I love Historical Fiction. The Institute for Children’s Literature is calling for submissions for a historical MG novel passage of no more than 750 words. I’m hoping that’s a sign that its popularity is returning.

What is historical fiction? I’m finding out it’s me. I grew up during the Civil Rights/Viet Nam era. Though that is indeed history that’s not yet where my interests lie. I love books by Joyce Hostetter like Blue and Comfort. Their time is WWII, Depression and the days of Polio epidemics. I also like the WWII books Number the Stars and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. 

I’ve always loved pioneer books like the Little House Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. But my very favorites were what we called biographies back in the ’60s. Today they are historical fiction books about Daniel Boone, Davy Crocket, and Sacagewea. They were not true biographies because they were stories containing dialogue that never really happened.

So what created the interest? Back then family and friends visited on the porch in the evenings. The house was too hot and the telephone was connected to the wall. We kids sat still and listened because there were family tales of panthers and Indians, ghosts and maddogs, snippets of family history woven together in a child’s mind. Now those stories are historical fiction because the old folks are gone and I don’t remember who shot the panther off the roof or saved the children from the maddog. I’m not sure who had a twin sister that showed up as a ghost in the creek in her white Sunday dress and hat. And which great grandma was the Cherokee who gave us our beautiful no burn complexion?

So what to do with the old tales? Repeat them again by the fire pit. Scare the grandchildren as we hike the mountain trails of our great grandparents. Oh! Write them down! Combine them into one story of historical fiction that will make the hair on the back of the neck stand up and leave a satisfying ending of hope that little folks grow into men and women dedicated to serving the Lord as they serve their families. Don’t forget to include the moonshiners, the kidnappings, and the elopements. Those ancestors were real people with real sin just like us but we will all turn out fine when we turn to Jesus.

What family tales do you have to share? Don’t forget to write them down.