How to Write Accurate Dialogue in Historical Fiction
Read primary sources to familiarize yourself with the time period., Watch period television shows and commercials to acquaint yourself with more recent time periods., Consult people that lived during your setting's time period to get firsthand...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Read primary sources to familiarize yourself with the time period.
In order to get in the mindset of writing for your time period, read letters, journals, and other types of personal communication.
Take note of the differences you see between that era’s dialogue and modern dialogue.
Reading these works will inherently train your subconscious to identify and utilize historical constructions in your writing. -
Step 2: Watch period television shows and commercials to acquaint yourself with more recent time periods.
For a historical novel set in a more recent era, watch television shows made in the decade you’re writing about, to get an idea of how the dialogue plays out when spoken.
Also, watch the commercials to brush up on dialogue, and gain the added bonus of learning about products that are true to the time period. , You can try talking to people who lived through the time in which your novel takes place, if there are any still alive.
Ask them questions about the language they used, and what slang was popular when they were young.
Also, see if they’d be willing to read your dialogue to see how true-to-life it is. , Most dictionaries will tell you when and where a word first appeared, so if you’re not sure if you should use it, look it up.
Some great resources to use for works set in much older settings are The First English Dictionary of Slang from 1699 or Francis Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, published in
1811.
Essentially, any dictionary published near your time period should be helpful, though slang dictionaries will be even more useful.
Many older dictionaries are available online.
One problem with researching profanities is that they often weren’t written down in older time periods.
Therefore, even though many curse words are fairly old, their histories are more difficult to trace. -
Step 3: Consult people that lived during your setting's time period to get firsthand insight.
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Step 4: Use dictionaries and other text resources to learn about the history of certain words.
Detailed Guide
In order to get in the mindset of writing for your time period, read letters, journals, and other types of personal communication.
Take note of the differences you see between that era’s dialogue and modern dialogue.
Reading these works will inherently train your subconscious to identify and utilize historical constructions in your writing.
For a historical novel set in a more recent era, watch television shows made in the decade you’re writing about, to get an idea of how the dialogue plays out when spoken.
Also, watch the commercials to brush up on dialogue, and gain the added bonus of learning about products that are true to the time period. , You can try talking to people who lived through the time in which your novel takes place, if there are any still alive.
Ask them questions about the language they used, and what slang was popular when they were young.
Also, see if they’d be willing to read your dialogue to see how true-to-life it is. , Most dictionaries will tell you when and where a word first appeared, so if you’re not sure if you should use it, look it up.
Some great resources to use for works set in much older settings are The First English Dictionary of Slang from 1699 or Francis Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, published in
1811.
Essentially, any dictionary published near your time period should be helpful, though slang dictionaries will be even more useful.
Many older dictionaries are available online.
One problem with researching profanities is that they often weren’t written down in older time periods.
Therefore, even though many curse words are fairly old, their histories are more difficult to trace.
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