I’ve been focused on editing (again!) my Treasure Island inspired novel. I thought it might be the most marketable and worth the effort to keep working on it. I’m making the usual changes to eliminate superficial words, phrases, and paragraphs as well as attempting to clarify story elements for the reader. Per usual I’m layering in more character development.
However, all of this comes to a screeching halt when I stumble on elements of historical accuracy! Writing and editing are set aside as I dive into the fathomless Research Well. Was that word used in 1834/1835? How did firearms of the era work? Was that card game still popular post Regency?
One of the advantages of writing Science Fiction and Fantasy is building your own world. Most fantasy novels are based on or inspired by actual historical cultures and/or periods. But you can make whatever alterations that suit the story as long as you can make the elements seem reasonable. Magic is always helpful with author-established parameters and limitations for the story world. Genius inventors can introduce technology a century or two earlier in your fantasy setting. Parallel universes can make incongruities acceptable.
Science Fiction has a basis in actual science. But there is always the opportunity to extrapolate current cutting edge science into the future. Or apply a “reasonable” tweak to known science to take it in a new direction. As long as the author can establish a non-magical explanation so the reader can “suspend disbelief” the story is good to go.
But I chose to set my novel in 1834/34 England and on a Caribbean island. I selected those years because of an actual event in the future Queen Victoria’s life. What was I thinking? Because I decided my protagonist would share a birthdate (and perhaps a cosmic connection) with the future queen.
Anyway — I am comfortable with fashion history and the world of horses. I’ve read 19th century novels and watched period movies and series. They provide some information about society of the period, but not necessarily the nitty gritty details (and movies are notorious for inaccuracies). So I did online research before writing, but in the process of writing the first draft and now editing for the umpteenth time I continue to encounter the need for additional research.
And everything comes to a stop while I attempt to discover how something was done then, whether something had been invented yet, what the social customs of the period were, and so forth. As is often the case in diving down the research hole, an exorbitant amount of time may be spent looking up the tiniest, fleeting detail. Instead of knocking out the next chapter or two, or editing several pages, the entire time set aside for writing is spent researching fashionable waistcoats, Christmas tide menus, or creepy crawlies of the Caribbean islands.
Then again, getting sidetracked by research has solved more than one story element. I discovered there was, indeed, a wine made especially for Napoleon. And I learned Princess Victoria’s first attendance at the Royal Ascot races ties in perfectly with my storyline.
Sometimes hitting a stone wall and researching a way around, over, or beneath it pays off.
Mary S. Potter 