Temporality and passage of time in serial fiction

I’ve been binge watching Star Trek: Enterprise lately. I didn’t see it when it aired in 2001-2005, but thanks to the streaming services, I’ve been able to indulge. For those who aren’t familiar with the series, it’s set a hundred years before the adventures of the original series with Captain Kirk and his fellows, and follows the crew of the first starship Enterprise. I’ve always been a Star Trek fan and I’ve liked it in all its incarnations, but Enterprise might be my favourite. There are many reasons for my preference, but what sets it apart from other series is how it allows the passage of time to show.

Scott Bacula as Captain Archer, and his crew.

Many episodic TV series, regardless of the genre, are curiously atemporal. Passage of time is only implied to, maybe with the compulsory Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day episodes, or if the series is set in the school world, with the start and end of the term; if it’s a long-running series, the students move from one grade to the next from season to season. Other than that, the episodes are fairly self-contained, and even if a story arc spans several episodes, its events seldom affect the following episodes or are barely referred to in them. There are almost never any references to events in the previous seasons.

Star Trek series aren’t an exception. Every episode opens with a star date, but unless you’re keeping tabs, it’s difficult to know how long has passed between the episodes. Each episode is a self-contained story and whatever happens in it – injuries or lessons learned – is forgotten by the next episode. And since they don’t even have the compulsory Christmas episodes, the passage of time disappears almost completely. The only indication of it is the child characters growing up, and even that is often downplayed. Children may grow, but adults don’t seem to age, even if the actors do. The viewer is given windows to the life on a spaceship or station, but the overall illusion is that those places only come to life when the viewer is there. Relationships spring to life only when there is audience, with the curious notion that nothing happens to it when no one is watching.

Enterprise is different. From the first episode on, the passage of time is evident. Star dates haven’t been invented yet, and it’s easier to keep tabs on the chronology when it’s expressed in days, months and years. The passage of time is part of the narrative. If a character injures him or herself in one episode, they’re not miraculously cured by the next, or at least some mention of it is made in later episodes. If the Enterprise has a technical malfunction, it may continue in the next episode too regardless of the story arc. Events of the first season affect, and are returned to, the following seasons, and they play crucial role throughout the series. Relationships come to life, grow and die their natural courses throughout the series. All of this creates an illusion of lives lived even when the viewer isn’t there to witness it.

The first Enterprise

Time is actually the driving force of the narrative. From the first episode on, references are made to a Temporal Cold War that the agents from the future wage in the past. Enterprise and its crew are forced to be a part of this war, with some interesting story arcs. The entire season three is one continuous story about the time war. And when disturbances in time take place, entire timelines change. All of this forces the narrative to pay attention to the chronology in the lives of the characters too. The end result is an enjoyable series with characters that the viewer can grow up with and get attached to.

(As a disclaimer, I haven’t seen the last episode yet, which I’ve been given to understand is appalling. I hope it won’t ruin my experience of the entire series.)

There has been a boom in recent years of series with continuing story lines, which to me indicates that the viewers want that kind of experience, but episodic series are still the stable of any network. Why else would we have three different versions of CSI or NCIS, to mention just two. Police procedural and crime series are often those most marked by their opaque passage of time. The case and solving it is what matters. Within an individual episode, time can be crucial – and often is – but between episodes, it’s only referred to in passing. When it comes to TV entertainment, it kind of works. I seldom miss the references to time, and only notice its absence when treated to a different kind of experience, like with the Enterprise.

I haven't followed this, but it too has Scott Bacula in it.

Similar tendency to atemporality can be seen in books also, especially in serialised genre fiction. Most notable this is in crime fiction and for the same reason than on TV too: the case matters, not the lives outside it. Once the case is closed, it’s not returned to, and it has no effect on the events in the subsequent books.

But what works well for TV series, doesn’t necessarily work for books. A book is a commitment; we devote time and attention to a book, and the longer the series, the more we want in return for our commitment. If nothing ever changes in the lives of the characters, if nothing changes the characters, we get disappointed. If the author hints of developments in the characters’ personal lives and then doesn’t deliver, we feel let down. The worst are the books where exciting changes take place, only to be forgotten in the next book. My current pet peeve is Stephanie Plum series, which I continue to read in the hopes that it reaches some sort of conclusion despite the evidence to contrary.

