Writing historical fiction

I fell into historical fiction writing quite by accident, but once there, I was totally hooked on the events in the past that made us who we are today. Writing this genre follows much the same basic rules as any fiction writing:

The inspiration for the story – what got my juices going.

The characters – who they are, their back stories, their relationships with one another, how I relate to them, and how they develop as people.

The setting – when and where.

The tone – is this a cheery novel, a humorous one, serious, or dark? I suppose most are a mixture.

The plot – how the story unfolds and whether it is character driven or plot driven. In my case, it’s my characters; they throw the plot out of the window and do their own thing leaving me to dig them out of impossible situations. Obviously, when…