I write historical fiction.  That says a lot, or not very much.  “Historical” in a novel can include just about anything.  It’s not all about the Tudors or World War II.  However, if you happen to pick up one of my books, there are a few things you can expect.

• The hero won’t be too stupid to live.  This is not actually such a big problem in historical fiction, but it’s a particular pet peeve of mine, so I promise not to do it.
• The hero and heroine will never have a big, screaming I-hate-you fight that goes on for three-quarters of the book until we get to I-suddenly-love-you.
• I will also adhere to the Five Minute Rule, which is: if a conflict could be resolved with a five minute conversation between the characters, it’s not a conflict.
• The hero won’t be a famous dead person (unless I ever do something with Richard III, or Juana of Castile, whose story does rather nag me to do something with it–even if C.W. Gortner did it first).  I like to document settings: I don’t like to document lives, though I will sometimes use famous people in cameos.
• I may possibly jump a few hundred years or a continent between novels and end up in a completely different locality, just because a project looks very, very interesting.   Hint: I’m currently in 18th century England.
• There will be no downer endings.  I don’t put heroes through utter hell without making the payoff fantastic.
• But I do put them through utter hell.
• However, no puppies die, ever.

And that’s about enough for now….