Hi all, I hope to start writing a historical novel in the near future but am feeling a little overwhelmed by the research process. I suspect that I could spend a huge amount of time researching but not cover everything without returning to research sometime missed at a later point. My question is, is it quite normal for writers to return to research areas later on as a story develops? I’ve not been able to find an answer to this anywhere else.
Why wouldn't it be normal? No one remembers everything, and sometimes things pop up down the line that you need to look up. If you feel like you need to know everything before you start, you'll never write one word. And even if it's not "normal," who the heck cares? If you need to research halfway through your book, do it. I promise the Untimely Research Federation is not watching from above, just waiting to throw you in a cell for a hundred years because you were on chapter 6 and couldn't remember how an earl's daughter is addressed.
Thanks, appreciate it’s a bit of a daft question but I’m curious about others experience has been. Seems inevitable that I will need to go back to check details further down the line.
Dear AG Walker, quit worrying about "normal" and do whatever it takes for you to get your story written. People spend entire careers researching and writing about narrow periods of history. Give yourself a break and don't try to stuff all possible knowledge about an era into your notes before you begin your story. I adore historical research and will pursue the tiniest details in hopes of 1) learning something interesting, and 2) not getting caught out by someone who is an expert on the period I'm writing about. My current goal is to find out what methods were used to train horses on the early 19th century Arkansas frontier. I shall hie myself down to the college library one day and ask the reference librarian (goddess grant her long life and happiness) where to start. Reference librarians don't know everything, but most of them know where to start looking.
The real question is what level of accuracy is important to you? If you just want the look and feel of the time frame, likely not. If you are going for exacting detail, for story reasons. Then you will likely go back to research several times before you are done. So the true answer is what is required for the story you are writing.
