To prevent a love story from becoming a dubious story developing against the background of abstract events, you need to thoroughly study the era you are describing, learn about the most influential people of that time and pay attention to the little things that seem insignificant at first glance.
Instructions
Step 1
Choose the country and time period in which the events of your novel will unfold. Read history books, study the political and military situation of that period. Remember that the state could be called at that time in a completely different way.
Step 2
Read the notes of contemporaries or studies by historians dedicated to major politicians, generals, monarchs who will become participants in your story. This will fill the novel with interesting descriptions.
Step 3
Create a plot for the novel. A classic love story usually develops as follows. Two young and beautiful people meet in difficult times for the country (region, clan or family). They may love each other at first sight, but they may hate each other at first, because they belong to different classes or are the offspring of warring clans. In any case, you should plan the story in such a way that circumstances and intrigues prevent the lovers from being together. Such obstacles may include war, the engagement of one of the main characters to an influential person, the status of an illegitimate child. In the end, all the troubles will be overcome and the lovers will be reunited. Usually the story ends there.
Step 4
Respect the timeline for your storytelling. The events developing in the novel must correspond to the historical events of the period in question.
Step 5
Consider the woman's status at a particular time period. It is quite possible that at the time you are writing about, all the fairer sex were locked up and embroidered tapestries. Therefore, the description of how the main character mounted a horse and galloped to chop enemies would be inappropriate for one reason - she simply could not know how to mount a horse. Although, of course, there were exceptions.
Step 6
Complete the novel with accurate descriptions of cities and natural landscapes. To do this, you can refer to the history of a particular settlement, and study the types of terrain from photographs, excluding modern buildings from consideration.
Step 7
Explore the features of the costumes and clothing of your chosen era. This will make the story more authentic, especially if there are bed scenes in the novel.
