I was asked this question on Twitter, and it made me think, how do you go about research for historical novels? Where do you start? So I thought about the process I went through
With Gentleman of Fortune, I started with an idea - I wanted to know about pirates. So off I went to the local library and looked up books on Pirates. Here I came across a book by a Captain Charles Johnson, called 'A General History of the . . . Pirates.' It turns out many scholars think Captain Johnson is actually Daniel Defoe, so it was written during the Golden Age of Piracy. Here I found the subject I wanted to write about: Bartholomew Roberts. I had found my story.
Now for the research proper, because, let's face it, my knowledge of 18th century pirates was limited to the films of the likes of Errol Flynn's Captain Blood! David Cordingly was helpful here. He has written many books on piracy. The first one I came across, Life Among The Pirates had so much information. My poor husband was inundated with facts: 'Did you know, pirates did not usually make people walk the plank?' 'Did you know pirates were not all cut-throats?' 'Oh - the black flag means: surrender and we will give quarter; if not we spare none. While the red flag means: a fight to the death; no quarter.' I think he was heartily sick of it by the time I'd finished! The information was priceless and endless! I will never be able to thank David Cordingly enough! I think I read every book he wrote on the subject of pirates!
At the end of books like David Cordingly's there is a wonderful thing called a Bibliography. For the uninitiated, the Bibliography is where the writer found his information - some of it source material. For example, here I was directed to John Atkins' Journal. He was the surgeon on HMS Swallow which chased Roberts up and down the West African Coast. The public lending library was absolutely invaluable. They found all sorts of books for me at a minimal cost. Those that I thought were the most valuable to me, I sought out and purchased if they were available. Others I had to photocopy because they were not available, as in too old, or out of print.
The research continued. Note-taking and planning was now at its height. The pirates have a cast of hundreds. But the different members of the crew joined from other ships at different times. And I had to know who and when. All their names were documented, as were their ages and places of origin, and from which ship they joined and what date that ship was captured. Which ship of the pirate fleet did they sail on? (There were three at the end). I had lists all around my walls. The same was true, incidentally, of the Pilgrims in One Small Candle. Another cast of hundreds, and they intermarried. I had to know which person belonged to which family, which family they had married into, who were their siblings, and their children, who did their children marry, and when the first spouse died and they remarried, who were the step children who were married to whom . . . Well, it was my recurring nightmare that I'd missed a connection somewhere! I had family trees pinned to my office walls for that one as well!
On top of all that, I needed to know how to sail an 18th century ship, how to fire a cannon, a pistol, how to navigate, how did pistols work, what was it like in battle, what did they wear, eat, believe, even how did they go to the toilet! What were the main events in history at the time? With the pirates there had been the War of the Spanish Succession, and the Treaty of Utrecht had brought peace, which had a bearing on the story. What was the law? And what about the myriad places the pirates visited? I could go on and on. Nowadays, much of this information is available on-line but when I wrote Gentleman of Fortune, I did not have a computer, and on-line had hardly registered in the public consciousness.
Well, while doing all this research, I was writing the story. On the editing, it was re-checking details. Had I got this date right? Or what was the timing of that event? And the next edit was the same. In fact I did not stop checking details until I actually published the book.
It is the same process for all my books. Hard work? Yes. Worth it? Definitely.
So in answer to the question from my Twitter follower: 'How much research should be done for historical fiction? Can enough ever been done?' I think the answer has to be - Yes, and No. Yes, you research until you are satisfied. But No because you will still keep finding out about the subject twenty years on!
GENTLEMAN OF FORTUNE, The Adventures of Bartholomew Robert, Pirate is published in Print and Kindle version
Available in
US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Spain, India, Mexico
through Amazon (click to buy)
With Gentleman of Fortune, I started with an idea - I wanted to know about pirates. So off I went to the local library and looked up books on Pirates. Here I came across a book by a Captain Charles Johnson, called 'A General History of the . . . Pirates.' It turns out many scholars think Captain Johnson is actually Daniel Defoe, so it was written during the Golden Age of Piracy. Here I found the subject I wanted to write about: Bartholomew Roberts. I had found my story.