There is, of course, a good reason to write a series that is set a bit outside of time. One is the longevity of the series. If the main characters never grow old, the series can continue forever. Also, it’s easier for new readers to pick up a book in the middle of the series and start reading without the worry of missing out on something important. Both help with the popularity of the series.

Harry Dresden

Nevertheless, my personal favourites are series that manage to combine the case by case stories with a continuous plot or developments in the main characters’ lives. I think the best examples come from urban fantasy. UF series often have a plot that spans the entire length of the series with a case-based plot for each individual book. My all-time favourite is, of course, Harry Dresden series that has managed to progress rather far from where it began in the course of fifteen books (though I haven’t given up hope that there will be more).

I’ve tried to keep the passage of time in mind in my own writing too. My Two-Natured London series has an underlying – and slow-moving – plot even though each book has a self-contained love story. And my new series, Tracy Hayes, P.I., will put an equal emphasis on Tracy’s private life and her cases. I want my character to grow as the series progress and be a different person by the time it ends. It also means that I have to write with the end in mind. It limits the span of the series, but I think that’s a good thing. It’ll keep things fresh.

What do you think? Do you prefer your series atemporal or set in time?

***

In news: Tracy Hayes 2, P.I. and Proud is now out. You can find it here. And the first book in the Two-Natured London series if finally free on Amazon too, having been free for years on other platforms. You can download it here.

Cover design for self-publishers: series

I’ve been making my own book covers ever since I started publishing in 2012, partly because I can’t afford professionally designed covers and partly because I really enjoy making them. My first covers weren’t very good, but I’ve made an effort to learn and improve my skills. I’ve learned a lot about techniques, visual effects, colours and fonts. One thing I’ve learned is that individual covers are different to make than the covers of series. You have to take into consideration the cover visuals from the first book on to make the readers immediately see that the books belong together. Not always easy for amateur designers, however enthusiastic. So what to do?

1. Use of fonts

The simplest solution is to use the same fonts on every cover; author name with one kind of font, the title with another, and so on. Even if you’re not writing a series, you can opt to use the same font for your name in all your books as a sort of a calling card. If possible, you can also use the same layout for all the covers – place the texts in the same places on all covers – to create a continuous look.

2. Use of colours

Another good way to tie the covers together is to use one or two signature colours on each cover. That can include the fonts or there can be a visual element on each cover that repeats a certain colour. Most stock photo sites have an option to search for a colour, but if this doesn’t yield results, you can try your design skills by adding the colour yourself. The simplest way is to add a transparent colour layer over the stock photo. (You need software that uses layers for that. GIMP is free and fairly easy to use.) Or, you can use the same photo and change the colour layer for a new look – the opposite of a signature colour.

And of course, you can use the combination of colours and fonts to create a uniform look for your series.

Same photo with a different colour, and same fonts and layout.

3. Themes

It’s not always easy to find photos that look reasonably similar to create a uniform look. So choose a theme that repeats throughout the series. Maybe each book can have a photo of a bare-chested man, if you’re writing that kind of series. Those are easy enough to find, even if you haven’t planned the theme ahead. The simpler the theme, the easier it is to repeat cover after a cover. Add to that the fonts and/or signature colour, and you can have a uniform look for the covers.

With my Two-Natured London series, I decided that each book should have a moon and a man – with a shirt on. Since they don’t usually occur in the same photo, this has required quite a lot of work on both finding suitable backgrounds and men, and then fitting them together. I also have the same fonts and layout on each cover.

Covers for Two-Natured London series.

4. Photo series

Most stock photo sites have photo series with either the same model or a theme, or both. If you know you’re going to write a series, you can check these photo series already before you design the first cover. Downside is that it’s not as easy to find photos that exactly match your series, but you can occasionally get lucky.

An example of a photo series: same girl in different settings. Create your own look.

