AUTHOR RESEARCH
Unless you’re truly writing only what you know, and most authors aren’t, research is required in the process of writing a novel. From the author’s side of things, this can take years, and it’s important to have a real interest in the topic researched to avoid the research becoming spotty or superficial. For me, research can be both fascinating and fun, and I’ve traveled down several rabbit holes for books that never were written (how to steer a storm, the intricacies of Florida vegetable picking) that were quite interesting to learn about, even if not used.
My research for my book The Gendarme was extensive, as I knew little about the Armenian genocide and more or less started from scratch. I found a number of survivor accounts, all of which were harrowing, including the book Vergeen, about a young woman who was taken by Kurdish warriors after surviving the exodus from Turkey. I listened to oral histories and perused other books on the genocide, like Armenian Golgotha and Peter Balakian’s Black Dog of Fate. It was all quite overwhelming, and I had to consume it in little bites due to the brutality and suffering involved.
For Boy With Wings I did even more research, reading catalogues of human oddities, stories of carnivals and sideshows and even a book (titled, logically I suppose, Freaks) on the psychological reasons people are drawn to and repelled by those who are different. One of the most interesting books I found was the biography of Ward Hall, the self-proclaimed “King of the Sideshow,” who put on and promoted sideshows in the U.S. for over fifty years. Later, just before my book was published, I made contact with a current sideshow performer known as Short E. Dangerously, who agreed to let me interview him as part of my appearances for BWW. After he read the book, he paid me one of the highest compliments a writer of historical fiction can receive, asking how I had done my sideshow research and telling me I had “nailed it.” When I mentioned the Ward Hall book, he exclaimed, “I knew it! I was on a Ward Hall show for several years!”
I assume all historical fiction authors live in some fear of a casual reader pointing out some egregious error, as it’s important to me that the history be correct, and I work hard (and ask history gurus to read my work before it’s published) to prevent that. I deliberately changed one fact in The Gendarme, but I’ve never had anyone question me about it or point it out. I have another historical novel in the works where I’ve added an Author’s Note to the effect that there are several versions of the historical record to work with. And I’ve prepared a pat, though perhaps disingenuous, response to any criticism that may come my way: “Hey, it’s just fiction!”