How To Deal With Historical Research As A Writer

I am a history nut, always have been. I am one of those people who find the past utterly fascinating and if you aren’t the same, move on and pick another genre. If you don’t love history, you can’t write about it and will certainly begrudge the time spent on research.

As a child I mostly fixated on the Victorians, then moved on to the Tudors and now I am somewhere in the late medieval period with my fascination. That isn’t to say I’m entirely loyal to these eras, I do flit around, but my main interest will always be centred on one particular era at a time. Presently I am in the late medieval/early Tudor because that is where I have set my three most recent books. However, if I see an interesting article about the Normans or another era, I might read it and go off on a tangent for a while. I am constantly adding to my knowledge and updating myself on new theories.

Photo by Tim Gage

Sources

It has never been so easy for a writer to research. The internet has made it easy to find what you need in a few key-strokes (unless you’re looking for a floor plan of the original Westminster Palace, I’m still searching for that and will probably have to go to…