I’ve always thought that if I were a history teacher, I’d ask any reluctant students to write a story set in the time period they found uninteresting. As soon as you begin to create characters, you find yourself in the midst of learning about how they lived and what was important to them. That makes learning the details fun and painless.

My favorite way to research is to read as much that was written in the time period as I can find. Diaries, letters and novels contain personal incidents and small details that can help set the stage for the reader. Often a simple detail, such as black marks from smoke on the ceiling, can create a whole scene for a reader. Discovering what was different then from the way it is now can be very illuminating both for the writer and for readers.

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Site last updated May 9, 2012