I’ve written several historical fiction stories. Here’s one major problem I’m finding which drives me nuts — conflicting facts.

Will someone PLEASE tell me how facts can conflict with each other?

Obviously, they don’t.  Some “facts,” like eye-witnesses of an accident, do indeed tend to conflict with the various accounts, each person certain that what they saw and tell is the truth. This is exactly why eye-witnesses aren’t used much in jury trials any more. Most unreliable.

I figure I have three choices to solving my problem: 1) research deeper; 2) avoid the subject in question; or 3) make something up.

Okay. I’m laughing like crazy at #3, which I won’t do, of course, but it still makes my eyes sparkle with the What-If possibilities. Then my story would no longer be historical fiction. It would simply be fiction. *sparkle* Oooo. The things you can do in fiction.

Okay, again. Back to seriousness… and digging deeper. (Sigh.)