I intend to submit a short story to a Historical Fiction competition category, which follows some murders by a serial killer in the trenches in WWI. My question is: is it important to have a known historical figure that the story bounces off, or is the event itself sufficient?
I think that just inventing a character (eg an aide for Hitler, who never existed) is a device that can be very off-putting, although it is used by established writers. Better to make fiction just that - fiction. You can write about a historical period without trying to get too close, with your invented characters, to the 'usual suspects'. Of course, you need to stick with the possible attitudes/behaviours etc of the time.
They say when using a real historical individual it's best to stick to the way history has judged that person when creating your character version and his/her actions or conversations. That way you're unlikely to get sued. Everyone is a mix of good and bad - I suspect Hitler loved his mistress and his dog - so in any case it often depends on what part of a historical personality's life features in a story. Criticism or praise of that individual by fictional characters don't count, in the same way that racist or sexist language or attitudes are allowable as accurate representations of period beliefs. Like Lorraine says it's all part of scene setting, or as they say nowadays 'grounding' your reader in the era.
Thanks Lorraine, out of my comfort zone with this one but worth a shot. So to speak.