The right way to write historical fiction is ...

Obsessive realism? That's the "dominant tradition."
You're better off using shifting time frames? "You can expect readers to get what you're saying about the presence of the past in our present."
Using certain male types, familiar to readers of historical fiction? Like "the good-hearted ... patriarch," the "mysterious friend" and the "hapless ... love."

This is why I'm doing this, because everyone likes pronouncing on how to do this, but only one of them has a PhD in it. (Go ahead, click on the second one, it's a really interesting interview.)