Finding Time For Historical Research

Finding time to research historical facts by reading non-fiction.

Last night my five year old granddaughter had a sleepover at my house. This morning, as a reward for her excellent behaviour for the last month I took her to Gambados, an indoor play area. We were there for two hours. In spite of the loud background music, parents talking and many children having a good time, I got on with my research.

I read for two hours and put post it notes with remarks on pages of particular interest, while keeping an eye on my granddaughter. An added bonus were the ideas for the plot and descriptions in my new clean Regency novel, Tuesday's Child.

The Regency Era and The Minuet

I enjoy historical research. Today I have been reading about dancing and music. In 1816 Thomas Wilson, a dance master, insisted the stately minuet should open a ball. In 1813 the Prince Regent held a ball that began and ended with a minuet. As far as I know, it was unusual to end a ball with one,
In towns such as Bath where there were many elderly people balls began with a minuet during the first quarter of the 19th century and, possibly, later.

Historical Research

It is all too easy to become careless about research when writing a novel whether it is contemporary or historical

I knew that young boys in the Regency wore dresses and ankle length drawers. However, I assumed they were breeched by the age of three.

The heroine in my new novel, Tuesday's Child, has a three and three quarter year-old son.

I researched children's clothes. Boys wore skeleton suits. The ankle length trousers fastened with buttons to a tight jacket that had a double row of buttons fastened down the front. Alternatively, the trousers were fastened to a shirt, so that the jacket could be left open to reveal frills down the front of a blouse, which had a wide collar edged with a frill.

I described young Arthur in his 'skeleton suit' and tried, unsuccessfully, to find out if the term was used in the Regency period.

After much more research I found out that boys were not breeched until they were about five years of age. Arthur now wears a  gown with a high waist and low neck, ankle length drawers, and white stockings. When he goes out he wears a top hat instead of a bonnet that girls wore.

I still need to research fabrics - materials, wool, cotton, silk, plain, sprigged, patterned or tartan.

As a historical novelist I try my hardest to be accurate. 

Rosemary Morris

http://www.rosemarymorris.co.uk

http://rosemarymorris.blogspot.com

Writing Historical Fiction

Writing Historical Fiction

Historical fiction embraces different periods.

Prehistory, Ancient civilisations such as Egyptian and Indian, Classical (Mainly Greek and Roman History)Biblical, From the 1st century to the 20th century, Multi-period, Timeslip, Historical Fantasy, Alternative History, Children and Young Adult.

Historical Fiction can also be divided into different genres.

Fiction based on the lives of people who lived in the past.
Adventure, Romance, Crime, Thrillers and Whodunits, Mysteries,Military

These can be further divided into subgenres.

Arthurian, Mediaeval, Tudor, Elizabethan, Stuart, Georgian, Regency, Victorian, Edwardian, 1st World War, 2nd World War, Sagas, Pyschological Thrillers, Gothic (and Horror), Colonial U.S.A., Colonial, Civil War, American and its subgenre Native American Frontier, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Pirate and Naval.

More classifications can be found in Sarah Johnson’s Historical Fiction, A Guide to the Genre in which a chapter on sagas she includes authors from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and many others.

Whichever period a historical novelist chooses to write about, research is vital. The reader needs to experience the sights, sounds and smells, visualise costume and places and enjoy the reconstruction of the era the novel is set in.

I don’t think any historical novelist can get every detail about life in the past correct but she or he can research conscientiously and, without drowning the reader in facts, convey past times as accurately as possible. Failure to do this means the reader loses faith in the author. There are examples which caused me to lose faith.

In the first example, the author referred to a tea gown spread over a crinoline in the Victorian era. The Victorians did not wear gowns called tea gowns over crinolines. Tea gowns were worn by Edwardians and were not spread over crinolines.

In the second example, in the days when mediaeval castles and keeps did not have windows, a knight in full armour scaled the castle walls, (how did he find footholds?) to the turret where his lady was imprisoned. After he climbed in through the window, the lady greeted him with smile and asked. ‘Would you like a nice cup of tea and some eggs and bacon?’ Well, she might have been referring to herb tea and I’m daresay they ate eggs with bacon but the reference seemed too modern.