Beyond ‘is it true?’: the ‘playframe’ in historical fiction

Abstract

ABSTRACT Historical fiction is frequently judged solely on its historical accuracy, often leading authors of the genre to internalise this expectation and pre-emptively defend themselves with ‘author’s notes’. This narrow emphasis on accuracy leaves unexamined the importance of the fictional element the author has chosen to include. In this paper, I propose approaching historical fiction as a playful exploration set within the frame of the historical record, thus creating a ‘playframe’ which acknowledges the importance of both elements. This paper showcases three author player types: the Ventriloquist, the Mosaic-Maker and the Magician.