The Saving Grace of Research Rabbit Holes
Are they a distraction from my fears and insecurities?
Didn’t want to see Behind the Curtain? Update your subscription preferences now!
You are getting a preview of a new vlog (for the new book) that I’ll be starting over on YouTube, eventually. This is the essay and voiceover version. Video footage (mostly aesthetic, admittedly) will be in the future YouTube version.
I come from a regency romance background and those readers know their stuff. I would go to conferences, pore over non-fiction books, in order to make sure I didn’t make a single misstep in order to avoid getting eviscerated by Regency readers.
When writing historical (or historical-adjacent), knowing the time period, the culture, the mores is so important in creating a story that is believable to the readers. But is there such a thing as too much research?
Did I over-research back then? Well, read (the upcoming) Selene’s Vow and you tell me. Did you need to know how valets were trained to iron cravats? Probably not, but it made for a delightful interlude with our bemused hero and very determined heroine.
My next novel/serial, whichever of the two projects I picked, requires research. I couldn’t decide between the Arthurian prequel to the current series, or indulge in a Silla era Korean fantasy romance (fun but appropriative).
I had no plans to start the next novel/serial until after my trip to South Korea in late April/early May.
My heart was set, more than a bit, on writing that Silla-era potentially sea-dragon romance, but I wanted to return to Gyeong-ju to research and take in the vibes of that magical ancient town, and see if the story had any legs. (Shh, never mind that I’ve already bought props for it on my last trip there.)
Well, life has lifed and has meant those plans are canceled.
The Silla book has been tabled (even as a new research book is winging its way to me.) Which leaves the Arthurian prequel “second chance” romance. There have been moments where I’ve felt absolutely compelled to work on this Arthurian project in the midst of finishing up book four, and I may have actually mapped out a chunk of the plot (which I shall have to redo).
I am refreshing my memory on post-Roman Britain and realised I knew next to nothing about Cornwall, where most of this will be set.
However, a recent article on research rabbit holes by Luna Asli Kolcu got me wondering: what am I afraid of that I continue to research?
This article arrived in my inbox with me wondering how much more research I needed to do on where the kings (or dukes, whatevs) of post-Roman Cornwall actually lived.
I should just start writing … or at least delving into the plot, and I have entertained myself with figuring out how my two leads chose different paths in the first place.
But in fact, former writer me started this novel almost 20 years ago … I was trad-published with five books and one novella under my belt. My editor left the publishing house and left me without a champion.
‘Well,’ I thought (or at least this is how I remember it), ‘let me write the book I’ve always wanted to write.’ That was this book.
I grew up on a particular kind of Arthur. (I may have mentioned this before.) I turned my nose up at Geoffrey and Malory. High medieval had no place in post-Roman Britain. From the first time I discovered “Arthur of the Britons”, I wrote or imagined an Arthurian epic, reading one Arthurian retelling after another (Stephen Lawhead, Jack Whyte, Rosemary Sutcliff) and have lived with this tale for over 40 years.
I wrote the partial (three chapters, synopsis, cover letter), got nary a bite from anyone and gave up writing. This book would have meant a third re-invention of my author persona because my sales were not that great. I’m a decent writer, but I’m not a bestseller.
Maybe that failure is why I haven’t started writing it yet. (Among other very real life-related reasons.)
This was the moment I poured myself into a story and a world that I’ve loved since my early teens, predating my Regency obsession; the moment that I could write how I wanted to write.
And I failed.
Ok, so maybe the publishing world wasn’t ready for a “Dark Ages” romance (a period rarely tackled in the romance industry), let alone a “second chance”’romance, which I’m not even sure was a thing 20 years ago.
But those rejections hurt enough that I stopped writing fiction for about 15 years. Walked away. Took up other forms of creativity but not writing.
I tell myself that the ground has changed: I’m no longer seeking validation from agents or editors. This isn’t work or providing income.
This is me writing because I love to write. These are the stories I want to hear.
This is me writing because I love this story.
Here’s another fear holding me back: having written it, will I let go of this story, like I have with others I’ve already told? This one has been a comfort blanket, a story I’ve told and retold to myself, shifting over the years. I’m not sure I could ever release this story and forget it.
Here’s another fear: can I do this story justice? More and more research is coming out about post-Roman/early medieval Britain and not all of it wild suppositions about who King Arthur really was. Still a lot of “they probably did this” which I feel gives me some leeway.
But what if post-Roman Cornish history fans are as vehement about how things were as Regency readers are (even those deeply informed by how Georgette Heyer looked at the Regency world (she did do her research) vs how it might actually have been) — will I get canceled for the wrong detail?
Am I officially spiraling?
Yeaaahhhh…
But this is my precious baby. The first four books have been my way back in to writing, playing and having fun with tropes. I don’t want to get this one wrong. Even though its a second chance romance with sea dragons and an absolutely fascinating sympathetic antagonist.
I’m wondering if my usual timeline of 6-9 months to finish a book will be enough. What if it takes 2 years instead? Remember, I don’t want to let this one go …
I have no pithy wisdom to share with you. I am in the mire and the muck of not exactly imposter syndrome, or perhaps it’s precisely that.
This is the book where I fell off the writing wagon and I need to overcome the fear it will trip me up again.
I am treading the line between imagined history and fantasy and I need to find my way through that.
I might write this book in a different way to others … and I’m going to vlog (on YouTube) about that and all the attendant insecurities, and the highs and lows that go along with writing a book.
Meantime, I’ve declared April a month of research. It feels a bit like saying these fears aloud has taken away their power. Plus, research is fun!
Let me know in the comments if any of this resonates. How do you get through it. Does saying the fear aloud help?
Did you know you can subscribe for free and have posts like these, plus fiction, delivered to your inbox? Thank you if you already subscribe! I appreciate you being here! Subscribe to The Môrdreigiau Chronicles:
The time spent on research is so tricky. I think we first have to learn how we as a writer function. Is the story simply using a setting? Or is the story rooted in a specific time and place? I find most of my ideas are found in the research. That makes it harder to just stop. I don't want to miss a juicy opportunity.
Familiar settings will attract the rage mob if we get something wrong. For me, it would be historians or reenactors. All with strong opinions. When writing about unfamiliar times, we need to lay a lot more groundwork for the reader. Both require a lot of research. I know we all enjoy the research or we would write contemporary or something completely made up.
As for the fear of releasing the work, the vision, the twinkle in your eye: Yeah, it feels so final to say, The End on something that's been with you so long. So many choices along the way. Each choice excluding another options. Making this nebulous but cherished idea into a thing that other's can love, hate, or worse, ignore. Courage, my friend. Courage.
This was very interesting read, and I definitely hear you on the research question, especially for this period in history. Sources are so limited but, as you say, new info is coming to light all the time, which makes it feel like you're walking on shaky ground, even if your research is really in-depth. I've made stuff up to fill the gaps in my current serial, and I'm just waiting for the on-going dig on the island to reveal that I'm completely wrong!
As for writing this story - this is one of the things I love and admire about you as a writer, and a creator in general: you do it for the love of the craft, and the process. In this mercenary, capitalist society we've created, where every creation must be cashed in on, valued and sold, you are a breath of fresh air. And it shines through in every piece you write, and every video you make. You write engaging stories, you make beautiful art, and you ENJOY it.
I think all the fears you mention here are valid, but I also know that you write female characters who are scared and do it anyway. IMO, you can't write those women the way you do if you don't have that inside yourself too. So I think you're going to do this, and I also think it's going to be brilliant.