When I decided to write romance, it seemed logical to read some of them so I arrived on board an offshore oil rig with a dozen or so borrowed from family members and the local library. Putting aside the ribald comments this roused I was soon deep in the task and was quickly appalled at the lack of basic research. It isn’t that way now, but this was twenty years ago.
Today we have all the resources of the web (and so do our readers). There is no longer any excuse for the hero in a Regency tale lighting a cigar with a match or an unmarried English Countess in the same period, because we can easily check the facts that cigars were introduced to England by returning veterans of the Peninsular War; that matches were not invented until twenty years after the Regency ended and smelled foul; and that the only English Countess is the wife of an Earl.
One of my current submissions is set in 1802/3, during the short peace following the Treaty of Amiens and I had a ball researching it. It is a sea story/historical romance so I began with considerable basic knowledge and a long term interest in the subject and period. It was fascinating how many significant advances were made in such a short period, even putting aside the exigencies of war. Canned meat, steel casting, the explosive properties of mercury fulminate, practical breech loading cannon, significant advances in naval architecture that led to the design of the famous clipper ships, steam propulsion for ships all stem from that period, even the submarine.
Compared to this story, The First Born was easy, many of the events in the hero’s life were contemporary and I had family records and letters for the rest, but I still enjoyed the research
Do you enjoy research?
Sometimes I get so caught up in research that I neglect to actually write. The best thing is that I was researching paranormal investigation and ended up becoming an investigator. I’m actually very good at it and do the “stuff” regularly. It is bad though, because I can eaily tell who does the stuff and who doesn’t. I threw a book away because it made ghost hunting look rediculous, that seeing ghosts makes one horny. Hunh? Well, I’ve never jumped anyone during a night watch!
I have the same reaction to sea and war stories that fail the basic research test, because there’s no excuse these days. I can forgive a little poetic licence in personal reactions, but not blatant ignorance.
My one experience with ghosts came many years ago when I replaced a chief Engineer who died on board in his bunk.
They’d completed the voyage with him in the vegetable room and the second engineer in charge when I joined. I was immediately regaled with stories of ghostly visitations, waves of unexplained cold, etc. The steward looking after my cabin swore he’d seen the previous chief disappearing into the attached bathroom two days after he died.
The mattress had been replaced because it was stained and the same steward claimed he felt the cold of unseen apparition when he made the bunk.
I took a thermomenter and air flow meter and adjusted the air conditioning damper to remove the errant flow of cold air, slept soundly in the bunk, and the only evidence I found of the previous occupant was a mass of uncompleted paperwork.
It didn’t stop the rumours of ghostly appearances that plagued the ship for years afterwards (until the last of the men who’d been there at the time left?)
Research. I try to avoid it as I can get lost doing it and never remember most of it afterwards anyway. I try to write things where background detail can be vague.
I reassure myself that many great writers don’t “date” their books except by writing in their own time period in a vague way.
I also don’t bother too much with background accuracy in books though obvious errors put me right off a book.
I love research. There is so much that we can learn if we simply do research.
I cannot wait to read this book. It is definitely on my TBR list.
Stephen,
Like everything else, excessive research can become intrusive to the story line, but not “dating” a story is very difficult. The Regency lasted a little under twenty years, the Waltz was introduced on a specific date within that period, so an offhand reference can lock the story into time, just as the use of slang terms, kitchen utensils, matches,etc.
Knowing their background helps me realize my characters, making them real to me, and that is the first step in making them real to others.
Diane,
Like Cynthia above, I have to discipline myself into knowing when to stop a line of research, but nothing is ever wasted. I find a fact discovered here becomes the trigger for another tale there .