I love historical fiction. But lately I’ve been getting suckered by some really poorly written books.

They always have a few things in common.

They are about real people

That’s turning into a major red flag for me. I like fiction set in the past but it seems like as soon as authors start trying to incorporate real people into the stories it all falls apart.

They appear to be well researched

I think a lot of the problem is that the authors have done a lot a work and they want you to know all about it. They just don’t have the ability to make the story flow and work in all the detail that they want to use. Then you end up with dialogue like, “Yes, I did introduce the McMinn-Addison Act of 1942 six months after crashing my yellow automobile.” No one talks like that except in these books.

I want to hear these stories

This is how I keep getting suckered. These are stories about interesting people. I want to know about them. I start reading the books and realize what a painful experience it is. I would gladly DNF them but I want to know what happens with the people. I need the authors who have been writing these books to switch to writing nonfiction. I appreciate their research. I want to hear about it. I want to know about these interesting people in history. Please, just stop trying to make these be coherent historical fiction stories.

This rant is brought to you by Let Us March On. I’ve been avoiding this type of book recently after being burned too many times. I know how they get me. It will be about a woman who is close to a famous person but who isn’t a household name herself. It will purport to tell her story. I’ll be interested in this person but I’ll say no. It won’t be accurate when it is putting words in this person’s mouth. It will end up feeling creepy that they are making up the interior life of this person. Even if the words are accurate, the dialogue will be clunky and awkward. But it will niggle in the back of my brain. I’ll want to know what that woman’s story was. I’ll cave. And then –

I’d read nonfiction about these women all day long. I’d watch documentaries. Give me the real stories! They deserve so much better.

An author I really, really love in a whole other genre has a new historical fiction book out that has Queen Elizabeth II in it. I am NOT, NOT, NOT even looking in that book’s direction……