Friday 29 July 2011

The problems researching a historical novel

When I did my Master's degree in Victorian Literature and Culture, we were taught how to research properly and accurately.  However, for the most part this research took place in the library at Reading university.  Great!, .... but... really, everything is laid on for you, researching in the 'real world' is a vastly different experience.

One thing that has helped me tremendously is that I did undertook some original research at Bethlam Hospital in Kent.  Handling documents, some of which were over a century old, was an incredible experience.  Hospital staff carefully documented every patient's problems and idiosyncracies all by hand, even to the degree where they recorded conversations and quotations from the patients themselves.

The difference with researching the novel is that the reseach material is based in Edinburgh!  Not the easiest of places to get to if you need something in a hurry, given that I am based in Hampshire!  However, it's amazing how the curators of the museum, and the library staff are so willing to give information and chat about 'their' subject.  It also fascinates me how one thread can so easily lead to another, and how one finds oneself travelling to remote little areas in order to visit a church or piece of ground which once housed the great and the (perhaps) good of Scotland's erstwhle leaders.  It's also so important to get a feel for the landscape and how it may have looked some four hundred years ago.

My last visit to Edinburgh was fantastic, and having researched this novel now for some four years, I really knew what I wanted to get from it.  I made the most of every last detail, from the way the roads lay leading away from Holyrood, to the details of Mary, Queen of Scots dark and dingy bed chamber.  Researching properly takes time and energy, and great thought.  It also takes a bit of guts to be cheeky and ask people questions, it's surprising just how accommodating they are, and how grateful I am to them for their input.  It's been an incredible, if frustrating, journey so far, but hopefully now I can put the research together to create a truly readable, interesting and informative novel.

I'll keep you posted!

Pauline