This post is a hodgepodge of useful information and relevant resources for studying place.
This first tip, I have to remind myself regularly:
1) You Don’t Need to Know/Write/Research Everything .
Only what you need for the story you’re telling. Determining that need is half the battle and researching can help you get you there.
2) Use a Variety of Sources When Researching Place
Simple rule: when researching place, try not to get all your information from one source.
3) Focus on the Specific Information You Need When Researching Place
If you find a source with “too much” information for your tastes (or threatens to steal the wealth of your time); just find the most important information you need for your WIP. ex. street names, businesses in the area, short descriptions of key events (do you really need a blow by blow description of who was killed when in Paris during the French Revolution or the Storming of the Bastille…unless of course your MC is stuck in the Bastille while its being stormed, then maybe you should know what happens when)
4) Use Relevant Articles and Papers when Researching Place
In researching about naval ships in the Caribbean, I found a fantastic lead, relevant to a then story idea, from a short Wikipedia article about the history of shipbuilding in Bermuda. The article describes how Bermuda was known for building solid dependable sloops that were used by many in the Age of Sail. These sloops were also mostly built by slaves. Not only that, many times these slaves served as the crews that came along with the sloop for the entities that used them. At the time I was looking specifically for information regarding the stories and backgrounds of slaves during that period. Further research confirmed Bermuda’s role in seafaring and the reality of Black sailors during the period. Researching place will open a variety of informational roads to travel, but only take the road(s) you need.
5) Maps, Maps, and more Maps
WIP sample- “She took the next alley to Queen street. Many taverns and pleasure houses thrived further down Tower Street. The city was a smorgasbord of strong drink and debauchery. It’s not surprising none of the bars or houses of ill repute ever suffered from a lack of business. This was a haven for privateers, merchants, and pirates. Business always boomed.”
“The hustle and bustle of the trade center of Port Royal was in full swing. Jasmine walked by slaves and indentured servants unloading shipments. They used ropes to raise heavy boxes of cargo into the hands of other men in the windows of the massive three and four story buildings that flanked the sides of Queen Street. She and Morgana would guess the contents of the boxes when they visited this area. The most popular cargo included tortoise shells, pimento, cowhides, sugar, and fat hog heads of rum. The latter was a favorite at McShane’s, her family’s tavern.” (WIP sample)
Port Royal is an excellent case study for exploring resources in researching place. Port Royal was a bustling place in the West Indies until much of it sunk under the ocean after a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that devastated the city. For quick summaries and links about Port Royal, you can choose to use Wikipedia for the basics, but there is a rich treasure trove of information on the city available if you take the time to look for it.
I needed to know what Port Royal looked like before the earthquake in 1692. The general vicinity of taverns, brothels, plantations, and homes. Since there was no photography back then, maps and drawings were the next best thing. I found a website and mobile app called Old Maps Online: A search engine for historical maps, an excellent resource for finding old maps. The best resource for old maps are museums and archives, and some archives and libraries allow their maps to be digitized. There are over 400k maps in their database. Instead of trying to find the right digital archive, try searching this database. For Port Royal, I found an excellent old map with handwritten notes that included the names of some of the businesses in town. The map itself had street names and the sites of taverns, stores, and even a naval hospital.
6) Use Online Resources as Leads
If I can’t find strong sources when researching place, I can at least find enough information to point me in the right direction. Wikipedia is one of those sources. Since I’m not writing a research paper or general history book, I can afford to follow the trail of Wikipedia to the information I need, backed by sources or a jewel of ideas for writing fodder.
7) Key Books Delve Deeper in the History of a Place.
Secondary sources can provide a lot of context around particular places in history. The best books have documented their sources and you can follow the trail of their bibliography for additional information. For a historical fiction project that I’ve shelved for the moment, I studied the Congo Free State in the late 19th century. The geographic heart of this state has always been the great Congo River. A number of cities and villages depended on the river for its livelihood. For the project, I’m using a few strong secondary sources to help me create a descriptive picture of the Congo when describing it in my story.
First, my main primary source is a letter written by my MC, George Washington Williams: “An Open Letter to His Serene Majesty Leopold II, King of the Belgians and Sovereign of the Independent State of Congo By Colonel, The Honorable Geo. W. Williams, of the United States of America,” 1890 This letter was written while Williams was visiting the Congo.
Secondary resources included:
The Biography of George Washington Williams by John Hope Franklin
King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hothschild (A history and examination of the protagonist in the story.)
Race to Fashoda by David Levering Lewis (A history of the parceling and colonization of the continent of Africa)
General History of Africa VII: Africa under Colonial Domination 1880-1935
Each of the above books contain a wealth of information well beyond what I need for my simple story set in the Congo, but I have extracted key information that will help me give vivid description of the primary setting of my story.
No, I’m not writing a research paper, but I’m determined to provide new perspectives and expose absent voices from a terrible chapter in world history through my gift of storytelling.
8) Whenever There are Problems, If You Can, Create a Composite City.
Fictional license is a wonderful thing. You can create a fictional place based on real historical places.
In the field of Living History, when doing first-person interpretation, there are two techniques to choose from.
1) Use the perspective of a real person in history or
2) Create a composite character to present the same history but from a variety of other perspectives
A composite character is a fictional character based on two or more real sources. For instance, the memoirs of multiple secret servicemen are good sources in creating a composite secret service character to explore behind-the-scenes of the White House or the administration of any particular U.S. President.
In the same vein, a composite city could have elements of multiple historic cities to fulfill the role you need for your story. An example of a well known composite city would be Gotham City. (I haven’t been able to locate Gotham on a real map yet, but I think it’s near New York??) If the background of your story has to include particularly known real places, then research what you can about the historical city and fill in gaps by utilizing cities of the same period that are similar to the place you’re writing about.
If you have other great tips, please feel free to share.
Stay tuned for the next post in the series:
Politics: A Sure Source for Conflict