5. Planning ahead

The easiest way to have a uniform look for your series is to plan the covers ahead even before publishing the first book. Or if you’ve already published one or two books, you can redesign the covers to match the rest. Choose one or two elements that you repeat a book after a book and elements that change so that the reader knows with a glance that it’s a different book in the same series.

For my new series, Tracy Hayes, P.I., I wanted to repeat an idea I saw in a poster: a silhouette of a human and a city skyline on a single colour background. Since the books are set in Brooklyn, I naturally wanted a Brooklyn skyline, which took some searching to find. The silhouette of a woman was easier to find, but selecting the one that fit the genre the best took some time. From the start, I decided to change the background colour with each book, as well as the font colours to fit the background, though the fonts remain the same. The girl changes a little too. Each book also has one element that reflects the contents. The first one has a little dog, the second an outline of a body.

I only have two covers ready, but already I can tell that designing the rest is much easier than if I had to start from the scratch with each of them. What do you think?

Tracy Hayes, Apprentice P.I.

Tracy Hayes, P.I. and Proud

The first book, Tracy Hayes, Apprentice P.I. is already published and you can find it here. The second book, Tracy Hayes, P.I. and Proud, will come out in January 26th. Stay tuned.

Reading resolutions (and resolute reading)

It’s a new year and time for a new reading challenge. I’ve participated in the challenge on Goodreads for four years in a row now, and each year I’ve added to the number of books I’ve read. Last year I read sixty books, though I’d originally pledged to read fifty-five. To be on the safe side, I kept it to fifty-five this year too. I usually pick my reading based on how I feel, and it seems I’ve felt like reading quite a lot of urban fantasy and fantasy last year. You can check out here what I read last year.

This year, I decided to be more organised about my reading. So I made a list. I never make them, or if I do I don’t follow them, but a list of books to read has to be easy to stick to. Especially since I didn’t make any difficult promises, like reading classics in their original language.

My list has fifty-six books at the moment, so there’s some room for changes.  And it seems I’ll be reading a lot of urban fantasy (27) and fantasy (22) this year too, and quite a lot of it from authors I’ve read before. There are measly four sci-fi books and three crime books on my list. And oddest of all, I haven’t added a single romance, whether historical or contemporary. But there’s some wiggling room, so maybe I’ll re-read my favourite Georgette Heyer books.

I can’t help my bias – or favouritism. There are really good books coming out this year from my favourite authors, like the last book in Robin Hobb’s Fitz and Fool trilogy, Assassin’s Fate (May 5th), the latest Cassie Palmer book, Ride the Storm (August 1st) (the previous book came out ages ago), The Chosen, a new Black Dagger Brotherhood book (April 4th), and many more.

I did try to liven it up. I added a bunch of new authors, both traditionally and self-published, based on Amazon recommendations. That’s how the list got books like Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennet, and Demon Moon by Brad Magnarella.

There are also a couple of books I’ve meant to read, but haven’t had time, like Tom Pollock’s Our Lady of the Streets, which ends the excellent Skyscraper Throne trilogy. It came out ages ago and has been sitting on my shelf ever since. Also a couple of second and third books in series I’ve started but haven’t been so excited about that I’d immediately read them all, like Max Gladstone’s Two Serpents Rise, the second book in his Craft Sequence series.

All in all, I’m happy with my list. I’ll add it here in full, so you can check it up for your favourites. Recommendations are always welcome. If you like to know how I’m doing with it, my Goodreads Reading Challenge is here.

In other news, Tracy Hayes, Apprentice P.I., the first book in my new funny and fast-paced detective series, is out. You can find it on Amazon, iTunes and B&N, among others. Take a look.

