Story vs. History

I was at a writing workshop a couple of months ago, and one of the participants commented that writing historical fiction is easy, because the story is already there. I didn’t say anything at the time, but it’s been bugging me ever since how to articulate why that is absolutely, categorically, untrue.

First, history never arranges itself into timelines with an obvious beginning, a believable plotline, fully fleshed-out characters, conflict that has a chance to get resolved, and an ending that...