Historical Fiction

     

Daniel                                                                                                                   Per:4

Benavides                                                                                                            6/18/15                                                                                                       

 Is It Important To Be Historically Accurate In A Historical Fiction Novel.  

        Some people think it’s more important for a historical fiction novel to tell a good story while giving them facts on what happened in the past. Others think it’s more important to only tell them facts on what happened in the past. But others think it’s more important to just make it entertaining. I think it’s more important to give a little of information on the past while adding more action and stuff that never happened.

       Because it’s fiction aka fake but it’s called a historical fiction novel so it should also have a little bit of historical facts in it. In conclusion I think that it’s not really important to be historically accurate in a historical fiction novel. Because it’s historical fiction meaning it never really happened but it’s related to history in a small way.

Owen Poles' FINAL!!!

Part 1
Why I Chose this Piece
I chose this piece because it was one of the pieces I felt truly able to improve.  I tightened up the argument and added more references. I really think that writing like this was where I improved most so that is what I am showcasing. 

Part 2
Is Historical Accuracy or a Good Story More Important in Historical Fiction?

The historical fiction My Brother Sam is Dead by James and Christopher Collier is set in the Revolutionary War and very historically accurate when compared to the nonfiction text, The American Journey by Appleby et. al. It is also an interesting read, keeping you hooked at each chapter and surprising you at the end. This proves that it doesn’t really matter whether it is more important to be historically accurate or a good story; My Brother Sam is Dead shows that a book can be both.
There are many occasions where the book My Brother Sam is Dead is accurate. On page 173 it says, “The whole country is starving.” This is when one of the characters, Sam, is explaining to his family why he is so thin, and saying the continental troops are hungry. This fact is mirrored on page 162 of the nonfiction text The American Journey. It says, ”They lacked decent food”, or that they were hungry and what food they had was poor quality, when talking about the continental troops. The similarity between the fiction and nonfiction books makes me believe that the book is accurate on this occasion.
The book has many other places where we can prove its accuracy. One place is on page 86 where Tim says, “The rebel troops had been beaten and the British had taken over the city. But the way Sam wrote about it he made it seem like a glorious victory for the rebels, He said his regiment had made a magnificent retreat and that the British were lucky to get out of there alive but it seemed the other way round to me.” The main character, Tim is right so if we look at this ‘the other way round’ we find that the meaning is pretty simple. The colonists were defeated and barely escaped alive. And then the textbook, The American Journey, confirms this. On page 156-157 It says “Outnumbered and outmaneuvered the continental army faced serious retreat at the hands of the British.” So the meaning of that is basically the same. They were outmaneuvered and defeated. The accuracy is a constant factor throughout the book, seen in many more places. The main characters in the book are the Meeker family who actually existed, along with their hometown of Redding, which was, as described in the book was really a pro British settlement. The accuracy of the book is really quite astonishing.

            So as you can see the book, My Brother Sam is Dead is very historically accurate, and I believe that it is a good story. The reviews I found also like it rating it in the 3.5-4 star range. It has also won the John Newbery medal and it taught in schools as an example of historical fiction. It is perfect example that a book can be both historically accurate and a good story. Now if I was forced to choose I would say that a good story is usually more important, that is why the reader is reading fiction. However, some books, such as textbooks, are centered on facts not the story and then facts are the most important part. On the other hand, sometimes if a book is historical fiction centered on the facts, then you can add some interesting but true facts to keep the reader hooked and the story interesting. But it usually better to have a good story. This book shows, however, that an author doesn’t have to choose because a book can be both.

Part 1

Why I Chose This Piece

Hi I am Owen Poles and I am a 13-year-old member of the Dewitt community. I have English with Mr. Scott and have improved a huge amount this year. I have done because of the help from Mr. Scott and help from my parents. I hope that you enjoyed my piece and plan to try to write books someday. Thanks for reading.

What Wins? History or fiction?

Alex Whitehead English- Scott
6/17/15 Period. 1

Introduction:

           The assignment that I have chosen is my Historical Accuracy vs. Great story writing from the beginning of the year. I chose this piece, because I saw several things in it that I would like to change. I also thought that this piece was a good sized one, so it wouldn’t be too difficult to work with. I added some parts such as how it helps to engage the reader if the story is fictional, and I changed a lot of other grammar and some other words too. These changes made the reader think more, and I think that making the reader think is a good part of writing.

Writing:

Is it more important to have a great story or have historical accuracy? In

My Brother Sam is Dead, part of the book is historically accurate, but some stories that we have looked at such as Winter in Valley Forge are completely historically accurate. Most people may think that historical fiction books should be mainly historical, but actually, historical fiction books should also have a good story. My Brother Sam is Dead has just that.

My Brother Sam is Dead is a fairly historically accurate book, but some of the book is not. It is historically accurate though, because it is about hard times during the Revolutionary War. In the Colliers’ book, on page 150, it says, “ Timothy, I want to pray. Come here and pray with me.” This is the mother wanting to pray that everything will get better eventually during their time of hardship and war. This connects to histories in other articles such as the articles in the American Journey book. In one of these American Journey articles a man tells about how “ Soldiers suffered through a lack of food and clothing, and many became ill and died.” Overall, most of the history in the book is correct, but it is also a great story with a little fiction, because without this touch of fake, My Brother Sam is Dead wouldn’t be historical fiction. Fiction also adds a little bit of strange action into the story, because the story isn’t then all planned out as it is in the history books, so you don't know what will happen next.

Having a great story in Historical Fiction is also a good idea as I have said, because it takes the reader on a journey. In My Brother Sam is Dead, the journey is of Tim going on many adventures throughout the colonies.  It is also important to have fiction in Historical Fiction, because it adds a special creativity. Fiction also makes the book more of a story than a history lesson, so you become more engaged in reading. In the book, the family was actually not completely fake though. There was a family in a town called Redding who has the same last name. Also, a story makes the reader feel as though they are being thought about as they are reading, because the reader can make some connections to some of the characters.

Overall, In the book I read, My Brother Sam is Dead, by the Colliers’, it has several historically accurate parts, some of which include the hard times, and some of which were that people were dying and that towns were split between the Tories and the Patriots. Its good that the book is somewhat accurate, but the fact that some of the people are made up really helps give the book some more excitement. This balance of accuracy and story telling is what made this book so great.

About The Author:

Alex Whitehead is an epic pwner, who knows a bunch of other scrubs. Besides being a meme master, Alex is an english student at DeWitt Middle school. Alex tries to do his best work whenever possible, and tries to increase his skillz in writing and other subjects whenever possible. Alex has improved greatly, as long as he isn’t hallucinating, this past year in Mr. Scott’s class. Alex has written tons of work, and even accomplished 10,000 words in his NaNoWriMo story. Alex has improved a lot not just from his love of Steam and Netflix, but from his effort. Alex has done a lot of research on tactics of writing, and has listened in class everyday to learn new things. If you look at this revised copy, you can still see some of the earlier years wording, but you can also see some of my wording from now which is much for sensible.