Genres of the Past

As promised this discussion explores the different kinds of fiction using the past - and it's a very big category. It's even bigger when you consider its cousin, non-fiction writing about the past, is basically only known as "history." But once we pull away the guardrails of fact and reality, our many pathways open up to an almost unlimited magnitude, and we get to choose which genre we want to pursue and how many other genres we want to overlap. But first, some basic categories to work with.

Historical fiction: In its most basic form, this is a story that takes place in a specific time and place in history - hopefully with good reason, but not necessarily. This fiction does require a little research to make sure you get the nitty-gritty correct. Was this an era where they referred to tuberculosis as consumption? How many states were in the Union at the time (assuming the USA existed)? You don't need to research the details before you know what will be referred to, but once you know your time, place, and purpose, give it an eye for the period. Details serve two purposes in historical fiction: First, it is an opportunity to point out things the reader might not realize or never have heard about, thereby doing some world-building for the reader (mentioning the Chicago Coliseum, which was torn down in 1982, for example). Secondly, certain trivial details specific to the time give the writing a sense of authenticity (before the 1880s, nails were rectangular, not rounded). These bring the past very much to the reader's present-day, and help immerse them in that era.

Old-time fiction: This is like historical fiction but it utilizes the senses and sensibilities of a particular era without getting all tied up in the details of where, when, and how. The same rules apply from historical fiction go as far as immersive details, but these should focus on intimate concepts such as identity, worth, values, and so forth. Without the anchor of a specific time or place, the story can work with moods and character tensions built out from the values of an earlier time. This genre does serve well with romantic fiction, which often fails the time/place detail test, but that's not what the story is about. These stories have a more timeless feel, and are representative of feeling rather than calculating accuracy.

Fiction-fantasy (note the word order): Now we're just throwing out the history book altogether and instead blending in elements of the fantasy genre - dragons, magic, gods and demigods, whatever you wish. This is often a lead-in to just writing pure fantasy fiction, and not trying to write about a dragon hunter in South America shortly before the era of colonization (though that might be a good story idea). Fiction-fantasy (with fiction coming first) uses some historical idea and just runs it into the fantasy world. The Knights Templar, lost civilizations, the last days of Pompeii - all historical anchors for the writer to launch from. Once Fantasy becomes the lead word in fantasy-fiction, then it's just using concepts and ideas from our past and throwing them into a different world altogether. It should not be surprising that a lot of high fantasy writing in mythical world still has royal hierarchy similar to European traditions.

Alt-past: This covers a lot of the same real estate as alt-future writing, but the timeframe for the story is still prior to present-day. The best example of this genre is Steampunk, which should really be more of a breakout genre than it is these days. The idea though is that our history ran a different course somehow, somewhere, and here's how, say, 1910 looks. This, however, comes with the same caveats as tech writing - the story trajectory must intersect with the new reality and be moved by it, otherwise it loses purpose. This, however, is a little easier, since you can definitely show how historical landmarks or waypoints can intrude upon the story or even be avoided.

In Friday's post, we discuss the best genre of them all, and how you get the final say in what it actually is.