MAKING YOUR HISTORICAL BELIEVABLEBy Cynthia Sterling

MAKING YOUR HISTORICAL BELIEVABLE
By
Cynthia Sterling

I used to spend hours combing through library stacks looking for accurate historical details and facts to breathe life into my historical romances. Because I lived in small towns whose libraries had limited resources, I often came away frustrated. Not only did these searches leave me lacking information I needed, they also took valuable time away from my writing.

The Internet has changed the way I research my books. A few keystrokes and I can find almost anything I need. Some examples of information I've found on the web that made their way into my books:

-- The constellations visible in the December night sky from the Texas panhandle in 1882.
-- The names of patent medicines popular in 1890.
-- A recipe for homemade salve from the 1850s.
-- The insignia of a Union calvary division from the Civil War.
-- The names of steamboats operating out of Indianola, Texas in the 1870s.
-- Descriptions of ladies' ball gowns from the 1890s.

I do two types of research for my novels, and as a result, I use the web to aid me in two different ways. First, before I write a book, I try to ground myself with some basic information to get a feel for the time period. The point here is not to learn absolutely everything there is to know, but rather to become familiar with the time period and location so that I can portray it with reasonable confidence. Travelogues written at the time are good, as are biographies or autobiographies of people who might have been my characters' contemporaries. Diaries from the time period are excellent. Most of this information isn't as readily available on the web, but the web is a great resource for locating material.

First, I visit an online bookstore like Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com. I search by subject - for instance "Texas ranches, history" and up pops a list of books on this subject. I can read summaries of the books, reviews others might have written. In a half hour or so, I have a list of books that might make good source material for my novel. If something intrigues me so much I simply must own it, I can order a copy right then, but usually I take my list to the library and request books through inter-library loan. For a few dollars to cover postage, I have obtained all kinds of research material - even rare books on loan from university libraries.

Next, I like to browse the Dover Book catalog online at www.dovercatalog.com. Dover has hundreds of research books, most at very reasonable prices. For my second novel, A Willing Spirit, I ordered a Dover book called The Autobiography of a Kiowa Apache Indian. My hero had been raised Kiowa Apache and this book helped me learn what his childhood would have been like. I also ordered a great little book on Indian sign language, so I was able to accurately describe the signs the Comanche Indians used in the book.

Then I sit down and write the book. I don't stop to research while writing unless I come to some critical historical fact without which I can't continue. For instance, if I decided a particular battle or political decision was going to have a major effect on a plot point, I might need to stop and verify when the battle or political decision took place. Otherwise, if I come to something I need to research, I type ??? and add a note in all caps ???DESCRIBE BALL GOWN, or ???WHAT WOULD THEY EAT AT FORMAL DINNER or ???HOW DO YOU CLEAN A GUN?

When the first draft is done, and only then, I go back and search for the question marks and make a list in a notebook of everything I need to find out. Then I head to the Internet for the second phase of my research.

I have a few websites I have bookmarked, I've used them so often. For pictures of actual women's clothing from a variety of historical periods, I like the Antique Dress Forum www.antiquedress.com. The clothing on this site is for sale to collectors and changes often. The pictures and descriptions are fun to read and very informative

The Household Cyclopedia is the actual text of an old recipe/household hint/remedy book. Http://members.xoom.com/mspong/

The Victorian Web provides links to any and everything Victorian, from religion to politics to everyday life. Http://landow.stg.brown.edu/victorian/victor.html

The Handbook of Texas is a searchable database for any and everything having to do with Texas: www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/index.html

Of course, I often have questions that I've never had to look up before. For these, I go to a search engine and type in a few key terms. My favorite search engine is Ask Jeeves www.ask.com, which allows you to type your request in the form of a question. Sometimes you'll get really off-the-wall stuff from Jeeves that you can't use, but many times this search engine will take me right to the resource I need.

For the book that's out right now, Great Caesar's Ghost, the hero is a patent medicine peddler and I wanted to know the names of some of the patent remedies that were popular in the 1890s. Jeeves pointed me to an article on the subject that told me exactly what I needed.

When Jeeves doesn't come through for me, I head over to the multi-engine, Dogpile. Www.dogpile.com. Dogpile actually launches a search on a dozen or so search engines at once. It takes a while to scroll through the hits you get here, but I'm amazed at the things you can find. For the book I just finished, I was able to locate a copy of the Book of Common Prayer used in 1882. For a Christening scene in the book, I was able to quote from the infant baptism service in this book.

Even if a particular web site doesn't answer the questions I have, it will often direct me to the email address or phone number of an expert who can help me. When I was researching quilts for my first novel, Patchwork Hearts, I corresponded via email with several museum curators who answered my questions about historic quilts and quilting.

Of course, some people don't think this kind of research is necessary. Yes, I could have made something up, and to 90% of the readers, it wouldn't have mattered. But I know that somewhere out there is a person who knows the 1882 Book of Common Prayer or who has studied the constellations and knows which ones are visible in the Texas Panhandle in December and if I get something wrong, it's going to ruin the whole book for them.

There's another reason I think these historical details are important. Even if a reader doesn't know history very well, using real details adds an air of reality - verisimilitude - to your story. They may not know why it rings true for them, it just does. And that makes the whole reading experience better for them.

Besides, I think learning these little historical details is fascinating and fun. And thanks to the Internet, it's much easier to find this information than ever before.

Cynthia Sterling writes historical romance for Berkley/Jove and Zebra. Her most recent release is GREAT CAESAR'S GHOST, a Haunting Hearts Romance from Berkley/Jove. Watch for NOBILITY RANCH, Book one of the Titled Texans series, coming in July from Zebra Ballads.