EVELYN  TIDMAN Author
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How much research should be done for historical fiction? Can enough ever be done?

7/25/2014

6 Comments

 
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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)







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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)

COMING SOON:


FOR THE KING, A story of Roger L'Estrange and the English Civil War
6 Comments
Terry Tyler
7/28/2014 02:50:04 am

Very interesting, Evelyn, as I shall be moving into histfic for the next but one book, and I've already been looking up reading material! I've eased myself in gradually by writing modern day versions of historical fact - Kings and Queens is about Henry VIII and his 6 wives, and my current WIP, Last Child, is the follow up - about my 21st century Mary Tudor, Robert Dudley & Elizabeth 1st, etc! It's getting me used to the reading and note taking - but I can see from this that I will have my work cut out for me!

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Elie Hutcheson link
7/30/2014 06:18:43 am

Can I hire you to research for my book? :) Looks like you do a thorough job. I'm writing a book based during WWII and I haven't even scratched the surface but every time I see a book or DVD on WWII I pick it up. I'll get it all done eventually.

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Charli Mills link
7/31/2014 03:33:30 pm

Saw this post on Twitter and glad I caught it! I started researching a few interesting characters in my family tree, then thought I'd explore their stories in flash. Now I'm up to my eyeballs researching without a clue as to what I'll actually do with it. I have other novel projects and hadn't considered historical fiction. You have me considering the possibility. Thanks!

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Sandy Miller
8/17/2014 11:44:10 am

So very impressed I ordered both books! Looking forward to the nice reading 😊 Thank you!

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Sandra Didner link
8/20/2014 07:25:44 am

I spent 10 years researching information for my novel The Conspiracies of Dreams. It is about a spy who has an Egyptian father and a Palestinian mother. The spy is working for Egyptian Military Intelligence when he falls in love with a beautiful Israeli woman prior to the 1956 Sinai War. The Israeli woman is my sister in law. I researched the conflict which has existed for 3,000 years and used diaries of political figures involved in the war from Israel, England, and France. What I discovered was incredible intrigue involving double agents from English MI6 operatives who were really working for Russia.

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M4M Pennsylvania link
1/24/2023 08:32:21 pm

Thank you for being yyou

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    Author

    Evelyn Tidman, the author of REBELLION, Roger L'Estrange and the Kent Petition, the second in the Roger L'Estrange series; FOR THE KING, Roger L'Estrange and the Siege of King's Lynn, the first in the Roger L'Estrange series based on a true story of the English Civil War, GENTLEMAN OF FORTUNE, The Adventures of Bartholomew Roberts, Pirate. a historical swashbuckling romance; and ONE SMALL CANDLE The Story of William Bradford and the Pilgrim Fathers.  All based on true stories.

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