The Gossips’ Choice: Extending the possibilities for biofiction with creative uses of sources

Historical fiction based on historical figures just with their names changed was common in the distant past but fell out of favor in the last century. One reason for this was the additional transparency that biofiction with the protagonist as a named figure can offer. This chapter makes the case that using the practices of older historical fiction combined with the transparency of biofiction in a hybrid fashion, blending the real and the imaginary, offers great scope for bringing women’s lived experiences to life. In this essay, I discuss my own praxis while writing The Gossips’ Choice to illustrate my argument.