Let’s dive into the most basic building blocks of writing: scene and narrative summary. Learn when to use summary versus scene and consider whether historical fiction needs more summary than other genres.  

Literary cross-training as I like to call it, allows you to draw on storytelling techniques from other genres to strengthen your own writing. Get tips on how to read as a way to become a better writer and put that learning into practice.

Too many historical details can slow down the pace of a novel. So how do you keep some of your favourite historical elements? Make the historical details matter to your characters.

Crafting Stories From the Past: A How-To Guide for Writing Historical Fiction (Paper Lantern Writers, 2025) includes a broad scope of essays on research and writing, while also narrowing in on those topics that are particularly relevant to historical fiction writers. This is not a general “how-to” book that covers all the basic elements of storytelling, rather it discusses elements of storytelling through the lens of making the best use of the history in a story.

One of the best ways to keep readers engaged in a story is to keep the pace moving and tension escalating. Here are eight ways to improve your novel’s pace and build more curiosity-inducing tension into the story.