By Rebecca Kenney, Inscriptions staff member and author of Where I Belong, a middle-grade historical fiction novel

Writing a historical fiction novel or short story is like time-traveling for a writer. Maybe you have never tried your hand at historical fiction—maybe your favorite kind of writing is fantasy or modern mysteries. If so, keep writing what you love, but consider venturing into the realm of historical fiction at least once. It can broaden your mind to so many possibilities.

Before I began writing Where I Belong, I wasn’t even sure that I could write historical fiction. Doing research was not my favorite thing, and I knew that to produce a solid historical fiction novel I would have to investigate the time period and the people I was interested in writing about. If you are reluctant to do a lot of research, pick a topic that really fascinates you—the Roman caesars, Attila the Hun and the Mongol invaders, or the cowboys of the American West.

I chose an ancient civilization that had always fascinated me—Egypt—as my starting point. The more I explored the customs and history of the Egyptians, the more excited I grew about writing my novel. The main character in Where I Belong, Miu, is an Egyptian girl who is sold as a slave and taken to the land of Canaan where she serves in the camp of the biblical characters Abraham and Sarah. Even though most of the book takes place in Canaan, I was able to weave elements of Miu’s Egyptian culture into the story.

Research doesn’t stop once you start writing. I kept looking up details about Canaanite and Egyptian life throughout the writing of Where I Belong. Since the plot involved biblical events and characters, the Bible was one of my main sources. I also read pages and pages of information from various websites. Several websites were so helpful that I bookmarked them for future reference.

When you begin research for a piece of historical fiction, keep a record of all your sources. The file can be in a notebook or a Word document. Every time you visit a website, copy the link into your Word document or write it in your notebook. This will help you find the website again if you need to double-check something. Keeping records will also help you back up your facts if someone questions them. When doing research, always avoid plagiarizing (using someone else’s words as if they are your own). Learn about the culture, internalize facts about the people and their lives, and then bring those details to life in your own words.

Writing Where I Belong was great fun. I learned a lot about Canaan and Egypt in the days of Abraham, and I know there is still more to learn. That’s the wonderful thing about writing historical fiction—there is always more to discover as you blend your creativity with the amazing stories of the past.

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