Historical writers tend to love history and are often lured off the research track by fascinating historical tidbits. Frequently, the lure isn’t germane to the story being written. Which is why I find writing some type of outline or synopsis a great help once I’ve gained a feel for the historical period. This does not have to be a polished, submission level outline/synopsis. This is for your eyes only and can be as sloppy as you want.
Probably the most important first step is establishing a time line. Why read about what happened in 1858 when your story takes place in 1812? Listing the basic elements of your story is another important step. In my November 19, 2019 blog I write about the essential story ingredients such as character, motivation, conflict, goals, etc. You can be as thorough here as you want. This is for your eyes only and can be as vague or detailed as you like. It’s easy to expand a word with a question mark into a sentence which eventually becomes a paragraph
Having established the basics will help keep you on track as you continue to research, while also hopefully writing the actual story.
Remember when I said the bibliography at the back of every nonfiction history book is your most valuable resource?
I said that because the bibliography opens the door to the specific. In order to write the general overview of the period, the author pulls together information from many sources and lists them in the bibliography. Scan the bibliography of every resource you use, because nuggets of historical gold are found there.
Let’s return to Stealing Destiny. My initial research gave me a good idea of what was happening in the years preceding and following 1866. Now I needed to begin not only researching specific details but also writing a first draft.
The story centers around a horse so I decided to move the story to Tennessee where horse breeding is important. Since I wanted my heroine to travel to New York after the war to retrieve her horse, I knew she had to be a resourceful person and decided to make her a Confederate spy. I wanted my hero to have a reason to be separated from his unit when he commandeered the horse, and decided to make him a mapmaker for the Union army.
Now I’m moving into specific areas of research: horse breeding in Tennessee, spying during the Civil War, cartography, Tennessee during the war, and life in central New York state. I’ve found it useful to read autobiographies or biographies of people who lived during the period. My research for this novel netted me a biography of Stonewall Jackson’s cartographer and gave me an intimate look at the life of a mapmaker during a war.
At this early point in writing, I try to maintain a good balance between research and writing. While you research, always keep writing. Be aware it is easy to get bogged down in research. If you hit a snag in a scene and need more detailed information such as what type of hat your heroine is wearing, mark the place with asterisks and a note to look it up later, and then write around it. Computers make it easy to go back and add additional information.
