In a scene from Excalibur, Arthur gazes at the sword in the stone

Dealing with the Fantastical in a Novel

Historic fiction is a slippery slope. I am currently writing about Japan in the historic period in and around the Gempei War—a war of historic record. My main character is Yamabuki, a female warrior, a person who is recorded in some annals, but whose life is almost unknown. How much can a writer make up while entertaining her audience, while staying more or less faithful to the period? Some writers will go completely around this problem....

15 January 2014 · Katherine M. Lawrence