Can I use an actual event in History in my Fiction novel?

Question

Hi there!
I am writing a novel and it takes place in the 1800s. Well I began my novel, and before I knew it, I wanted to use an event of history, however the novel I am writing is fiction and never took place in the time of the event of history did (make sense?) So basically what I mean is, in case I'm making absolutely no sense, I want to use a person/ or place and event in my fiction novel, BUT my fiction novel, is well fiction. Goose Darnet, I'm not making any sense am I?
Trust me my writing no where confusing as my explaining on here,
So say I wanted to use Divinch in my novel, as an actual character, could I? (though I'm not, only an example)
Say I wanted a person in my novel to be in the war of 1812, could I do that- and use my own characters as hero's in it? (though I'm not- the best example I came up with on such short notice)
Making any sense am I?
Hope I did, and I hope someone could pretty please help me :)

(I don't want to share my own actual ideas on here- so I used examples I am not using in my novel or any novel- feel free to take)

Answer 1

Sure. People do it all the time. Just make sure that you don't do something anachronistic like having Andrew Jackson fight in World War II (unless you're writing sci fi with a time warp or something).



A couple of good examples would be Catch-22 (comic fiction set in World War II) or Forrest Gump (in which the fictional Gump meets all sorts of real people like President Kennedy).

Answer 2

Hey, sounds like a really cool book (: I THINK i understand what you're saying.....There is a book called: The Devil's Arithmetic, it's a fictional book like your's is, but its based in world war two. The girl ends up being a hero and saving lives. You might want to check it out for ideas on how you could write yours. I think its fine to write a book based on events that actually happened as long as your main character isn't actually Divinchi or whatever. You don't want to copy something too much so it doesn't sound cheesy.

I hope that helped a little, ha ha sorry. Good Luck!

Answer 3

Write an alternate history of that event. For instance, what the world would be like if Martin Luther King, Jr. hadn't died. You could create an alternate version of that a real event and just make it turn out differently. Or, since the event in your story doesn't parallel time-wise to the event in real life, you could create some PAST event that DELAYED the actual event happening (for instance, what if the man who'd invented the combustible engine had been killed? That could have delayed the industrial revolution).



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