How important is historical credibility in creating engaging fiction for readers?
In my view it is absolutely crucial, and a disservice to readers not to take it very seriously. I take great pains with my research, devoting around half my working time to research, the other half to writing. Of course there are some areas where I feel a writer of historical fiction may take some liberties. In some instances, for example, I believe time may be compressed. In Kydd, Duke William takes to sea fairly quickly, rather than just swinging around her anchor. The latter would have made rather boring reading. If I write about something in the historical record, say the Battle of the Nile and Lord Nelson’s role, I believe it must reflect what actually happened. Many readers have paid me the great compliment of saying that they did not really understand the tactics of the Battle of the Nile until they read Tenacious. I also strongly feel that gratuitous sex and violence does a disservice to the common seamen, who have often been wrongly portrayed in fiction as mere cannon fodder,
