One Piece of Advice From 29 Historical Fiction Authors in 2024

Here I’ve collected one piece of advice from 29 historical fiction authors who were featured in our author spotlight series in 2024. Be sure to click the author names if you’d like to read their full author spotlights from earlier this year.

“Everyone says, ‘Don’t give up’ and ‘Stay in your chair.’ I agree with those pieces of advice! One thing I would also add is ‘Find your true voice.’ Write about things you truly care about, in a way that sounds right to you. Authentic storytelling is what will finally resonate with readers—not with all of them, but with the ones you’re meant to find and who are meant to find you.” –Ellen Baker, author of The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson (Mariner)

“Be flexible, embrace change. Take your time. And don’t give up.” –Diana R. Chambers, author of The Secret War of Julia Child (Sourcebooks Landmark)

“Write what truly interests you, not what you think the market or other people tell you to. Also, try to finish what you start writing, even if it’s very short. I used to think that writing was mostly creativity, but perseverance is actually very important.” –Yangsze Choo, author of The Fox Wife (Henry Holt)

“Study the craft. If part of your goal in writing is to sell books, then understanding the craft of storytelling is necessary. As I have worked with new writers as a story coach and developmental editor, it’s easy to see that many people have stories to tell, but the key is to tell that story in a way that will cut through the noise of our everyday lives to engage the reader. So, read a lot. Read inside and outside your genre, best sellers and mid-listers. And study story structure. Writing a compelling book is more than being able to write beautiful sentences or create a character. It is a craft that requires attention, understanding, and a lot of perseverance.” –Meagan Church, author of The Girls We Sent Away (Sourcebooks)

“It’s over-said, but not overdone, so I’ll say it again: Find community. Writing friends are the best friends, and even if none of this had ever occurred, I have made the very best friends on this journey, people who have enriched my life and I hope I’ve done the same for them. It’s so wonderful to be able to read my friends’ work and be able to send them mine. It buoys me to be able to chat about what we’re struggling with and, even better, what we’re doing well. I never feel lost or invisible when I’m communicating with my writing friends, be it in-person, on text, or on a Zoom. They really are everything to me.” –Amanda Churchill, author of The Turtle House (Harper Books)

“You can always use fewer words. Also, be lucky enough to find something you love to write or paint or sculpt about, and then make it.” –Oliver Clements, author of The Queen’s Lies (Atria)

“Two crucial points: Persistence is the key, and even so, perfection is unachievable. Don’t tie yourself into a perfectionism straight-jacket.” –Sara Donati, author of The Sweet Blue Distance (Berkley)

“Be patient. I am 60 this year and finally becoming a published author. It’s never too late! Claim your dreams and pursue your passions—because you never know what’s in store for you if you don’t try.” –Rosa Kwon Easton, author of White Mulberry (Lake Union)

“My one piece of advice above all others would be to exercise patience! Publishing is a long game, and there are lots of lengthy periods of no news and everything seemingly being very quiet. This goes not only for the submission process, but during the writing process, editing, and publishing itself. Patience also when you have finished writing your first draft, and although that is very exciting and a huge achievement, I can’t stress enough how every draft needs much rewriting and editing before it is in its best state to send out into the world. It is much better to slow down, put it aside and come back to it with fresh, critical eyes and improve it rather than send it out in a hurry. I’ll sneak in one small extra piece of advice which is hard to do, but essential for happiness in this business: Don’t compare your success to others. It can feel like everyone else (on social media) is doing much better than you (usually they are not). Focus on your own achievements and make sure you celebrate every single one, however small they may be.” –Louise Fein, author of The London Bookshop Affair (William Morrow)

“Don’t waste your time chasing a publishing trend or writing what you think the big publishing houses want to see. Think of the story that you desperately want to read—for yourself, for your own pleasure—and then write it. Above all, live inside this conviction: There is a story out there waiting to be told—a story nobody else on the planet has the capacity to tell—waiting for you to have the courage to tell it.” –Nathan Gower, author of The Act of Disappearing (Mira)

“Write. It’s the most basic advice, but I can’t count the number of aspiring writers I’ve met who have been carrying around an idea for years and have never put anything to page. The only way to figure out whether you can do it is to do it—and remember, it doesn’t have to be good yet. You can make it good later, in the second or fourth draft. But the words on the page can’t be good if the words on the page don’t even exist.” –Monica Hesse, author of The Brightwood Code (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

“Anything can be fixed. Often when I’m drafting, I’ll be filled with self-doubt and imposter syndrome, but it’s important to remember that I feel this way about every book. I’ll pick up something finished that I’m proud of and skim through it, remembering a time when I also wanted to throw it in a dumpster fire, and that will make me feel better. Stories are layered, and novels are written in drafts. What you don’t fix in this version, you can always edit in the next, and whatever problems you can’t deal with now, you can always come back to later. This is your book, and you can continue revising until you’re proud of it.” –Van Hoang, author of The Monstrous Misses Mai (47 North)

“Delusion is the pregame to Success. Also, get an agent who takes a lot of videos and photos.” –Justinian Huang, author The Emperor and the Endless Palace (Mira)

“With just two books published, I’m hardly an expert, but from what I’ve learned, follow your instincts. If you have decisions to make (and sometimes it feels like writing is 95 percent decision-making), go with the choice that makes you feel the most excited. Don’t hold too tightly to what you think you should write. Go, instead, toward what feels right. You’re a writer, but more importantly, you’re a reader, so you probably have an instinct for story. Trust it. And if you’re not sure what your instincts are telling you, ask yourself, What does my protagonist have to do next? Emphasis on have to. Again, not an expert, but in my writing process, asking myself this question is a great way to write a character-driven story—which, all stories are driven by characters, aren’t they? So, who knows, it might work for you too.” –Chelsea Iversen, author of The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt (Sourcebooks Landmark)

