Thursday, November 5, 2015

Top 5 Sites for Historical Fiction

Updated 3/7/23

Historical fiction enjoys a long and vibrant tradition in world literature. From Ancient Greece to the Ming Dynasty to 19th century Europe, writers have engaged in the task of reconstructing history. In some respects, fiction has had a greater influence over popular conceptions of historical periods than has nonfiction written about the same era.

If you write historical fiction, you are not limited by genre. Historical fiction sub-genres include historical fantasy, historical mysteries, children's historical literature, historically based graphic novels, the ever-popular nautical and pirate fiction, historical romance, and fictional biographies. To expand your reach, see the top resources in these sub-genres:

Top 5 Sites for Science Fiction Writers

Top 5 Sites For Mystery/Thriller Writers

Top 6 Sites for Romance Writers

Top 5 Online Resources for Children's and YA Book Writers

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Historical Novels website and blog 

This site contains tons of valuable information on how to write historical fiction, as well as ample resources for researching whatever time period you are writing about. A side bar contains links to time periods (centuries as well as specific eras), as well as geographic region. You can also search YA novels by time period.

Additional features include:
  • A list of more than 600 book reviews of historical novels, ranging from prehistory and the ancient world to World War II
  • Best novel lists and reviewer profiles 
  • Many author interviews
  • Articles covering a broad range of topics  
  • A book release and review blog


These forums are "a friendly place to discuss, review and discover historical fiction." Members can post reviews, reading logs, author announcements, helpful links. This is a very active site, with numerous discussion threads and posts numbering in the thousands.


Looking for a review for your historical novel? The Book Blogger list contains thousands of review blogs - hundreds for historical fiction alone. The list is arranged in no particular order, and doesn't allow for refined searches by sub-genre, so it can be somewhat tedious to compile a list of potential reviewers. But, if you are arranging your own virtual book tour, this list will be invaluable.



This site offers a wide variety of tools and resources, including a guide to accuracy and authenticity in historical fiction, a novel outline template, 50+ top online research resources for historical fiction writers, writing prompts, historical fiction blogs and groups, how to write a query letter, publishing advice and resources, and much more. 


For historical fiction writers, joining the HNS is a must. Members receive a quarterly 64-page print magazine (available exclusively to members of the society) which includes reviews of every historical fiction novel published in the US and UK. Members also get discounts to the annual HNS Conference. The HNS sponsors several awards, including the HNS Indie Award for excellence in self-published historical novels. Membership costs a reasonable $50 US per year. There are 15 local chapters in the US and UK.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you, Erica, for taking the time to give us such a great list of resources. I'm off now to check out some of the potential reviewers!

    ReplyDelete

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