Tracy Hayes, Apprentice P.I. by Susanna Shore

My Reading List for 2017

UF

Ben Aaronovitch: The Hanging Tree (Peter Grant 6)

Patricia Briggs: Dead Heat (Alpha & Omega)

                     Fire Touched (Mercy Thompson)

                     Silence Fallen (Mercy Thompson) (March 7)

Gail Carriger: Romancing the Inventor

                  Romancing the Werewolf

Karen Chance: Dragon’s Claw (Dorina Barabas novella)

                    Lover’s Knot (Dorina Barabas novella)

                    Ride the Storm (Cassie Palmer) (August 1)

Darynda Jones: Eleventh Grave in the Moonlight (Charley Davidson) (January 24)

                     For I have Sinned (Charley Davidson novella)

Laurell K. Hamilton: Crimson Death

Benedict Jacka: Taken (Alex Verus 3)

                      Chosen (Alex Verus 4)

Stacia Kane: Made for Sin

Katie MacAlister: Dragon Unbound

Brad Magnarella: Demon Moon (Prof Croft Book 1)

Karen Marie Moning: Feverborn

                            Feversong (January 17)

Tom Pollock: Our Lady of the Streets (The Skyscraper Throne 3)

Diana Rowland: Vengeance of the Demon (Karen Gillian 7)

                      Legacy of the Demon (Karen Gillian 8)

                      White Trash Zombie Gone Wild

                      White Trash Zombie Unchained (June 6)

Nalini Singh: Silver Silence (Psy-Changeling Trinity) (June 15)

J.R. Ward: The Chosen (Black Dagger Brotherhood) (April 4)

Jaye Wells: Meridian Six

Fantasy 

Rachel Aaron: No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished (Heartstrikers 3)

C.J. Archer: The Watchmaker’s Daughter (Glass and Steele Book 1)

Victoria Aveyard: King’s Cage (Red Queen 3) (February 9)

Leigh Bardugo: Six of Crows

Robert Jackson Bennet: City of Stairs

Aliette de Bodard: The House of Binding Thorns (A Dominion of the Fallen 2) (April 6)

                         In Morningstar’s Shadow: Dominion of the Fallen Stories

Amanda Bouchet: A Promise of Fire

Trudi Canavan: Successor’s Promise (Millennium’s Rule 3) (September 19)

Genevieve Cogman: The Burning Page (The Invisible Library 3)

Paul Durham: Fork-Tongue Charmers (The Luck Uglies 2)

Max Gladstone: Two Serpents Rise (Craft Sequence 2)

                      Full Fathom Five (Craft Sequence 3)

Robin Hobb: Assassin’s Fate (Fitz and the Fool Trilogy 3) (May 9)

Bec McMaster: Mission: Improper (London Steampunk: The Blue Blood Conspiracy Book 1)

China Mièville: Last Days of New Paris

Daniel Polansky: Those Above (The Empty Throne 1)

                      Those Below (The Empty Throne 2)

V.A. Schwab: A Gathering of Shadows

                   A Conjuring of Light (February 21)

Maria Snyder: Dawn Study (January 31)

                   Scent of Magic (Healer Book 2)

                   Taste of Darkness (Healer Book 3)

Sci-fi

M. R. Carey: The Girl with All the Gifts

Becky Chambers: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet

Kameron Hurley: Stars are a Legion

Emily St. John Mandel: Station Eleven

Crime

Janet Evanovich: Curious Minds

                        The Scam

                        Turbo Twenty-three

The endless decisions of paperback interior design

I’ve been working on the interior design for the paperback of Tracy Hayes, Apprentice PI the past week. It’s only the third time I’m doing a print version of my book, and the reason is obvious. It’s hard work. Well, not so much hard as it’s annoying. There are about a million decisions to make, and once I’ve committed to one, it’s almost impossible to go back on it without creating a ton of extra work.

To save you some of the trouble, here’s a list of decisions I’ve had to make for the paperback interior.

1. Where to publish?

I chose CreateSpace, because I’ve used it before. They have my tax information and other details so I don’t have to worry about those. I’ve been happy with the quality of their books too, so I have no need to change.

2. What trim size to use?

CreateSpace offers a wide selection of trim sizes for a book. Again, I made the decision easier by choosing the same size I’d used previously, 5.06x7.81 inches or 12.9x19.8 centimetres, which is about the same size most of the traditionally published paperbacks on my shelves, so they fit right in.

