You Think You're Writing One Historical Novel

The More Facts I Can Have, The Better. I Can Operate Very Nicely Between Them, But I Am Not Very Good At Making Things Up. I Am Not Sure How Ethical It Is.

He Is Careful To Deny Responsibility For September, But He Does Not, You Notice, Condemn The Killings. He Also Refrains From Killing Words, Sparing Roland And Buzot, As If They Were Beneath His Notice. August 10 Was Illegal, He Says; So Too Was The Taking Of The Bastille. What Account Can We Take Of That, In Revolution? It Is The Nature Of Revolutions To Break Laws. We Are Not Justices Of The Peace; We Are Legislators To A New World.

I Do Myself Think That History Is A Set Of Skills Rather Than A Narrative.

Cravats Grow Higher, As If They Mean To Protect The Throat. The Highest Cravats In Public Life Will Be Worn By Citizen Antoine Saint-just, Of The National Convention And The Committee Of Public Safety. In The Dark And Harrowing Days Of '94, An Obscene Feminine Inversion Will Appear: A Thin Crimson Ribbon, Worn Round A Bare White Neck.

People Who Wrote Literary Novels About The Past Probably Didn't Want Them Pegged As Historical Fiction. Certainly That Was True In England.