Comments on: Writing Fiction based on Family History

By: Barbara Ridley

Barbara Ridley — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 21:41:05 +0000

In reply to Tricia Stewart. Wonderful, Tricia! Thanks so much for your nice comment. Good luck with your project. Have fun with it!

By: Tricia Stewart

Tricia Stewart — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 16:25:14 +0000

Thank you so much for this article. I have a 1911 murder trial in my family history. Everyone was gone by the time we ever found out it had happened and while I do have a decent amount of factual material, I don’t think I have enough to flesh it out without going fictional. This article has given me great inspiration to move forward. Thanks again!

By: Barbara Ridley

Barbara Ridley — Sat, 14 Mar 2020 20:52:25 +0000

In reply to Nicole. Thank you so much for your comment, Nicole. I did not use a professional historian. I started with browsing my parents’ bookshelves and the books from and about the period at my local library. I list some of the most valuable books I used in the acknowledgements section in my novel. I did online research too, for specific topics, but discovered there were sometimes limitations to what you can learn from online sources. I can’t say I used any particular search engines or keywords. Good luck in your project! It sounds very interesting.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 20:09:42 +0000

Thank you for your thoughts! I am also writing a fiction novel based on true stories about my paternal Grandfather and his experiences during and after World War II as a Political Prisoner and my Grandmother who worked in Germany before meeting my Grandfather in a Displaced Persons Camp. I am wondering if you worked at all with a professional historian, and how you went about doing your research? Were there particular search engines or keywords you found helpful to assist you?

I appreciate your time and very much look forward to reading your book, as I’ve come across this article before reading your novel.

By: Barbara Ridley

Barbara Ridley — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 19:05:41 +0000

In reply to Sandra Howard.

Thanks for your comment Sandra, and good luck with your project. It sounds fascinating. You’ve probably read Penolope Lively’s wonderful novel Moon Tiger, set in Egypt during WWII. My novel is available on amazon UK if you are interested https://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Its-Over-Barbara-Ridley/dp/1631522965/

By: Sandra Howard

Sandra Howard — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 12:08:02 +0000

I hugely empathised with this account as I am writing a novel about WW2, based on a true story! Not my own family’s, but that of a man who’d come to a talk I’d given and who offered me his parents wartime letters, several folders of them. The reading round the period as been similarly truly fascinating and educative. The story is set mainly in Cairo and East Africa , and I have permission to adapt his parent’s characters and what they did, to suit my fictional needs. I’m in England but will try to get your book for sure.