Maryka Biaggio is a Portland author of several published historical fiction novels.
Ron introduced Maryka and stated that he had enjoyed reading her novel, The Model Spy. Her topic today concerned “telling lies”to flesh out historical fiction when actual facts are not readily available. She began by saying, however, that the “lies” must be believable, fitting into known history of the period. Background research is necessary, and there is nothing that throws off a reader more than finding an “oops”—words, dialog, events, etc.—that do not fit in with historical truth.
The writer of historical fiction often needs to “make up stuff” to provide a compelling story with drama and emotional content to involve the reader. Maryka said that the more that is generally known, and facts available through research, the less “freedom” there is for the author to invent. She said that for The Model Spy, only one biography of Toto Koopman was available and few written documents, so Maryka had freedom to invent not only dialog, but events and relationships to historical persons that could have believably occurred, based on reliable research. She used the outline from the biography and WWII research, and then invented the dramatic story from there.
Maryka then presented a list of reasons why writers need to “make up stuff” and “tell lies” in historical fiction: 1) Background, backstory, 2) to populate the story with interesting characters, 3) to create a mood, theme, 4) to reveal personality and character (dialog can often be used for this, for instance with characters talking about current events of the period), 5) to bridge events, 6) to add drama, tension, 7) dialog, which is almost always invented.
Questions and discussion followed regarding liability and plagiarism; and how to choose the time span for a book. Regarding the latter, Maryka stated that readers want “engagement,” an “inciting incident.” So, she advises a writer to find the heart of the story and create the time frame around the drama. She noted that historical fiction timelines range from a few years to generations!
The group discussed how to use research, such as biographies and non-fiction, and avoid liability for plagiarism. Maryka advised that it is necessary to give acknowledgments, especially of copyrighted and private works. In some cases, permissions might be needed. For tricky legal questions, she advises going to the Author’s Guild online that provides expert legal opinions.
Maryka gave some suggestions on where to “find things to lie about,” always with a kernel of truth to give authenticity. Some sources for research are newspapers, historical archives, diaries and letters, nonfiction books, contemporary fiction and movies of the time period.
The use of AI and ChatGPT arose. Maryka advises these new technical sources can be used for ideas, not precise content; the author must be in control. She has used ChatGPT for suggesting a marketing blurb for the back cover of books. If ChatGPT is used to find a remote or hard-to-find fact or detail, Maryka advises double-checking the information.
Maryka’s website address is www.marykabiaggio.com.