Now for the research proper, because, let's face it, my knowledge of 18th century pirates was limited to the films of the likes of Errol Flynn's Captain Blood! David Cordingly was helpful here. He has written many books on piracy. The first one I came across, Life Among The Pirates had so much information. My poor husband was inundated with facts: 'Did you know, pirates did not usually make people walk the plank?' 'Did you know pirates were not all cut-throats?' 'Oh - the black flag means: surrender and we will give quarter; if not we spare none. While the red flag means: a fight to the death; no quarter.' I think he was heartily sick of it by the time I'd finished! The information was priceless and endless! I will never be able to thank David Cordingly enough! I think I read every book he wrote on the subject of pirates!
At the end of books like David Cordingly's there is a wonderful thing called a Bibliography. For the uninitiated, the Bibliography is where the writer found his information - some of it source material. For example, here I was directed to John Atkins' Journal. He was the surgeon on HMS Swallow which chased Roberts up and down the West African Coast. The public lending library was absolutely invaluable. They found all sorts of books for me at a minimal cost. Those that I thought were the most valuable to me, I sought out and purchased if they were available. Others I had to photocopy because they were not available, as in too old, or out of print.
The research continued. Note-taking and planning was now at its height. The pirates have a cast of hundreds. But the different members of the crew joined from other ships at different times. And I had to know who and when. All their names were documented, as were their ages and places of origin, and from which ship they joined and what date that ship was captured. Which ship of the pirate fleet did they sail on? (There were three at the end). I had lists all around my walls. The same was true, incidentally, of the Pilgrims in One Small Candle. Another cast of hundreds, and they intermarried. I had to know which person belonged to which family, which family they had married into, who were their siblings, and their children, who did their children marry, and when the first spouse died and they remarried, who were the step children who were married to whom . . . Well, it was my recurring nightmare that I'd missed a connection somewhere! I had family trees pinned to my office walls for that one as well!
On top of all that, I needed to know how to sail an 18th century ship, how to fire a cannon, a pistol, how to navigate, how did pistols work, what was it like in battle, what did they wear, eat, believe, even how did they go to the toilet! What were the main events in history at the time? With the pirates there had been the War of the Spanish Succession, and the Treaty of Utrecht had brought peace, which had a bearing on the story. What was the law? And what about the myriad places the pirates visited? I could go on and on. Nowadays, much of this information is available on-line but when I wrote Gentleman of Fortune, I did not have a computer, and on-line had hardly registered in the public consciousness.
Well, while doing all this research, I was writing the story. On the editing, it was re-checking details. Had I got this date right? Or what was the timing of that event? And the next edit was the same. In fact I did not stop checking details until I actually published the book.
It is the same process for all my books. Hard work? Yes. Worth it? Definitely.
So in answer to the question from my Twitter follower: 'How much research should be done for historical fiction? Can enough ever been done?' I think the answer has to be - Yes, and No. Yes, you research until you are satisfied. But No because you will still keep finding out about the subject twenty years on!
GENTLEMAN OF FORTUNE, The Adventures of Bartholomew Robert, Pirate is published in Print and Kindle version
Available in
US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Spain, India, Mexico
through Amazon (click to buy)
ONE SMALL CANDLE The Story of William Bradford and the Pilgrim Fathers is out now on Amazon, Print and kindle version
Available in
US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Spain, India, Mexico
through Amazon (click to buy)
Available in
US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Spain, India, Mexico
through Amazon (click to buy)
COMING SOON:
FOR THE KING, A story of Roger L'Estrange and the English Civil War
FOR THE KING, A story of Roger L'Estrange and the English Civil War
RSS Feed
