Your step-by-step guide to mastering historical fiction — characters, research, setting and plot — even if you’re just starting out.
Your complete digital toolkit for writing believable historical narratives, complex characters, powerful conflicts and authentic settings.
Are you dreaming of writing historical fiction...
…but struggling with where to start?
​
Maybe you have a time period in mind — World War II, Tudor England, Ancient Rome — but you’re not sure how to turn that interest into a compelling story.
Maybe you’re worried about getting the details wrong.
Maybe you’ve started drafting, but your characters feel modern, your setting feels thin, or your plot lacks tension, and you don't know how to bring the historical world to life.
Here’s the truth:
Great historical fiction isn’t just about the past.
It’s about characters finding their way in the world, navigating families, relationships, work and events.
Readers want to feel transported. They want authenticity. They want emotional truth inside historical reality.
Creating that alone can feel intimidating.
What if you had a guide?
Imagine if you could…
​​
-
Identify the historical subgenre that best fits your idea (mystery, romance, political, military, social, time-slip and more).
​​
-
Build characters that feel authentic to their era.
​
-
Create immersive settings using all five senses, not just visual description.
​
-
Develop tension rooted in real historical conflicts.
​​
-
Design power struggles, missions, mysteries or political plots grounded in fact.
​
-
Finish with a story overview and opening scene, ready to develop into a bigger piece of writing.
That’s exactly what this workbook helps you do.
Introducing…
The Historical Fiction Workbook
In this 5-part digital workbook, you’ll work through guided tasks and prompts that will take you from scattered ideas to a structured historical fiction story.
​
Here’s what you’ll explore:
​
-
Understand what historical fiction really is — and why it rarely stands alone
-
Explore historical fiction subgenres and see which one or ones suit your story best.
-
​​
-
Develop compelling characters
-
​Build characters that feel alive with templates for social class, status, ambition and identity
-
Develop full character arcs.
-
-
Craft authentic historical settings
-
​Learn how to build locations that feel real and researched without being academic
-
-
Building historical plots and themes
-
Historical fiction thrives on power struggles, missions, political intrigue, social change, moral dilemmas and mysteries.
-
​
-
Bringing it all together
-
Plan your genre, main character, setting, plot, and theme, and write the opening scene of your story.
-
Inside, you’ll find:
-
30+ guided tasks and exercises to spark your imagination
​
-
Character visualisation templates
​
-
Location and sensory detail prompts
​
-
Mission and mystery plotting frameworks
​
-
A final story overview template to launch your draft
More than 3000 people have downloaded our digital workbooks.
This workbook is perfect for…
✧ Writers who love history but don’t know how to turn research into story
✧ Writers starting a historical novel and wanting structure
✧ Writers who want to deepen the historical authenticity of their story
​
Probably not for…
✕ Writers who already have a fully structured, research-complete manuscript and don’t want guided exercises
What our writers say
​
" Really helpful. It’s helped to really think about my characters in much more depth.” - writer, UK
​
“A very good first step for anyone writing” - writer, USA
Why this works
Historical fiction demands two things: accuracy and imagination. Most writers lean too heavily on one. This workbook helps you balance both. Instead of overwhelming and complicated, it gives you concrete tasks, checklists, and story-building exercises you can use immediately — whether you’re brainstorming a new series or working on an existing project.
​
By the end, you’ll not only understand your characters, settings, and themes — you’ll have the first draft of your opening scene, with the confidence to keep writing.
How to use the workbook
All you have to do is purchase and download the workbook. You can print it out or fill it in digitally. Up to you! It works best if you print it out and take your time with it.
