16 top historical fiction publishers

16 top historical fiction publishers

If you’ve toiled over a manuscript, polished it and made it the best it can be, you might be on the search for a suitable home for your precious words. You might be daunted by this prospect – so many publishers, where to begin? Finding a publisher for your manuscript...

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What ails you? Medical treatment through time

What ails you? Medical treatment through time

The astonishing intricacy of the human body is wondrous, yet sometimes it malfunctions and we fall ill. This blog post will look at how Western medicine and treatment – particularly in Britain – was influenced by religion and superstition, the printed word, war,...

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How specificity can elevate your writing

How specificity can elevate your writing

Specificity in writing is about using precise, sharply defined words that convey your unique story. It is particularly useful in historical fiction because being specific, rather than general, conjures vivid settings and character, with economy of words. Here is an...

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Foreshadowing: what it is and how to use it in your writing

Foreshadowing: what it is and how to use it in your writing

If you’d met her that day, you too would have thought her a good person. There was nothing to suggest otherwise. Welcome to foreshadowing: a literary device that’s used to hint at what’s to come. It’s designed to increase tension and keep us turning pages. As a...

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Five tips for eliciting emotion from your readers

Five tips for eliciting emotion from your readers

When we pick up a novel, we do so because we want to feel something. We want to have an emotional experience – to go on a journey alongside the characters, and within ourselves. The stories that stay with us long after we close the pages tend to be those that speak to...

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How we stayed in touch: communication through history

How we stayed in touch: communication through history

Since man first scratched his thoughts into stone, humans have found ways to connect with each other. From word of mouth to the written word and the telephone, here we will take a sweeping look at how people kept in touch through the ages (mainly in England) and how...

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Five compelling ways to end a chapter

Five compelling ways to end a chapter

The phrase “page-turner” is synonymous with our idea of a good book. Go onto any bestseller’s Amazon reviews and I am willing to bet a fair few say, “I couldn’t put it down!”. Think of all the really good books you’ve read to which you found yourself saying “just one...

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Five compelling ways to begin a chapter

Five compelling ways to begin a chapter

Deciding how and where to begin a chapter is an important part of writing a novel – but it can be daunting. As a writer, it’s your job to begin each new chapter in a way that grabs the reader’s attention, leaving them with no choice but to carry on reading because...

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