Researching your subject

Jerome Price

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Currently I'm working on two stories involving the old west of the 1870's and 1880's. Since history has always been one of my strong interests I tend to do a lot of research even visiting the locations I plan to use. One of my stories involves people from 2015 traveling via a time machine back and forth to 1878 Deadwood. I have been out there a number of times talking to people visiting museums, and taking pictures. That's just one example, however I also have an extensive library dealing with the old west as well.

Getting "things" right has always been a big thing to me, but I'm curious to know how other's feel.
 

angeliz2k

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Absolutely! Getting things right is very important to me, and it's not just the details, either, but the society and larger context. The latter is actually much harder. It takes a lot of time and effort to really get the "feel" for an era. You can know what kind of gun was available, and that's good, but it's also important to know how society at that time would have reacted, say, to an unmarried woman of 30 (and how the reaction would differ between, say, a 13-year old boy and a 40-something widow). (I'm talking about some circumstances in a current WIP; it came up in another thread here on AW.)

My method has been simply to read *a lot* in the eras I'm interested in, fiction and non-fiction, biographical and non-biographical. I watch/listen to CSPAN's American History programming (it's excellent). Primary sources are best for getting a feel for the lingo, and they can also send you on research tangents that lead you deeper into the era (like cricket [the sport] lingo...). Reading fiction gives you an idea of what's out there and how people today view the era, which isn't necessarily how it was viewed 50 years ago. I mean, 50 years ago, you wouldn't have had as much emphasis on women's experience. You have to contend with popular perceptions and misconceptions. (And nowhere is that more true than the Civil War, I think. I mean, GWTW is not a primary source, but it massively colors public perception of the war and Reconstruction.)

It's also important to have some idea of what the academic world is saying (hence me and CSPAN). For instance, there are still many and varied academic arguments about the Civil War. If you're going to write about the era, I posit that it's important to at least know about these discussions. They can give you a much more full and in-depth perception of the era. This is part and parcel of the above: what are people saying about the era?

As writers, it's up to us to kind of amalgamate all of this: the real history (or at least what we know) and what people today think/believe. It takes a lot of skill and knowledge and finesse to pull that all together.
 

Atlantic12

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Totally agree it's good to research as much as you can until you're comfortable moving in that world. The next challenge is to know what to leave out so you can tell a great story that isn't weighed down by excessive detail. I love historicals that are immersive without being too wordy, but there are still plenty of people who love doorstoppers! It's good to know where your story falls on that continuum, how much detail your story truly needs. What you cut shimmers under the surface and adds depth to the story as a whole.
 

pseudowriter

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You and I should be friends. ;)

I have written a YA that takes place in Denver (the Old West afterlife) and I have a few characters from the mid to late 1800's. I know a lot of the jargon already (I was raised in what remains of the Old West by my prospector grandparents who were friends with Butch Cassidy's sister), but to help keep things more realistic and... easy?... I created a "Cowboy Dictionary". Took me several months to compile and ended up being over 1600 words, turns of phrase, etc. Had a blast doing it, though a lot of my writer friends think my love for research is insane.

In the end, I probably only used 50-100 of my list, but it has been good to have on-hand.
 

CWatts

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Absolutely! Getting things right is very important to me, and it's not just the details, either, but the society and larger context. The latter is actually much harder. It takes a lot of time and effort to really get the "feel" for an era. You can know what kind of gun was available, and that's good, but it's also important to know how society at that time would have reacted, say, to an unmarried woman of 30 (and how the reaction would differ between, say, a 13-year old boy and a 40-something widow). (I'm talking about some circumstances in a current WIP; it came up in another thread here on AW.)
...
You have to contend with popular perceptions and misconceptions. (And nowhere is that more true than the Civil War, I think. I mean, GWTW is not a primary source, but it massively colors public perception of the war and Reconstruction.)
...
As writers, it's up to us to kind of amalgamate all of this: the real history (or at least what we know) and what people today think/believe. It takes a lot of skill and knowledge and finesse to pull that all together.

Exactly! (Amalgamate is such a perfect 19th-century word, too.)


