Primary Research
| By Kathryn Smith | 03.16.09 |
As an author of historical romance I strive to add as much historical detail in my books as I can. Some books get more detail than others, and sometimes an author needs to bend history to her will — just a little bit. 
It’s one of the hardest parts of writing historical romance, because an author owes her readers accuracy, but how much? Readers don’t really want to read about the diseases and the dirt, do they? I don’t. I don’t want to know that in the real 19th century my hero and heroine might not live to see 50, or that she might end up having so many children it wears her out. I want the fantasy.
And that’s where it gets tricky.
As an author you use your judgment and do the best research you can to make aspects of your novel come to live, and to perhaps make up for the parts that you really need to smudge to make the reading experience an enjoyable one. I have tons of books on 19th century England, Victorian morals and manners, and of course, clothing. But no amount of books about this time period can replace materials actually from that time period.
So, I thought I’d share with you the cover from one of my prized possessions — the May 1877 edition of Lady Godey’s Book. I managed to snag this one with the color fashion plate intact. It’s a little beat up, but I got it for a steal on ebay. It’s one of three original Victorian magazines I own, and includes such pleasers as:
- Modes of Cook Eggs
- Infant’s Knitted Boot
- Sketches of Travel in Scotland by Horatio King
- My Trials at Housekeeping by Rosalie Collins
- Independent March (music composed and arranged for the piano-forte for Godey’s Lady’s Book)
- Godey’s Fashions for May 1877
And much, much more! The type is so tiny I can’t imagine reading it by anything other than direct sunlight, although I’m certain my copy saw its fair share of lamp-light viewing. But it’s such a wonderful piece of Victorian life that it’s one of my most precious research tools, right down to the advertisement for “$12 a day at home. Agents wanted. Outfit and terms free. True & Co., Augusta Maine.” True & Co. was a publishing company. From what I gather they did a lot of prints, but to me this ad smacks of what we see today on the internet and in the back of modern magazines — ads looking for people to work from home with the promise of making big bucks hawking someone else’s wares.
I guess the more things change, the more they really do stay the same!
March 18th, 2009 at 2:58 am
Oh dear. People lived longer than 50 in the 19th century–particularly aristocrats–and many, many women birthed more than five children and survived. I think it does us a disservice to continue to pass on historical urban legends, and furthermore, claim those “facts” as getting in the way of the fantasy of romance.
For me, I have to love every facet of my chosen time period–the good, the bad and the ugly–in order to do it justice. It’s the reality of the era, the grit, the grime, the glitter and the gold that make up the characters that inhabit my fiction. When we eschew the “bad” things in life, we end up with falseness–which, IMO, is why so many historical protagonists have trite back-stories; realistic angst can’t
entirely and always come from bad mommies and daddies.
One of the many reasons I love history is that yes, human nature hasn’t changed, but circumstances and particular time periods do shape one’s outlook in life. Sorry to come across as ranting, but I feel we historical romance writers do the genre a disservice by summarily dismissing the “dreaded reality” of our chosen time period. What’s the point of doing research when it’s ultimately sacrificed on the altar of “fantasy”?
March 18th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Evangeline, thanks for your comments. I meant mine more as generalities. Average age today is what, 75-80 in the western hemisphere? There are many people who live longer than that as well. And even in this day and age, women still occasionally die of complications due to childbirth.
But it remains that as romance writers we are writing a happily ever after — not straight historical fiction. Part of the reason our genre sells so well is that we blend reality and fantasy so that the reader can escape the real world for a little while. And there are things that I, as a reader as well as an author, don’t want to know.
For example, when reading a historical novel, I don’t really want to know how the person smells, particuarly if it’s set during a time period where bathing wasn’t habitual. I don’t want to know about hairy legs and airpits because it throws me off. I don’t want to read about bad dentistry or ulcerations of the skin covered by small black patches. So, not to be argumentative, but there are things I gladly sacrifice on the altar of fantasy.
And then you’re also faced with what readers perceive as accuracy. I once used a term in one of my books that a reviewer took me to task for, saying that it wasn’t accurate. In fact, the term was accurate, she just didn’t think it sounded right. I see it fairly often on boards, readers bringing up that something pulled them out of a book because it didn’t seem right, even though it was historically correct.
March 18th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Kate, I really enjoyed your post. I’d love to see the mag one day. I adore stuff like that! A friend of mine had a couple of copies of the original Yellow Book magazine with a couple of Oscar Wilde fairy stories in them as first publications. Wow! Obviously later than the period I write in – although not for you. But I really felt I caught a genuine whiff of past lives when I picked up those mags.
March 18th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Anna, if I can remember, I’ll bring it to DC. It really is fabulous just to flip through. Speaking of ‘whiff’ though, it does smell musty!
March 18th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Oh, fantastic! These Yellow Books looked like the dog had had puppies on them, I hate to say. I guess that’s part of the charm