3. Interior margins

Margins are tricky, because the printing system might not accept all your choices. To make the matter simpler, I downloaded a template for the trim size I’d chosen from CreateSpace that has pre-set margins. It took me about an hour to find the link to it – and I have no idea how I finally stumbled on it – so I give it to you here to save your time.

4. Font(s)

There are many things to decide about fonts. What font face to use and what size? Should I use a free, commercially available font everyone else is using or buy a more exclusive font? Is clever more important than legible? (It isn’t.)

Some fonts are illegible in smaller sizes, so if you want to save space by using a smaller size, it’s even more important to choose a good font. Then there’s the matter of style. Different genres look better with certain fonts. My go to font is Garamond, which is free to use and very popular. However, it is a bit stuffy, more suitable for romance or a historical novel than a funny, modern PI story like mine. So I wanted something else.  I tested a number of fonts based on recommendations by experts. Most recommended serif fonts, like Garamond, and while they weren’t terribly expensive to purchase, I hesitated to select any of them.

As an aside, there are free versions available of most fonts, but they seldom work as well as the originals. I tried a couple of those and found that they only worked in certain sizes and wouldn’t scale at all. So be wary of copies.

In the end, my choice fell on Candara, Microsoft’s own font that was already on my Word. It’s a sans serif font that looks like a serif font, light and legible even in smaller sizes. I chose 11pts. The only gripe I have with it is that the true italic of the font isn’t very different from the regular, and that the numeral 1 is really small no matter the size of the font.

5. Line spacing

For the book interior, single space lining is often too small and 1.5pts is too wide. So I chose 1.1pts line spacing, mostly to save a few pages (paragraph --> line spacing --> multiple --> add the size you want). It looked fine with the font I’d selected; all fonts aren’t suitable for smaller spacing. But the next day, I realised it wasn’t very readable after all. So I changed the spacing to 1.2pts. Such a small change made the text more legible – and added twenty pages to my book, not to mention messed with the little details I’d already done with the layout. So I had to start anew. But it was worth it.

Line spacing together with the font size and face also affect the size of the first line indentation. A rule of a thumb is that the empty space should form roughly a square, so when you make changes to one or all of them, you have to change the indent too.

Candara with 1.1 pts line space

Candara with 1.2 pts line space

6. Chapter headings

There are endless options for chapter headings based on the genre of your book: what font to use, what size, where to place it and so on. I kept things simple and used the same font. I aligned it to the right, because I think it fits the genre of the book nicely. I also decided to spell out the numbers on it instead of using numerals; another style choice to make about the headings.

7. Drop caps

I wanted to use drop caps. It gives the opening page that little something extra. But then I had to decide how large it should be, two, three or four lines? I chose three. The font I’d selected automatically lowered the initial so it didn’t line with the text, so I had to manually change it (font --> advanced --> position --> normal/raised), because I thought it looked better. So I had to make three choices about drop caps alone.

8. Small caps

I decided to have the first five or so words in the opening line with small caps. A style choice that added quite a bit of tweaking to my layout. Paste the words you select and click the right button, select fonts and click small caps.

9. Odd and even pages

Most books have a layout where each new chapter starts on the odd page. Unless you really want to save space, that’s a good style choice to follow. I did too. But that occasionally left an empty page at the end of a chapter when it ended on an odd page. With a shorter book, like mine, they seemed annoying, so to get rid of them, I had to rearrange the chapter contents and sometimes even write new material.

10. Widow and orphan control

Most of my book has the widow and orphan control in place, i.e. paragraphs won’t break so that there’s only one line at the end or beginning of a page. However, in line with my decision to remove the empty pages, I occasionally had to allow the single lines. I tried to make sure the line had more than one word at least, but I didn’t always succeed.

11. Hyphenating

This is a tricky one. As books are justified – a decision I didn’t have to make – it occasionally creates lines where the spaces between the words are longer, which isn’t always aesthetically pleasing. To fix those lines some words need to be hyphenated. At first I hyphenated quite a lot of words, but in the end I removed most of them.

12. Page numbers

Where to put them? To the top of the page or the bottom? In the middle of the page or the outer corner? What font, what size, what distance to the body text? I chose the bottom outer corner for my page numbers, with the same font face and size. I also decided not to have page numbers on the first page of each chapter.