For the Civil War and women's experiences, there's a great compare/contrast between GWTW and Little Women - which is a primary source, as it was published just a few years after the war. Of course now I'm picturing an epic argument between Scarlett and Jo (and may never look at Johannson's tabloid nickname the same way again...).


You and I should be friends. ;)

I have written a YA that takes place in Denver (the Old West afterlife) and I have a few characters from the mid to late 1800's. I know a lot of the jargon already (I was raised in what remains of the Old West by my prospector grandparents who were friends with Butch Cassidy's sister), but to help keep things more realistic and... easy?... I created a "Cowboy Dictionary". Took me several months to compile and ended up being over 1600 words, turns of phrase, etc. Had a blast doing it, though a lot of my writer friends think my love for research is insane.

In the end, I probably only used 50-100 of my list, but it has been good to have on-hand.

What a great resource! That cowboy dictionary could work as an ebook reference for Western writers.

I've set myself quite the research challenge, what with a character's 1870s odyssey taking her from Paris to New York to the West - which may be a bigger culture shock. There's also a lot of politics and class differences to master, above all the consequences inherent in being about as far Left as you could be in that era. There is a rough scene I want to work up for the Loss challenge but it's going to need some trigger warnings....
 

angeliz2k

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pseudowriter, I'm here in this subforum regularly. :)

I think I got my "ear" for the era from Mark Twain, and from growing up in a rural[ish] southern area. As a child, I must've listened to Huck Finn a dozen times on book-tape (yep, cassette tapes). It's a different experience from reading it, and I think a good one. It's harder to pick up on the tones and patterns in the written word. And though my parents are from Delaware and NJ, I picked up a lot of cadences from the world and people around me, and not just speech patterns but of the natural world, too--the rhythms of a less-urbanized culture. I think it's something that's almost impossible to understand if you didn't grow up in it.
 

CWatts

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Angeliz2k, I can imagine that helped immensely! I've noticed the difference between my suburban Richmond family and my in-laws from the rural VA/NC border. It's a whole different rhythm of life, even though all of my husband's generation left farming to work for state and local government and healthcare.

I just finished reading the first of the Lady Fan mystery series, set in 1789 England. You can tell Elizabeth Bailey loves Jane Austen from the narrative voice and especially the dialogue.

I need to pick up the thread of my Reconstruction novel again. For that I'll need to take a deep dive into the WPA slave narratives. I cringe at the transcripts with the dialect but the audio should restore the speaker's dignity and the emotion comes through. Those elder freedpeople in the 1930s were what our precious few Holocaust survivors are today. It's kind of mindblowing to think of how the past isn't even past - like the meme going around (apt for today) that Martin Luther King, Jr. and Anne Frank were born the same year as Barbara Walters.
 
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pseudowriter

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pseudowriter, I'm here in this subforum regularly. :)

I think I got my "ear" for the era from Mark Twain, and from growing up in a rural[ish] southern area. As a child, I must've listened to Huck Finn a dozen times on book-tape (yep, cassette tapes). It's a different experience from reading it, and I think a good one. It's harder to pick up on the tones and patterns in the written word. And though my parents are from Delaware and NJ, I picked up a lot of cadences from the world and people around me, and not just speech patterns but of the natural world, too--the rhythms of a less-urbanized culture. I think it's something that's almost impossible to understand if you didn't grow up in it.

Aye, I love that kind of thing as well. I wrote a few characters in my novel with an Appalachian accent. Ended up listening and relistening to Appalachian music and documentaries to get the general sound, using different online resources (the Appalachian dictionary has some recording of folks from the area telling stories - all done around the 30's). Dunno why I like it so much, but I find it kinda relaxing and fun. :)
 

angeliz2k

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Angeliz2k, I can imagine that helped immensely! I've noticed the difference between my suburban Richmond family and my in-laws from the rural VA/NC border. It's a whole different rhythm of life, even though all of my husband's generation left farming to work for state and local government and healthcare.

