object.

SHARON KAY

PENMAN

,~'~

'CHRISTAND HIS

SAINTS SLEPT