EVELYN  TIDMAN Author
  • HOME
  • My Art
  • Over the Sea to Skye
  • Blog
  • ONE SMALL CANDLE
  • GENTLEMAN OF FORTUNE
  • REBELLION
  • FOR THE KING
  • Reviews
  • About Evelyn Tidman
  • Contact Me

The Research behind ONE SMALL CANDLE

6/30/2013

1 Comment

 
Write what you know.


That's the advice given to writers. Well that's fine and dandy if you have an encyclopaedic brain. What if you don't know? What if you want to write about history?


Then you jolly well have to find out! That way the not known becomes the known. That's where research comes in.


I write about actual people and events in history and my books, although novels, are mostly factual. Is that more difficult than writing contemporary fiction? On the one hand, probably, on the other, probably not. To qualify: The contemporary fiction writer has to make up a story, and to tie in all the elements of the story, and not forget what happened on page 29, which might have a bearing on page 150. And it may be that the background to that story needs a bit of research; or perhaps the job of the person, or their hangups, and so on. With the historical novellist, everything has to be researched. Did they use forks in 1620? Or 1720? What did they wear? What were the morals? The manners? The ideas? The political situation? The list is endless. But when writing about actual people and events, the story is already written for you. 


For example, when it came to the Pilgrims in ONE SMALL CANDLE there was a great deal of documentation. William Bradford himself had written an account in Of Plymouth Plantation. Edward Winslow also had written an account, and there was a book called Mourt's Relation thought to have been written by George Morton, or some near relative. These were the people who actually went to Plymouth in the initial migrations. One of William Bradford's descendants wrote an account, as well as a man called Dexter. And there were other books as well as on line sources.


So far so almost easy. Marrying up the different accounts, however, can prove to be a headache. One puts in details another leaves out. And to-ing and fro-ing in the different books to check details is time consuming. 


What details? For one thing, beliefs. Belief was a strong point for the Pilgrims. It was the motivation for the emigration first to Holland and then to New England. So that had to be right. Thankfully, John Robinson, their elder in Leyden was prolific in his writings. Too much so! The library in Norwich had several volumes of his treatises. Sorry - could not wade through that lot, but I got the gist. Readers will not have wanted to wade through lots of dogma, scripture and so on, so I had to pick and choose that which was pertinent to the story, at the same time leaving my own religious views out of it.



Another detail was in family relationships. This one proved to be a real headache. Because they were a congregation, and because they took seriously the Biblical command to 'marry only in the Lord', families intermarried. And when marriage mates died, they married again. So Susanna Fuller, Sam Fuller's sister, married William White first. He was cousin to the Whites, Bridget White being married to John Robinson, and her sister Catherine married (second) John Carver who became the first governor of Plymouth Colony. When William White died, Susanna married Edward Winslow, but she had children who were Whites. Same with the Carpenters - five girls all married and re-married. This pattern was repeated time and again. Keeping tabs on them all, and dates, and how old they were, and when they remarried was a nightmare. Thankfully, there are congregation lists, and family lists.


Then it was who was on the Mayflower, who was on the Speedwell, who went over on the Fortune and so on. Who died, who survived. Again, there are passenger lists, and I am grateful to William Bradford and the others for their careful records.


ONE SMALL CANDLE, therefore, is as accurate as I could make it. Even some of the speech is taken from actual conversations. What I have done is to dramatise it, so that the reader can stand in the shoes of the people and share their experiences, and not read just dry history. There are no invented characters in the book, all are genuine. But I do apologise to any descendants who feel their ancestor's character has been portrayed in a less than favourable light.


I like to bring history alive.
Picture
OUT NOW IN PAPERBACK AND KINDLE


FOR U.S. click here
FOR U.K. click here 
FOR CANADA click here
FOR OTHER COUNTRIES SEE AMAZON

1 Comment
Peter Sowatskey link
7/13/2013 07:09:00 am

Hi Evelyn, Your method must be a whole lot of work. Have you counted the hours involved?
Which writing program do you use to keep track of the data?
I just can't get my mind around the enormity of details you must have available.
Peter

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    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.

    Archives

    September 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    October 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    September 2013
    June 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    Beliefs Of The Pilgrim Fathers
    Pilgrim Fathers
    Pirates
    Pirates' Articles
    Swearing
    Why Bart Roberts

    RSS Feed

    Historical Fiction News - Sign up for our newsletter

    * indicates required
    Picture
    OUT NOW!
    Kindle and print 

    Through Amazon (click to view)
    Picture
    KINDLE AND PAPERBACK
    through Amazon (click to buy)

    Picture
    KINDLE AND PAPERBACK
    through Amazon (click to buy)
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.