13. Header

Since the page numbers are in the footer, there was room in the header for the author’s and book’s names. Again, I had to choose the font face and size, and the distance to the body text. Again, I went with the same font.

14. Front matter

I actually started my formatting with this, so I should probably have listed it earlier. In print books, the front matter always has certain things, like the title page and the copyright page. But what else to include? I decided to add a page for my previous publications, but no dedication page or acknowledgements. And I don’t have a table of contents, because the chapters don’t have titles.

15. Back matter

I have the acknowledgement page at the end of the book. And I also decided to have a sample chapter of the next book in the series there. I considered putting a chapter of the first book in my Two-Natured London series there too, or a page with their covers in it, as an advertisement, but decided not to in the end.

 

Finished layout design. Word presents the odd page on the left.

So, here I am, days later with an almost ready interior for my paperback, after having made fifteen decisions for it alone. Each decision I made had to be manually implemented, and each change to them I made led to quite a bit of tweaking. And that on top of all the inexplicable things that just happened, like the horizontal line that appeared in both the header and the footer, which took me hours to get rid of. In the end, it was a simple right button click of styles --> clear formatting.

I’d like to think that the next book will be easier. At least I’ve committed to these decisions for the series. But each book has to be manually formatted, so each book will take almost as much time as the first. And that’s just the interior. Fun times ahead!

If you can’t wait for the paperback – or e-book – to come out, you can read Tracy Hayes, Apprentice PI on Wattpad. Take a look, vote, and tell me what you think.

Four ways to revive your blog

I bet most bloggers are like me: we start our blogs with great enthusiasm, write posts regularly for a while, then less regularly as the time passes until the posts dwindle to none. I’ve had this happen with two blogs already, and this one hasn’t exactly been lively either. I do have explanations – or excuses – for my absence, but it mainly comes down to prioritising. I had more important writing projects and decided not to write blog posts.

If you’ve stopped blogging because it’s not your priority anymore, there’s no need to feel bad. Many choose that option. Although, I actually feel vaguely guilty about my two dead blogs, but not so much that I’d revive them. This blog, however, still has hope. So, it’s time to rethink my priorities and find time for blogging again. You can revive your blog too. Here are four options for doing that:

1 Pick up where you left

If your blog has a theme or a topic, continue writing posts about that. You once had a reason for wanting to write about that topic. Find the reason again, find your passion. Go through your old posts or similar blogs and see if you still have something to say. If you do, then great: just start writing like you never stopped.

My blog is about writing and publishing my own books. I’ve written about things I’ve learned in order to help other writers. While I still have much to learn, I haven’t come across such personal revelations lately that I would’ve wanted to write about them. They might still be ahead of me, however, so I won’t rule out the possibility of writing about writing.

2 Collaborate

Maybe – or most likely – there are other people writing blogs about the same topic as you. Seek them out and invite them to write on your blog. This has many advantages. You can keep a steady posting schedule without having to write so much yourself. You’ll have new insights into your topic and new openings to conversation. And you’ll likely get new readers too, when the guest blogger’s readers stop by your blog.

There are many bloggers writing about writing and successful collaborations among them too, so I know it works. I haven’t invited anyone to my blog yet, or visited someone else’s, but it’s a good option to keep an eye on for me as well.

3 Mix it up

Maybe you still have things to say about your old theme, but you have new interests too. Why not write about both? You may argue that your audience is there for your original topic only, but if you haven’t posted on your blog in ages, they’ve probably left you anyway. This is your chance to lure in new readers. Who knows, they might take interest in your original theme too. And your old readers might be equally interested in what new you have to say.

I’ve toyed with the idea of writing about reading as well. Book reviews and musings about the books I’ve read. I used to have a reading blog, though not with reviews. Maybe I could combine the two.

4 Make a fresh start

Maybe the reason you’ve stopped writing blog posts is that you’ve completely run out of things to say about your original topic. But you still have the need to write and want a forum for other topics in your mind. So why not change the theme of your blog? Make a fresh start with a new, fresh topic. Or multiple topics, if you so like. Make an event of it, make sure people know you’re back and that you have something new to say.

