Nancy Burkhalter, PhD

Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, regardless of genre or topic, research will probably be on your agenda; for historical novelists, it is de rigueur. So, where to start?

The acronym PERSIA may help. Each letter stands for a category of analysis: Political, Economic, Religious, Social, Intellectual, and Artistic. Facts drawn from these six categories can add depth and breadth to your narrative by situating characters in time and space and showing how they acted and interacted in their society.

•  Political – How was power distributed? Was it a rigid hierarchy in society with slaves and kings? Was democracy on the rise? What was their legal system like? What wars were waged?

•  Economic – How were goods and services produced and distributed? How did economic hardship/success influence your characters and their choices?

•  Religious – What did people believe in and did those beliefs limit their activities? Were there religious/spiritual movements underway? What were their practices?

•  Social – What was the social hierarchy? Cultural norms? Gender roles? Who held the power in the family, town, or government? What did people eat and wear? How did they speak, furnish their homes, treat their animals?

•  Intellectual – What were the major intellectual trends or philosophies; advances in knowledge, education, medicine?

•  Artistic – What were the major cultural achievements in sculpture, architecture, paintings, music, literature, poetry?

Primary vs. secondary sources.

•  Primary sources provide raw, unfiltered information; unique perspectives and details that secondary sources might overlook or generalize. Firsthand accounts provide emotional reactions and vocabulary found in correspondence.

•  Secondary sources, e.g., encyclopedias, can be used to fact-check and provide additional citations and references.

Finding stuff

Here are some sites for gathering facts.

•  Archive.org is a non-profit library of millions of free texts, movies, software, music, websites, and more. https://archive.org/

•  Look for historical figures’ papers online, including letters and responses from their correspondents.

◦ Franklin papers The Papers of Benjamin Franklin

◦ (Geo.) Washington papers https://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/founders/GEWN.html

•  Hathi Trust is a not-for-profit digital repository of over 18 million digitized items from more than 80 research libraries and academic institutions. You can find entire books there. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/mb

•  Parallel Lives is an interesting site that shows the various luminaries and their contemporaries in culture, discovery/science, and leadership. Dates range from 3345 BC to 2018. https://bit.ly/3WCdlCE

•  National Archives Catalog (NARA), called the nation’s record keeper, has volumes of information about the business dealings of the U. S. federal government. https://www.archives.gov/

•  History Hub has lots of genealogy, as well as presidential and military records. History Hub

•  Google Earth will take you anywhere in the world for descriptions or confirmation of place names. https://earth.google.com/

•  Fold3 boasts over 640 million historical military records, including the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. www.Fold3.com (paywall)

•  My library system provides a research team to find answers to questions. Mine also offers a free one-hour consultation with a librarian to discuss my project.

Other advice

•  Visit museums and historical sites. Take a camera, or better yet, a video camera. Both are never-fail sources for memorializing details you may overlook or forget.

•  Contact authors of books you value or have a question about. They will be thrilled to correspond and may even write a blurb for your back cover.

Cheap places for books

•  AbeBooks https://www.abebooks.com/

•  Alibris https://www.alibris.com/

•  Awesome Books www.awesomebooks.com/

•  Better World Books www.betterworldbooks.com

•  Biblio www.biblio.com

•  Book Outlet https://bookoutlet.com/

•  Books a Million http://www.booksamillion.com

•  eBay www.ebay.com/

•  Hive www. https://www.hive.co.uk/

•  Magers and Quinn www.magersandquinn.com/

•  Powell’s www.powells.com/

•  Second Sale Books https://www.secondsale.com/

•  The Strand www.strandbooks.com/

•  Thrift Books www.thriftbooks.com/

•  Wordery wordery.com/

•  Writers and Editors https://www.writersandeditors.com/. This fantastic site has compiled hundreds of sources for writers and editors on everything from abbreviations to zoom calls. A real trove. (Note: There may be some broken links.)

Language

Check whether your words and expressions were in use during your era. Otherwise, you can pull readers out of the story. Verify the date when they entered English from these sources:

•  William Brohaugh’s English Through the Ages gives word histories and etymologies going back to 1150AD.

•  Merriam-Webster Dictionary also has word histories. https://www.merriam-webster.com/.                                                                                                                                                                                          

•  If you need a translation, check out Google Translate.

Sources disagree?

I recommend the following:

•  Research extensively. Rely on trusted authors/sources.

•  Acknowledge discrepancies in author’s notes.

•  Choose a stance and being consistent.

•  Stay true to the essence of the character.

So ends the overview of what information to include in your work and where to find it. Happy researching, everyone.

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Bio: Nancy Burkhalter teaches academic writing and critical thinking in the U.S. and abroad. She wrote an award-winning historical novel about Frédéric Chopin set in revolutionary France and another about Franz Mesmer (to mesmerize), who developed a pain-free method of healing considered the precursor to hypnosis. She lives in the Pacific Northwest and teaches writing to graduate students and international students online. You can learn more at her website.