If you are writing Historical Fiction, at some point you are going to have to make certain decisions. Specifically, you will have to decide whether to let your characters speak in their native tongue, or use words that they would have used, all in the spirit of authenticity.
Set against this is a desire to make your story accessible – readable to a modern audience. In another post, I mention the name of the Spanish Zaragoza. This was known as ‘Caesaraugusta’ in Roman times and this leads me as an author into a minefield. Taking this as an example, I could do any of the following:
- Only call the city Caesaraugusta (authentic, but would require modern viewers to do their own research);
- Call the city Caesaraugusta and provide a note that it is known as Zaragoza in modern times (wordy, and begins to look more like a text book than a novel);
- Cater to the modern audience only and refer to the city as Zaragoza (not strictly correct, but immediately accessible to modern readers).
I decided that, at the expense of authenticity, I needed to take option 3. After all, the characters would have been speaking in Latin and/or Spanish, and I have opted to use English as a universal language. You must decide for yourself, however, what choice you make in your own Historical fiction.
Hilary Mantel, one of the greatest exponents of this genre, had this to say:
“Those of us who write about the far past, beyond living memory… have to find a way to give history a human voice…
I use modern English, but shift it sideways a little, so that there are some unusual words, some Tudor rhythms…”
Mantel, H. (2) (2014) ‘Guest Contributions’, in Brayfield, C. and Sprott, D. (ed.) Writing Historical Fiction – A Writers’ & Artists’ Companion, London, Bloomsbury, p. 135 – 136.
I think this is the key. You have to remember that you are writing a story. Yes, it may have a basis in history, but you are writing for the audience that exists today. “Shift it sideways a little” seems like good advice to me.