The third option is tempting, but I don’t have an entire new topic in my mind I would want to write about. So I think I’ll go with the third option. I’ll mix it up. And I’ll try not to stress about writing schedules. If I have something to write about, I will.

Alongside with reviving my blog, I’ve written a new series – partly the reason I stopped blogging. It’s in a new genre for me, a funny detective story, and I’m very excited about it. It’s about a Brooklyn waitress extraordinaire who becomes a private detective after losing her job. What could possibly go wrong? The first book is called Tracy Hayes, Apprentice PI and you can read the first chapters on Wattpad. Leave a comment too. I’d love to hear what you think about it.

Counterfactual histories and historical fantasies

I came across a long-read in New Statesman today about The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick. I haven’t actually read the book – or watched the series based on it – but the article brought up an issue that interests me both as a writer and a reader: counterfactual histories, the genre of ’what ifs’. What if an event in the past had happened differently? It also reminded me that the past, real and imagined, lends itself well for all kinds of fiction.

I don’t read much historical fiction anymore – or watch historical movies, for that matter – even though I’m a historian by education. Even the best historical fiction tends to pale in comparison with the historical reality, and the incorrect historical facts and details tend to mar my enjoyment of a good story. The exception I make is for historical romances. I don’t care that most of them not only get the details wrong but the spirit of the era they portray too; I simply enjoy the romance.

And I know I shouldn’t be too judgemental. Truth, or learning from the past, isn’t the point of historical fiction. Historical fiction, even the kind that comes with the authority of academic learning and exhaustive research, isn’t there to educate people. It’s there to tell stories. The past is an inspiration for the author. However, even if readers assume that everything is invented, they can’t help but learn – occasionally incorrect things too. Georgette Heyer invented some of the things she wrote about, but her books are perfect as they are, and her idea of the life in Regency England is pretty much accepted as the truth.

That’s one of the reasons why I like counterfactual histories. They let the author to work with the richness of the past without the demand to have every single detail right. In The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick imagines a Nazi America: what would have happened if President Roosevelt had been assassinated in 1933 and the entire Second World War had run a different course. What if Germany had conquered Soviet Union and Japan had won in the Pacific? Dick imagines other scenarios too, ultimately making the book about alternative realities – counterfactual histories multiplied. They’re not about historical truth, but ask questions about our society instead.

Nazis winning the WW2 is a favourite scenario in many counterfactual histories – and not only in fiction – but my personal tastes run towards more fantastical. I especially like steam punk and its view on Victorian society with engines that run on steam and ether. It's not ’purely’ counterfactual in the sense that it would allow only a reality that is historically possible, but I love the innovativeness combined with the spirit of the era. It’s historical fantasy at its best.

Urban fantasy, though set in the modern world, is often counterfactual, too. It usually imagines an alternate reality with supernatural elements that aren’t, strictly speaking, possible. As a writer, that’s what interests me most. I like to imagine the subtle differences that would have occurred if our history had been shaped by magic or entities that aren’t purely human. In my Two-Natured London series, for example, the Inquisition is a consequence of the Church wanting to purge the world of supernatural entities. That, in turn, has led to a continuing strife between humans and the two-natured, which influences the present-day narrative.

Historical fiction with fantasy elements doesn’t have to be solely about differences. It can also be about the modern interacting with or influencing the past, as in time-travel novels. The best – or my favourite anyway – example is Diana Gabaldon’s massive Outlander series, where a woman from the relatively modern world of the 1940s England ends up in the 18th century Scotland. The historical accuracy is there, but it’s combined with the observations of differences between the past and the present, and with the subtle influence a modern person would have on the people around her. There are also her outright attempts to change the past. It asks the question all time-travel novels ask: is it possible to change the past and if it is, then what.

No matter the type of historical fiction you go for, the past is a rich source to explore and to exploit. If you don’t want to limit your story with pesky things like ’truth’ or ’accuracy’, try writing historical fantasy instead. Past is a different country. Anything is possible there.