Text Type:

                        Narrative Writing (Historical Fiction)

Purpose:

To entertain and to inform.

Text Features:

Written in the past tense: (was, did, had)

Written in the first or third person: (I, we, us or he, she, they, it)

It can be a fictionalised account of real events or additional, fictional detail to things that really happened

Chronological order often with use of flashbacks

Description and imagery are important for the setting and characters; let the reader see, hear, smell and feel what it was like then

Openers:

To signal time and sequence:

Early that morning..., Later that day..., Soon after...., As evening fell, Eventually...

To change setting:

While this was happening…, On the other side of…, Back at…, Meanwhile…

Vocabulary

The right kind of language for the time is used, including old-fashioned words that have fallen out of usage, e.g. ‘Let me carry thy basket, miss.’

Research is important to find the correct names for things of the period: (scabbard, musket, powder monkey, pottage, galleon, blackout etc).

Main Characters: Who are they and what are they like?

• The main characters tend to be fictional (a lady in waiting, a blacksmith’s son, a chimney sweep, an orphan, an evacuee etc).
• They may witness or experience real events from their viewpoint (the black death, the fire of London, the blitz etc) or influence real events through additional fictional detail
• They may be involved in a totally separate story with historical events providing the backdrop.

Setting (Place):

Historical fiction requires a historical setting (Rome, Jorvik, Hampton Court, a sailing ship, a workhouse etc) but can also be an adventure or a mystery.

Setting (Time):

Includes accurate historical detail to create the setting (The winter of 1509 was bitterly cold and many poor country folk were starving) or let the reader work it out (The young prince had just been crowned King Henry VIII when a country boy called Tom arrived in London).

Plot: The narrative is about something that has already happened in the past so a series of events in chronological order is usually provides the structure.

The story can begin with a main character looking back and reflecting on the past (I was just a lad then. Let me tell you what happened …).

Sometimes, a historical narrative begins with the final event and then goes on to explain what led up to that by moving back in time to tell the whole story (Henry was dead, and though he had been our king for so long, not many mourned his passing and hoped for better days to come.  It had been so different at the start when the young prince came to the throne…)

You can add historical detail in different ways to give variety:

Description: (The little girl was wearing a long cloak and woollen hood.)

Action: (He threw his sword to the floor and rushed down the stone spiral staircase.)

Dialogue: (Wait, I’ll fetch a candle to light our way.)