Researching the Historical Novel

Photo by Tom Podmore on Unsplash

Although I've written two general fiction novels, my primary genre is historical fiction, especially ancient Egypt. Lamentably, writing historical fiction is like oxen of old struggling with yokes around their necks... whoops, we history buffs do get carried away with our craft.

Kidding aside, writing historical fiction, when done right, does come with burdens that general fiction writers don't - or may not - have to contend with, namely getting the history part as accurate as possible. Yes, we do have some leeway with plot, character development, and story arc. But you, dear reader, will skewer me if I get some technical detail wrong. Historical fiction readers are a pretty astute lot.

An example. I sent a draft of The First Pharaoh to one of my followers who is also an amateur history buff. In it I mention my protagonist enjoying a meal that included tomatoes. Bad! Although Egypt today is a major producer of tomatoes in the mid-East, they originated in South America and were non-existent in ancient Egypt.

The Agonies of Research

Just so I don't give a misimpression, I really enjoy researching my novels, but there are times that it can become tedious, prolonged, contradictory, repetitive and just plain b-o-r-i-n-g. Nonetheless, it has to be done if I'm to create a rich, believable world in which my readers can live, losing themselves in a time long past.

I start with immense amounts of reading. I can honestly say that my library of books on ancient Egypt is larger than many, maybe most, community libraries. I couple this with lots of highlighting and note taking. Thankfully, there are tech products that help, such as Scrivener, a software product that allows me to clip and save articles from the Web.

In the case of my Egypt novels, I also rely on mentors and I was fortunate to recruit three prominent Egyptologists to serve in that role. I interviewed them at their academic offices, as well as - and this is important - visiting them at their archaeological sites in Egypt.

I am a strong believer in what I call sense-of-place. I feel I must visit the places I describe so I can help my readers experience the scenery, smells, even touch and taste of the places I describe. For my First Dynasty trilogy, I spent time in Egypt's Eastern Desert living with bedouins to learn about the deep desert and how people survive there. I also traveled to the places where I felt story action might take place.

Obviously this takes time. But before I begin to commit to story structure I need to dive deep into the places where my characters live. Yes, I already have an idea of what I'd like the story to be, perhaps even a two or three page outline, but I don't waste time developing plot intricacies until I have a solid feel for time and place. We are all products of that confluence, most especially true in ages past when distant travel was rare.

I admit that I can also be quite anal about this sense-of-place. For my novel The First Pharaoh, I even constructed a cardboard diorama of a tiny, primitive Nile River village based on the time I spent in one. It actually helped me recall sights and sounds as I described one character walking through the village.

As a result of my research I begin to feel like I live in dual worlds as I write, which I figure is a good thing. My readers often tell me that they felt transported by the narrative, which is one of my main goals.

In future newsletters I'll describe how I outline and actually write my novels, how I develop my characters, as well as what my typical writing days look like, so if you have questions you'd like me to address, please contact me @lespicker or leave comments here.