There is huge excitement in the air for many of us writers as November fast approaches. I have successfully completed NaNoWriMo for four consecutive years, from 2009 to 2012 and am very keen to make it 5 in 5 by successfully completing a NaNo novel in November 2013 too. This involves writing 50,000 words of a novel during the calendar month of November. The novel can be in any literary genre.Being very fond of history, and military history in particular, I have always loved historical fiction. In my debut novel, “It Can’t Be You“, which was originally written for NaNoWriMo in 2009 and finally published towards the end of 2010, I used some aspects of India’s Wars with China in 1962 and with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971 to build the story of Colonel Belliappa, the main character of the book.

In historical fiction, as you know, we write about periods in history as seen by fictitious characters who live and experience that period. In this genre, often real life characters and events are described to add to the credibility of the story.

The entry for “Historical fiction”  in Wikipedia says, “As this is fiction, artistic license is permitted in regard to presentation and subject matter, so long as it does not deviate in significant ways from established history. If events should deviate significantly, the story may then fall under the genre of alternate history, which is known for speculating on what could have happened if a significant historical event had occurred differently. ”

I am very excited about a theme I am planning for NaNoWriMo 2013. It will be set in Germany in the Second World War and the years soon after and will be my first attempt at alternate history. I hope to write a book which explores events that could well have happened in the chaos in the closing stages of the war and the events that follow as a consequence.