Writing historical fiction means doing a ton of research. And I love researching! I find historical facts, places, and events against which to set my fictional story.
My recently completed novel, LIKE A RIVER, will be published soon by Boyds Mills/Highlights Press. It’s a Civil War story with a few elements the average reader might not be familiar with. It’s also a story about hardship. And triumph. And people.
My research included stops in six states. I visited dozens of intriguing sites and met numerous helpful people. I learned to load and fire a muzzleloader. I talked to experts and read stacks and stacks of books. I learned a lot of facts.
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| Kathy firing a muzzleloader. |
There were “ah ha!” moments that helped mold my story line. And interesting facts that gave me a new perspective on lives lived 150 years ago.
Many of them will not be in the novel. Some of them were things I needed to learn to get a feel for the place and time I was writing about.
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| Confederate prisoner-of-war camp at Andersonville. http://www.classroomelectric.org/ 30,000 soldiers were crammed into an area designed to accommodate 10,000. |
