How to Create Atmosphere in a Historical Novel and Keep the Details Authentic

By A.A. Sekhon

When writing any work of fiction, it is important to create atmosphere so that readers can be immersed in the story. Writing historical fiction presents its own unique challenges in this regard, because the details one uses to create this atmosphere need to be historically accurate. This is essential in order to enable readers to feel authentically grounded in the era in question. Yet, one must also take care not to overwhelm readers with a deluge of excessive description; the goal is to hold the readers’ interest by telling a gripping story that just so happens to be set in the past, not to inundate them with a flood of unnecessary information.

It is a fine balance. As a writer, one may find this task challenging, but it is by no means impossible. It simply requires a bit of homework, as well as the ability to put oneself in the readers’ place. Any writer of historical fiction should cultivate a balanced approach to including historically accurate details.

The first step is to do one’s research. Decide in which location(s) and time(s) the story is going to take place. For example, when I set out to write my first novel, Assumptions, I knew my setting was going to be 1880s London (specifically 1886-1887). Because of this, I was able to narrow my field of research from the entire Victorian Era (1837-1901) down to a decade (the 1880s) for the general setting, then look up sources from the two particular years in question whenever I needed more specific details.

Because I knew the tale was set in London, I had no need to research other places. In order to physically ground the story, I consulted Ordnance Survey maps from the times. London has changed quite a bit in the intervening years, but some things are still the same—Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and Hyde Park among them. Others are decidedly different—for example, brightly lighted skyscrapers now stand astride asphalt in certain parts of the East End where Victorians would have known only human-scale dwellings and lampless, cobblestone streets. Where possible, it is helpful to find photographs, etchings, or written accounts of the way things once were in the chosen locale.

If characters in the story are likely to interact with certain aspects of the setting (e.g. a local hospital, morgue, park, train station, etc.), take care to research those places more thoroughly. If one of the characters lives in a fine home in the West End, research homes of the time to get an idea of what such a place might look like in the story.

When would it have been built? Which architectural style is it? How many servants would likely work there? How much (relative) income would a person need in order to be able to afford such a place? How might a character have acquired the resources necessary in order to procure it? Was it inherited? Understand where the characters live, and it becomes easier to fill in the details of their lives and backgrounds.

Once one has thoroughly grounded oneself in the historical setting, learned more about who the characters are, and decided some probable aspects of the story, then the actual work of writing begins. In order to create atmosphere, one must naturally evoke emotion in the reader. In the case of historical fiction, one must do so while giving enough details that the reader feels immersed in the story, but not so many that they detract from telling it.

Nothing bores an audience quite like a description that feels unnecessary. Instead, let the momentum of the story be one’s guide, and fill in only those details that will serve to create emotion or to enable the reader to understand where the characters physically are in the space as well as how they interact with the environment around them. 

For example, in Assumptions, the main character awakes in a morgue. I had thoroughly researched late Victorian morgues and mortuaries. I also had looked up where they were located in London at the time, and had decided in which one the character likely finds himself. However, I opted not to mention the exact location in the story, because it is not necessary for the reader’s enjoyment. Instead, I chose to focus on the sensations the character experiences upon awakening—the cold feel of the slab beneath him, the rough cotton of the sheet laid over him, the absolute darkness all around.

The contrast between the sound of the storm outside the building and the eerie stillness within serves to create a sense of tension and quiet dread. This is furthered by the character’s extreme disorientation upon awakening. My research on Victorian architecture was relevant for describing the feel of drapes and a windowsill this character finds by touch in the dark, but there was no need to describe, for example, what type of wood the windowsill is made of.

The focus remains on the character’s experience (both physical and internal), which creates atmosphere as well as momentum in the story. By including just enough (thoroughly researched) details, I was able to ensure that the reader is immersed in another era and remains grounded in the setting as experienced by the character.

Lastly, it is important to read back through one’s work to make certain that one has included enough detail that readers will know what is going on and where characters are, even if said readers do not have background knowledge of the historical era in question. For example, when the main character in Assumptions finally finds his way out of the morgue, he nearly slips and falls on the cold, rain-slicked cobblestones.

This lets readers know the streets are not asphalt, and that this barefoot character will probably not enjoy his walk home. A later line about gas lamps lighting the major thoroughfares but the smaller streets holding nothing but darkness lets readers imagine the character slipping from light to shadow through the rain, just as the character is doing. Additionally, the mention of cobblestones and gas lamps within a few lines of each other should clue readers in to the fact that the story does not take place in modern times, regardless of the readers’ particular familiarity (or lack thereof) with Victorian London.

Research, judicious use of detail, and the ability to put oneself in the readers’ shoes are key to creating an evocative atmosphere while still maintaining historical accuracy. This authenticity not only immerses readers in the story, it also makes the experience of another era feel grounded in reality—exactly what historical fiction does at its best.

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A. A. Sekhon, an avid scholar and student of history and human nature, earned a B. A. as a W. T. Young scholar at Transylvania University, an esteemed liberal arts university, and a Master of Arts in Diplomacy—specializing in history and political science—at the Patterson School of Diplomacy at the University of Kentucky. A native of Lexington, Kentucky, Sekhon has taught classes in history and in political science at a local university there. Assumptions is Sekhon’s first book.

ASSUMPTIONS

Henry is an esteemed physician, a single, handsome, and wealthy member of elite Victorian London society, a dedicated and compassionate giver to his friends and the needy—and he has just woken up in the morgue.

Richard is an irredeemable cad who will make decided use of his practised skills of manipulation and theft to discover Henry’s deepest, darkest secret and reveal him to society as a fraud.

Assume nothing.

In a world driven by gossip and hypocrisy, lies and suppressed desires, can any man truly hope to simultaneously avoid temptation and embrace his true nature? Perhaps, in a cage such as this, indulging one’s God-given free will to make morally dubious choices is the only way to find peace…

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