: Re: Replacing a historical figure with a fictional one In a fiction novel with a strong historical foundation, can you replace a public figure with a fictional one? For instance, replacing the mayor

@Heady158

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Certainly. By definition, any work of fiction may have elements of truth but is not 100% true. If you write a historical novel but don't change anything about the real people and events, than you haven't written a "historical novel", you've written a history book.
Generally historical novels try to be accurate about the "big points" but change smaller details. Like, an historical novel set during the American Revolution would usually still have George Washington leading the Continental Army, but I don't any reader would question for a moment if the story included a totally fictional private in his army. Indeed, I think only a very few would question a fictional general.
Aside from the most famous people, most readers wouldn't know if a character was fictional or not. If you told me that the mayor of London in 1623 was named Herbert Fromme, I would have no idea if that was historically accurate or not. And I suspect that only a few students of history would even know.
Even big events can be changed if there's a reason for it in your story. Like, continuing with the American Revolution example, if you casually wrote in your story that the American Capitol was in Atlanta Georgia, many readers would likely say, Wait, that's not right, you've messed up the history. But if an important element of the plot in your story was how the capital is moved to Atlanta, why this was done and what the effects were, readers would likely say, "Hmm, how interesting. I wonder what really would have happened if the capital had been moved to Atlanta?"

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