“Read widely in all different genres, not only the genre you write in. Great writers are avid readers, and you never know what story will inspire you.” –Meredith Jaeger, author of The Incorrigibles (Dutton)

“Write about something that made you laugh! Think of the funniest thing that ever happened to you—something that made you absolutely lose it with laughter—and share it with your reader. Perhaps have one of your characters experience it—get it on the page! People love to laugh—it feels good, after all. In other parts of your story, you can relate sad or scary or angry thoughts, but do give the reader a gift of laughter wherever it fits. Life is hard enough, and we owe it to each other to pass on any happiness we possibly can.” –Hope Jahren, author of Adventures of Mary Jane (Delacorte Press)

“Honestly, the best piece of advice is to put the butt in the chair. You don’t have to write every day, but if you do, your characters begin to live and breathe in your mind when you aren’t writing, which can significantly impact and improve your stories. Also, even writing as little as 400 words a day (generally easily done in an hour of work) will yield you a book a year. Thinking about it that way makes the task a lot less daunting.” –Crystal King, author of In the Garden of Monsters (MIRA Books)

“I learned my craft in screen, where every moment is carefully planned advance, and I still think it helps to plan the story out before you start on the text. It means you can identify problems early on and, hopefully, save time later. Even if you have to change your map halfway through, as I had to, it’s still important to have one!” –Jenny Lecoat, author of Beyond Summerland (Graydon House)

“My advice is to write without expectations or future. The paths of our fictions are beyond our control. The only thing we can do is make them concrete. I see many people with the desire to write but needing a plan and some prior guarantee. Write. If someone ever reads it, you did what had to be done. By focusing on the activity, it frees the writer from the pressure of performance that limits our art.” –Angélica Lopes, author of The Curse of Flores Women (Amazon Crossing)

“Writing is a relationship, and like any relationship, the most important thing is to show up. I didn’t have much time when I was writing the book, and I was juggling a huge amount of research into things I knew little about, like the telephone. But I found it was better to do a bit each day, even it was just making notes for five minutes or revising a single paragraph, than wait for a block of time to materialize. That way the book was always growing, even if it was doing so in very small, often imperceptible steps.” –Sarah Marsh, author of A Sign of Her Own (Park Row Books)

“Write what you love. You’ll never stick with it otherwise.” –Mimi Matthews, author of The Muse of Maiden Lane (Berkley)

“Finish a draft, don’t stop. Don’t allow fear or feelings of inadequacy or life excuses to stop you. I’ve written four books now and it always comes down to, do I have enough fortitude to keep going until I figure it out? Finishing the first draft is always the hardest part. The inner critic is deafening and problems abound. You just have to keep going. Books are made in revision. Nobody gets it right the first time. You can fix anything. But you can’t fix something that isn’t finished. The feeling of finishing a book? There is nothing on earth that compares.” –Signe Pike, author of The Shadowed Land (Atria)

“Support your fellow authors and take heart in their success—it means it’s possible for you too. Read their books, go to their events, reach out and tell them you like their stuff. Mentor a newbie. Join local writing/beta reading groups, participate(kindly) in online communities … whatever. It’s inspiring and will keep you from getting stuck in your own head.” –Anna Rasche, author of The Stone Witch of Florence (Park Row Books)

“Every time I sit down and write I tell myself, STORY FIRST, TELL THE TRUTH, ROCKS EXPLODE. Story first is the most important thing. If you’re writing a novel, write the blurb even before you start. If you’ve already started, write it now. What I mean by blurb is the one or two paragraphs that say what your story is about—like the paragraphs written on the back covers of books. This blurb will act as your compass. If you can do that—you know the core of your story. You know where to go if you get lost.” –Sofia Robleda, author of Daughter of Fire (Amazon Crossing)

“Tenacity is important. Keep writing and trying.” –Harper St. George, author of The Stranger I Wed (Berkley)

“There is so much advice out there for writers, and I am a first-time author, so I don’t have much to impart other than to stay true to yourself and your story. And keep going. Keep writing, keep creating.” –Rebecca J. Sanford, author of The Disappeared (Blackstone Publishing)

“Write the thing that scares you, that challenges your skills and sensibilities, causes you to push beyond the envelope of your past. Face such situations and limitations head on because they invariably demand and yield your best writing.” –Mark Sullivan, author of All the Glimmering Stars (Lake Union)

“Don’t be afraid to edit your work. Writing is a craft. Write, rewrite, delete and write it again. There is power in the revision process. With each draft, you will expose a better story.” –Sheila Williams, author of No Better Time (Amistad)

“Be patient. Even though the words may flow fast and furiously at times, good writing takes lots of time. I might compare it to cooking. Writing is more akin to making a slow-cooked stew then a quick stir fry. The flavors and nuances need time to meld into something delicious!” –Tracey Enerson Wood, author of Katharine, the Wright Sister (Sourcebooks)

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While there’s no shortage of writing advice, it’s often scattered around—a piece of advice here, words of wisdom there. And in the moments when you most need writing advice, what you find might not resonate with you or speak to the issue you’re dealing with. In A Year of Writing Advice, the editors of Writer’s Digest have gathered thoughts, musings, and yes, advice from 365 authors in dozens of genres to help you on your writing journey.

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