This week: Well-Researched Fiction Edited by: Kitti the Red-Nosed Feline  
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What is the most research you have ever done for a story/novel? Some authors spend years researching the world that their characters live in.
This week's Drama Newsletter, then, is all about research.
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There are some novels that are so well-researched that when you read them all of your senses are engaged, and you can imagine how it would be if you were right there with the story’s heroes and heroines. Of course, all good novels should have such an effect to some extent, but well-researched works take it a step further.
Jean M. Auel’s The Clan of the Cavebear, for example, benefited from the author’s extensive research on what life would be like during the Ice Age. For this first novel in her Earth’s Children series she not only spent a lot of time in the library, she also took a survival class and learned ancient methods of tool making. The success of her first novel allowed her to research further afield. She travelled to many countries and visited sites of interest. She met with a variety of experts. All this information helped her paint as realistic a picture as possible of the experiences of both Cro-Magnon people and Neanderthals.
The world was a very different place thousands of years ago. Different peoples shared a not-easy-to-survive-in reality. Mammoths and cave bears roamed the land. Much of what we take for granted now was unavailable to those alive then. It was an age of exploration. Discovery. Experimentation. At the same time, there were hierarchies and prejudice – some things have been with us from the beginning. When you describe a world like that, there is inevitably some guesswork involved. We do not have a time machine that would enable us to study our ancestors. A solid research foundation, however, does help build a rich environment for the characters to travel through.
Donna Gillespie spent twelve years researching classical Rome and the Proto-Germanic tribes before writing her fabulous novel The Light Bearer. She studied the history, the culture, the mythology of both societies, helping her to bring to life the worlds that Auriane and Marcus Arrius Julianus find themselves in. They come from very different backgrounds, but are thrown together by fate and must each navigate their way through the cruel and murderous whims of the Emperor Domitian. Their people depend on their success. At 800 pages The Light Bearer is not a quick read, but it is well worth your time. The love and dedication of the author shine through every page. If you enjoy stories about that period in history, I recommend this novel.
The Queen’s Confession by Victoria Holt offers an excellent insight into the life of France’s final queen - Marie Antoinette. There have been many stories and portrayals of Marie Antoinette; what sets this one apart is the author’s use of a wide variety of sources, including the queen’s letters and journals. Holt’s research shows us a more sympathetic woman – a girl, really, when she travelled from everything she’d ever known to the French court. She was but 14 years old when she married Louis-Auguste. She had her shortcomings – she never had much interest in education, and did not always think through the potential consequences of her actions – but she genuinely wished to be a good person, and a good queen. I don’t know how I would have coped in the French court, with its politics, intrigue and etiquette, let alone when I was a teenager. I’d have done no better than Marie Antoinette did. I honestly think that at that point it was impossible to save the French monarchy.
It is not always possible, nor necessary, to research materials for your novel to the extent that these women did. They are excellent reads, and I am glad that they have taken the time and effort to build that foundation for their stories. Many of us, however, must manage with our existing knowledge and perhaps some basic research into the finer details of what we are about to write. And that’s okay. Plenty of good novels were written that way.
Still, if you have a passion for a subject, or a time period, or a myth or legend – whatever your special interest – it is certainly not a waste of time to see if you could use what effort you have already put into it in a novel. If you can think up a story, you can combine two interests and create something beautiful. And it’s a perfect reason to explore your chosen subject even further! You may need to approach it from angles that you had not considered before.
My interests rest in areas that have already produced some masterpieces, but I may one day try to contribute to the field. Everyone’s different. Everyone has their own unique insights to offer. I look forward to reading what you’ll add to the subjects that you love.
Kitti the Red-Nosed Feline
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Drama: September 20, 2023 Issue [#12186]
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