Balancing historical fiction and historical fact

I'll admit I started out thinking I'd picked an easy job, being the huge history nerd that I am. But writing historical fiction is more than just creating a simulacrum of the past and letting your characters frolic around in it. By curating and presenting an imagined version of history, you're contributing to wider cultural narratives that determine identity, belonging and nationhood. If "history is written by the victors", then writing historical fiction asks you to consider whom you present as winning - and losing.