Tarnport

ljwrites , 8 hours ago to writers

@writers What are some tropes that crop up a lot in #HistoricalFiction ? Some that come to mind are:

• Paint a picture with research: The lavishly described parts where you can tell the author Did Their Damned Research and is letting it rip onto the page with all the flair and artistry at their command. These passages are often done really well and I enjoy them, but they are almost always noticeable. Food is a common subject, and a feast scene from Indu Sundaresan's The Twentieth Wife comes to mind.

• Not like other girls of her time: You know the one, where the heroine is so outspoken! so strong! compared to the other silly, subjugated women of her time who are preoccupied with things like fashion and cosmetics. The heroine's refusal to conform earns her censures and whispering from an ignorant society but the manly male lead (who she often clashes with at first) admires her gumption, etc. Examples are too many to count, but Disney's animated Mulan has this down pat with a side dish of military worship.