Sep 13, 2025
If you think of any worthwhile novelāits intersecting arcs, its intertwined themes and metaphorsāno one is clever enough to do it. When you have crammed your head with data, you have to take your hands off and see what shapes the story forms. You must trust the process, and that can be difficult, because you have to quell anxiety; the task is to get out of your own way. I think this is true for all worthwhile fiction, not just historical fiction. At the centre of your work is an act of faith in the novel form. You employ what Keats called "negative capability"āyou must endure doubt and follow paths without signposts.
āHilary Mantel, in an interview with The Guardian
