Research outside the library or computer

[Emily Bryan]

Hi! While it's hard to overstate the importance of library and computer research, I was wondering if any of you have done anything out of the ordinary to prepare to write. When I was working on SILK DREAMS, a harem tale, I took belly dancing lessons. When I was fleshing out ideas for Erinsong, my Irish romance, my husband had a well-timed business trip to Dublin that I was able to tag along on. To research for DISTRACTING THE DUCHESS which features an artistic heroine, I did a little figure drawing myself. I'm always looking for ways to involve all the senses. Does anyone have a fresh way to get a feel for a story in another time and place besides through a book? www.dianagroe.com www.emilybryan.com

[Stephanie Patterson]

When I lived in South Wales, I took the car into the Welsh borders and Gloucestershire to suss out areas for my (then) planned novel. Three years later (meaning last October lol) we went on holidays to Normandy - both a pleasure and research trip for me. I traipsed around Argentan, Falaise, Caen, etc in the footsteps of William the Conqueror, Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. In some places, such as Caen, sadly not much is left of the medieval structures but I still managed to get a feel for the area. One day we drove down into the Perche area to the market town of Mortagne, the home of my 'hero'. The town was OK, not much to it, but the surrounding area stunning. I left with many photos and impressions for vivid images to describe in my novel, once I'll get around to the Normandy bit.
Stephanie

[Emily Bryan]

I too love to travel as part of my research. But I find I always have to half-close my eyes, trying to imagine what this castle or that cathedral must have looked like during the time period I'm writing in--or if it was even there! Still nothing like travel to give you a sense of place--the smells and sounds, the feel of moss-covered stone. You can't get it all from books unless you vividly engage your imagination.

[Mary]

Next time, go to Warwick Castle. It is the best example of a medieval castle, is quite easy to reach from most parts of England and is populated by Madame Tussaud's wax characters of the period, all engaged in the activities of the time. The sounds, sights and yes, even the smells are as they would have been at the time. Another excellent source of info is Battle Abbey, overlooking the site of the Battle of Hastings. The audio commentary is given from the POV of a Norman, and Englishman and (I think this is most important) a WOMAN.

[Anne Whitfield]

Travelling to the places in your book does help enormously. Most of my books are set in Yorkshire, England and it's was wonderful to go back to England last June and travel the areas again.

[Emily Bryan]

Most of my travels in England have been day trips from London. We visited Leeds Castle, Longleat in Wiltshire and of course, Stonehenge. I would adore spending an extended time there, preferably in a smaller town to really soak up the culture. Though I must confess, one of the women I spoke with at Longleat had such a pronounced country accent, I only managed to understand one word in ten. I'm sure she was equally bewildered by my American English.

[Mary]

I'm sure you'd be surprised at just how much the woman at Longleat did understand. The English seem quite good at understanding strange 'foreign' accents! The reverse does not necessarily apply, though. For such a tiny landmass - and considering everyone supposedly speaks the same language - the variation in accents and word usage is enormous. I am English, though I don't live there any more, but have to ask, 'Repeat, please' often.

[Stephanie Patterson]

I visited Leeds Castle about 10 years ago. The location's fantastic. Hampton Court was another. Later I was fortunate enough to live in areas with many castles and ruins. I've visited most of the Southern Welsh castles, and Beaumaris on Anglesey. From Aberdeen I went to the many tower castles of north-eastern Scotland and of course the famous Eilean Donan (features in so many films, it's almost funny) and Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness. I do love those old ruins... :) As almost intact castles, Stirling and Edinburgh are very impressive too.

Visit on a dull autumn day and you have peace and quiet to imagine how things would have been centuries ago.

[Heather Domin]

I agree that traveling to your settings is ideal - but since I can't afford to travel to Rome, I've tried to find any Roman ruins in places I *have* been. Which is kind of easy in Europe. :D

To get a feel for my settings, I find that anything to do with the senses will help. I've cooked ancient Roman dishes, made mix CDs of Scottish club music, found scented candles that smell like native plants/fruits --- anything I can experience myself will help get me in the zone.

[Sidney Allinson]

Old newspapers are one of the most under-used resources for writers to get historical details right. My own books are set in the 19th. and early 20th. century. Going through newspaper archives helps me enormously to get past contemporary facts right, absorb the real attitudes, events, and views of past days, and even find useful plot ideas.
-- Sidney Allinson.

www.xlibris.com/sidneyallinson.html

[Mary]

I'm really fortunate that I had several trips back to England when researching my current WIP. It is set in the period 1936-1962 and, while this is not ancient history, some of the info was a little difficult to track down. The RAF Museum at Hendon and the IWM Museum at Duxford were of enormous help. Eden Camp (Yorkshire) provided examples of such everyday items as Morrison and Anderson Shelters and complete lists of rationed food items. The best piece of info, though, came from my late mother's collection of treasures: a supplement from the Kent Messenger newspaper, showing the site of each V1 (flying bomb or 'doodlebug') that landed in Kent. There were thousands of them! There's nothing quite like touching and feeling history!
Mary

[Emily Bryan]

Newspapers and scandal sheets are great resources. So are personal letters. Fortunately, people of earlier times were great corresponders and quite often saved letters to be poured over later. I wonder if someday, writers of the future will dig through the junk in cyber-space, hoping to glean from emails and instant messages how we talked and what we thought about. Yikes!

[Lloyd Lofthouse]

College and university presses may sometimes provide material too. During the almost nine years I worked on My Splendid Concubine, I not only read what I could get my hands on about Robert Hart (through Harvard University Press, etc.--his letters and journals.), but I also traveled to China six times to do research there. On one trip, my wife and I managed to bribe our way into an underground archive where documents had been stored since the Cultural Revolution. I wrote about that experience in the Preface to the novel. Newspapers, like you said, are also a good source. I manged to find archived material from some of the English language newspapers in China from the nineteenth century, but that was more recent as I've been working on the sequel.

Ellen Jones traveled to England from California to do research for the Fatal Crown and Beloved Enemy, the Passions of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Simon & Schuster, 1994. Great book. I recommend it. Ellen and I were in the same writing workshop out of UCLA for several years. While in England, she managed to see some of the original material written by the characters in her two novels in Libraries in the UK. The kind of material you have to wear gloves to touch.

Another benefit of being an author is that you get (at least for Americans) to write off the expenses from your income taxes.