Four Challenges in Researching Historical Fiction and Biography

All writers do research. Or should. Accuracy in portrayal of setting, dialect, era, social norms, foods, and so on is not limited to writing about the past. But the onus is greater for historical fiction and biography writers. People don’t read a contemporary romance novel expecting accuracy, but they notice and appreciate it. In historical fiction, accuracy of portrayal is essential to the genre.

Readers of historical fiction and biography expect accuracy in all aspects. Writers moderate those expectations with author notes explaining the deviations from historicity and justifying them. But, be aware, some readers are on the lookout for unexplained deviations. And they may even argue with you over your explained ones.

I guarantee there could be people reading your book who know much more about your historical era, events, and personages than you do. And if you make a tiny mis-step, those people may well let you know in a devastating review on Amazon or a blistering letter sent to you directly.

Don’t get me wrong. The majority of HF readers may be annoyed at inaccuracies, but will not target you for public shaming. Given enough inaccuracies, however, you likely will lose those readers. Not good. So, push up those reading glasses, sharpen your pencil, flip to a clean page in your notebook, and do the required research thoroughly.

And just what does that mean? To write about Mesopotamia, you can’t step into a time machine and go back data collecting. That’s an obvious limitation on your research efforts. You rely on extant documents and artifacts that have been validated and interpreted. You do your best to read the latest information from the researchers of the era. And if your story is going to violate an accepted premise or setting, you have a plausible story line to account for it.

I’ve written before about HISTORICAL fiction or historical FICTION and those

challenges.  Of course, you want to avoid mimicking a history textbook, but people read historical fiction to learn stuff. It’s a delicate dance sometimes. You know soooo much and you want to share it. But first, you are writing fiction and need to tell a compelling story.

Few of us are professional historians who have access to academic resources. We just do the best we can on a topic we are committed to. Beyond the time thing that plagues all HF authors, what are the other challenges? After extensive reading, I found these pitfalls/cautions/areas of concern for the HF writer.

Problem 1: Research fascinates and sucks time from writing.

You follow one line after another, maybe getting further away from the focus of the book. Always keeping in mind the need to only research areas you know you need for this book is the greatest threat to finishing your story.

Solution 1:

I keep a file of related links, fascinating bits, and intriguing possibilities I come across while researching the main line. I tuck things there to investigate for another book or just for fun when I have time. It satisfies my researcher’s need to know and keeps the materials available for later reference so my researcher brain is satisfied.

Problem 2:  Knowing when you’re done.

Researchers in all fields want to be definitive, to synthesize all the known research. Here’s a tip: Not. Possible. Nor should it be. You could spend your life researching and not writing.

Solution 2:

In my previous professional life, I lived in the publish or perish environment. We used to say you were done researching what came before when the same articles were referred to over and over and no new ones were cropping up. We found seminal articles that began the research thread of that topic and followed it. While we knew that someone was going to publish new research on our topic just before our article was published, we finally had to say, “I’m done.”

Problem 3: Starting and Staying Objective

Okay. Confession. This may be my personal biggest challenge. Why would I start a topic/person/event if I weren’t fascinated by it? And fascination can lead to biases. And biases can lead to crediting some sources more than others, crediting those that fit your bias and downplaying those that don’t. It’s human nature.

Solution 3:

Sticky wicket, this one, since it is nearly impossible to identify your own biases. I have two suggestions that help me. Participate in a critique group that will challenge your assumptions. When you write that she cared deeply for the less fortunate, they might ask, “Always? Do you have instances of callousness that came up, for expediency or some other reason?” or when your character sounds as if he’s up for Sainthood, someone might ask, “What were his major flaws and how did that cause conflicts for him to resolve?” Challenging you to make your characters three-dimensional is one way to combat bias.

My other suggestion is tied to how I gather daily news. I read the print newspaper and I also read three on-line news sources: one liberal, one conservative, and one generally neutral. I do the same with TV news shows. By seeking out alternative perspectives, I am trying to balance my biases with facts, interpretations, and different viewpoints. Do the same with your research for historical fiction. Seek out those who are negative toward your topic/person/event.

Problem 4: Consistency of characters, setting, dialogue and more with your era.

A huge red flag for devoted historical fiction readers is when the author intrudes on characters, et al with 21^st century sensibilities and hindsight. Having women raise up in protest did happen in the past (and still is happening, thank goodness), but it was not typical nor accepted. So we need to see the pictures of the incarcerated and beaten women who were demanding basic civil rights to show us widespread acceptance didn’t exist. I was always troubled by the Clan of the Cave Bear’s heroine. She was way too 20^th century for me in the follow-up books so I stopped reading them.

Solution 4:

Work hard to locate a beta reader who knows your era/character/event very well. It could be a fellow author or local college professor. Perhaps there’s a group of re-enactors near-by who know your topic. But find a knowledgeable person to give you feedback on whether you allowed the present to impinge on the past you are depicting. Barring such resources, get your critique group to question you on everything! “Did they have mayonnaise at that point in time in the desert southwest?” or “Would she have worn something like that outside of her home?” or “When did that expression enter the language?” Tedious maybe, but it will help with intrusion issues.

There are many other problems historical fiction researchers face, of course. One is getting started and identifying how to find what you need. Two other big issues I’m not addressing here, relate to the accuracy of available documents and the concomitant explanations given for them. But all that’s for another time! Happy researching! See you at the library!

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