Okay, so my short stories are now officially published here! And the fiest short story is ”The Promise of Winter.” It’s a short and sweet story set in Brooklyn in 1910s. I don’t want to spoil anything, so if you’re interested, have a peek!   

  

Why is it set in 1910s, you might ask? Did I mention I love history? Well, I do. When I was a child, I wanted to be an archeologist, and study the Ancient Egypt, Greece, Mesopotamia, Rome, or any ancient civilization. Then I saw some documentaries and I wanted to study Neanderthals or Cro-Magnon people, or the tribes living during ice age. Then came literature, Medieval studies, Romantic period, aaand I’m on a wild tangent here.   

  

But yes, I love history and reading about historical periods. Which creates a problem to me when I want to write about historical periods. And this is a conundrum many are probably aware of: how to accurately write about historical periods? And how faithfully should you write about historical periods? Now, one of the rules I was taught about creative writing is that you should never let the truth hinder a good story. Which is a sound advice as long as you don’t purposefully write lies and try to sell it as truth. It is completely fine to distort history if you’re writing, for example, a story that takes place in an alternative history. And you can also bend history to suit your story if the story demands it, but it should always serve a purpose.   

  

This, of course, sets up a question of how do you separate one purpose from another, or what makes one purpose better? And I have to admit, I don’t have straightforward answers to that. But I think it all comes down to your intent. Yes, author’s intent is a thing. If you’re writing historical non-fiction, then you should aim to be as faithful to historical records as possible, but if you’re writing a historical romance fiction, then it’s a completely different game, isn’t it? That is not to say that it gives you a complete freedom to represent the past in any way you want, but it does give you a certain freedom to create your own story.   

  

Which brings us to the hot debate on historically accurate clothing, items, weapons and armor (I think Youtube is bursting from the seams with this particular debate). Should you be as faithful as possible and represent, for example, the style of clothing of a particular era? I think so, but not because you have to; it’s your story and you can write it the way you want. But studying the fashion of, say, in England in 1840s might give a completely new perspective to things you never imagined, and you might find something that gives your story a whole new layer of substance. I try to be as historically accurate as possible in my writings, but I also know that it is really easy to overlook something or make a mistake about something else. And that’s completely fine! Fiction isn’t a factual representation of the past, but it can engage you with the past and give you an impetus to learn something new about it. Would it be so bad if an error in a book made you study history? No! That would be awesome. So, maybe we should give writers some slack with historical accuracy?  

  

Once again, thank you for reading.  

– Amory