I just finished reading the first of the Lady Fan mystery series, set in 1789 England. You can tell Elizabeth Bailey loves Jane Austen from the narrative voice and especially the dialogue.

I need to pick up the thread of my Reconstruction novel again. For that I'll need to take a deep dive into the WPA slave narratives. I cringe at the transcripts with the dialect but the audio should restore the speaker's dignity and the emotion comes through. Those elder freedpeople in the 1930s were what our precious few Holocaust survivors are today. It's kind of mindblowing to think of how the past isn't even past - like the meme going around (apt for today) that Martin Luther King, Jr. and Anne Frank were born the same year as Barbara Walters.

Reconstruction. *Shudders* It is so rough to hear/read about that time period. That's part of why I've been putting off the idea of a sequel to my antebellum novels, because it'd take us into Reconstruction. It was . . . so ugly.
 

CWatts

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Reconstruction. *Shudders* It is so rough to hear/read about that time period. That's part of why I've been putting off the idea of a sequel to my antebellum novels, because it'd take us into Reconstruction. It was . . . so ugly.

Yes it is difficult to grapple with. So much progress was made when the North was committed to it, but so much terrorism and backsliding, especially after the Corrupt Bargain stole the presidential election....

I think the first U.S. anti-terror legislation was against the Klan.
 

Siri Kirpal

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Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

One thing I discovered for the family saga 1913-1980 historical I'm researching is the required reading list for high school kids. I'm currently working my way through some of it. A Shakespearean play was required each of the 4 years, for instance.

I found the list on the University of Oregon website in the archives of their college catalogs. More useful that I'd ever believe.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal
 

pingle

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I'm writing a first draft while researching the time period. I've already had to go back and edit a lot of stuff that was simply wrong wrong wrong. I find I'm not fired up until I actually start to write, so for me researching first (which I do believe to be in theory the best way of doing it) would result in no book. That said I am now researching loads, and plan on doing lots of editing to get it as right as possible. I'd be mortified to send anything out that was completely improbable.

I would so love to go and visit some of the places I'm writing about. One is Rome, another Ostia, and I might just do it, but it would involve leaving the kids behind and so feels a bit selfish.
 

Atlantic12

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Pingle, it is not selfish. It's research. Go!
I've been planning a research trip and have to make all kinds of arrangements for the kids because I have no family in the area. I feel zero guilt. The book is important to me, and the kids will survive 5 days without me. It wouldn't be the first time!
 

Norman Mjadwesch

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Wherever possible, I try to lay my hands on material that was written at the time I am writing about. That takes care of attitudes and interpretations that have been layered on by writers from a later era. Often the subject matter of the books I find are unrelated to the work I am doing, but that only gives you a few extra bits to include into the plot if they are interesting enough. When I was researching my first novel I was fortunate enough to randomly stumble across a copy of a book about ‘physical culture’, i.e. exercise and diet, specifically written for boxers, that was written a few years before the time of my story setting, which provided me with some turns of phrase that I had not heard in many years. Obviously some things will not be found in most mainstream print, such as swearing and so forth, but referencing period publications is still a useful resource for more general information.
 

CWatts

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I've found the Internet Archive to be a treasure trove of public domain primary sources for the Gilded Age. There's traveller's guides to the West that might be very useful to the OP - though many were put out by the railroads so they're for setting the expectations that clash with reality.

Hands-on research can be fun too. This weekend I tried "glorias" which is coffee laced with brandy. I make it kind of weak and didn't take it black as was popular at the time but damn it's a good pick me up.
 

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From my experience, I know that google books is similar to Internet Achieves. Both can offer less well-known information that can be helpful. As a genealogical writer, I know examining original resources gives me a strong sense of confidence that I've covered all the bases.
 
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CWatts

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Dusk

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There are so many good places online that have primary resources! When I first came onto the web, in 1995, it was really tough to find primary resources.

One secondary source I especially like is H-Net, a set of forums for scholars, including historians. The forums started in 1992 and are searchable. If I read a history book, I'll often check the forums to see what historians think of the book.
 

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I used Google maps to "research" the area in which my story takes place.