Lexicon: Historical Fiction

           Historical Fiction: a made-up story that includes a real setting during a specific year range. 

      It might include: real people from that time and/or real events (President Lincoln, Cleopatra, Shakespeare, Ghandi, war, the black plague, Haley’s comet, Pompeii’s volcano catastrophe, the stock market crash of 1929, etc). 

      Various sub-genres exist: 

•       Just setting: using some or all details of a specific time period with characters that are completely or mostly fictitious (most High Fantasy novels are based on medieval Europe). 
•       Specific Important People: a.) choosing a real person and following from their point of view b.) using a fictional character that glimpses the historic person(s). 
•       Alternate History: one major change has caused a difference in the events that took place (such as a time traveling character or new technology turns the tide of war).

      Examples: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, Honolulu by Alan Brennert, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, and Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld.