By Guest Poster Sharman Burson Ramsey - My first experience with the Historical Novel Society was in 2013 when I attended the HNSNA conference in St. Petersburg, Florida. My fourth great-grandmother was Native American. Her name was Vashti Vann and she and her husband, Benjamin Jernigan, settled in West Alabama around the time of the Creek Indian … Continue reading My First HNSNA Conference in 2023

Guest Post by Jane Stubbs - When you travel in a country where the toilet—if you can find one—consists of two places to put your feet and a hole in the ground, you soon stop wearing tight jeans. Suddenly, you understand why for centuries women wore long skirts.  This was brought home to me when … Continue reading Why Women Wear Skirts

Guest Post by Lori Anne Goldstein - Every novel involves research. Whether it’s understanding what happens when someone goes into anaphylactic shock or how a bullet penetrates a car window or how in the world TikTok works, our stories take us places we haven’t been. But when it comes to historical fiction, those places are … Continue reading Don’t Go Down the Rabbit Hole! How Not to Get Lost in the Research

Guest Post by William F. Hager Researching historical fiction can be a daunting task, one that can cause delay in completing a manuscript, frustration, and self-doubt. But fortunately it doesn’t have to. Instead, research can turn dry, dusty history into bright, imaginative fiction that pulls the reader into your historical world, living and breathing your … Continue reading Researching Historical Fiction: Sources and Applications

Guest Post by Lisa Betz - I’m an introverted, non-emotional, unassertive, analytical thinker, while my heroine is nosy, headstrong, extroverted, intuitive, and a little reckless. Because our personalities are so different, I must frequently remind myself that my heroine doesn’t see the world the same way I do and she won’t react to a given … Continue reading My Secret Tool for Writing Complex, Believable Characters