The Art of Manipulating History into Fiction

Had the Queen Lived: An Alternate History of Anne Boleyn by Raven A. Nuckols.

A guest post by Raven A. Nuckols, author of Had the Queen Lived: An Alternative History of Anne Boleyn.

In October 2011, I published my first historical novel entitled “Had the Queen Lived: An Alternative History of Anne Boleyn.” I set out to write my novel with what I thought was an interesting idea for a story that might appeal to fans of Queen Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII of England. I also thought that there could be many such fans because in recent years the popularity of the Tudor reign, particularly as portrayed on television and in film, has brought her story once more to the spotlight for a new generation to enjoy. The premise of the book is exploring the question of what might have happened had Queen Anne lived past her tragic execution in May 1536 on false charges of treason, adultery, and incest with her brother. With this idea as a starting point I created an entirely new universe for Henry & Anne, developing a history of England with possible events that Anne might have influenced. Using the actual history of the reign of Henry VIII as a foundation, I was able to select those specific events that I thought would have realistically been altered based on the continuing presence of Anne on the scene, as well as entirely fictional events that I believed Anne would have been responsible for making come to pass.

Creating a successful and believable storyline weaving together actual and fictional events and characters is challenging; however, it can be done and is wonderfully exciting. For example, in my novel I used the Pilgrimage of Grace as a key event leading to the downfall of Lady Mary Tudor. I spent months researching every piece of original material I could find as well as consulting the works of historians who wrote at length on the subject to ensure I fully understood not only the broad, actual history, but also key, in-depth details. I chose this event specifically to bring down Lady Mary because its history linked well with her deep loyalty to Catholicism.  The principal cause of the rebellion in actual history was to cease the Crown’s dissolution of the monasteries and to reinstate mass and other Catholic practices that had been stripped away with England’s breaking away from the Catholic Church. As Lady Mary was royalty and viewed as a figurehead behind the inspiration for the rebel movement, it was critical in establishing my story that I use this event to bring about her end. To make this happen, I had to exaggerate the number of deaths during the rebellion (790 from 330), but I made this alteration of history deliberately so as to show the influence Anne’s continued presence would have on the King’s state of mind, and dramatize how his desire for unquestioned authority would lead to bloodier actions to reinforce his decisions. Even so, I wanted to keep the inflated casualty number from being too excessive, to preserve historical believability, consistent with illustrating the power dynamics in Henry and Anne’s relationship.

It truly has been a rewarding artistic experience to create these wonderful plots with characters that changed the shape of British (and thus world) history. I look forward to writing future alternate histories and am working on finishing a trilogy set within the universe of Had the Queen Lived. There will be plenty more weaving of actual history and fictional events in the period of 1551-1601 for the first sequel, which I am currently in the research phase for and will cover the reign of King Henry IX, the fictional son had by Anne and Henry in the first book. I am also researching for works of actual history in the Twentieth Century on far different events of great personal interest to me, but nothing will take the place of my passion for writing about the Tudors and, in particular, Queen Anne.

By Raven A. Nuckols