Historical Fiction research

[anjouleme]

Okay so I am writing a story that is an supernatural/fantasy/ alternative history (is that even a sub genre?) story regarding the origins of the Black Plauge.

Now I want to add alot of true facts regarding the Plauge and also I want the scenes to reflect the reality of life in the 1300's.

I have the majority of the charaters and plot (since I can just make those up ;D) but I am a bit overhwhelmed with the reasearch aspect. I find myself jumping around reading a bunch of things but I dont seem to be getting anywhere.

Anyone have any advice on where to begin. Have you ever written a period peice and if so how and where did you gather your reaserch?

[LadyRiona]

I actually do a lot of my research on Wikipedia, despite the fact that a lot of it could possibly be incorrect. Then I check history books, google stuff...errm....I hit up the book section of thrift stores a lot and find some really awesome stuff about ranodm things. I have a mini-library, honestly (ranges from medical books to writing aids to young adult...and more).

But as for where to start? Learn the demographics of the Plague, itself. Such as, it really wasn't RATS carrying the disease, it was the fleas on them. What was the structure of the disease? How was it recognized? Find out all the pathologic stuff you can. Then work on the life styles of people in correlation to the Plague. What type of people most often contracted the condition, and when could they and everyone else tell when that person was sick? What was its peak year and when did people start learning how to counter it?

Ask yourself all sorts of questions like those up above.

So yeah, just check out history books, spend some time in your local library. Make copies of stuff, write down some notes in a handy-dandy notebook...and have a Quick Reference thing for yourself. And in terms of the alternate history, make sure when you tweak things, it won't have any other dire consequences. Like, if some important person died of the plague, but you keep them alive, what affect would that have on history? Granted, you said supernatural and fantasy, so things don't necessarily have to be 100% believable, but anyway.

Good luck, and hopefully I was some help in all that rambling!

[anjouleme]

Ask yourself all sorts of questions

Oooh thats a good idea, I could write down a bunch of questions and then do the research to find the answers and then I wont be just gathing a bunch of fact I dont need, only the ones I do.

I never thought of checking thirft stores for reference books.

Thanks!!! ;D

[LadyRiona]

haha, but you never know which facts you WON'T need. You could be working feverishly on it and come across this point where, oh, what fact fits here, didn't I read about that, what was it? There is no useless information, just stuff that some people don't care about.

[neb92]

Yeah, there is a lot of interesting stuff out there about the plague. Like, back in the 1300's, it was believed that death was contagious, so people got rid of their dead and dying as fast as possible. After all, we didn't accept germs and viruses as real until the late 1700s.

You can also add in the hysteria about people believing vampires were killing humans. A really interesting book about that is called "Fact or Fiction: Vampires". Really good series for all things supernatural.

Umm... Most people were illiterate, even priests and nobles, and the expected lifespan would have been about 30-40 years. Arranged marriages would have been EXTREMELY common, even among serfs; "falling in love" wasn't accepted until the 18th century either.

*thinks back to what he's been learning in history* Let's see... That's about everything... Just remember that life basically sucked and people dropped dead for no reason whatsoever, and you'll be good. OH! And don't use the "Ring around the rosies" rhyme, that was made up in the 17th century. *nods* I think that's about it. (lol) If I think of more I'll be sure to post it. ^.^ I love history, I have a 103 in the class right now, so I won't mind looking things up.

[LadyRiona]

Yay, someone else knows about the Ring around the Rosies song! It was probably made ABOUT the Plague, but not DURING it.

[anjouleme]

haha, but you never know which facts you WON'T need. You could be working feverishly on it and come across this point where

Just when I was about to skimp on my research you had to scare me out of it LOL!

That's about everything... Just remember that life basically sucked and people dropped dead for no reason whatsoever, and you'll be good.

LOL ^ Thanks neb, 1300's summed up very nicely!

You can also add in the hysteria about people believing vampires were killing humans. A really interesting book about that is called "Fact or Fiction: Vampires". Really good series for all things supernatural.

Good I will have to check this out...oh yeah and no nursery rhymes... got it! I dont much care for them anyway, they remind me to much of late 80's horror flicks.

I love history, I have a 103 in the class right now

103! WTG smarty pants ;D !

There is a part of my story I have been toying around with but I am not sure I am going to keep it, but it would explain the origins of the first vampire. I am not sure if I can make it jive with the dates, since I dont know when the first accounts of "vampires" are recorded in history so it may not make sense for the first to be created in the 1300's. That is something I will have to contend with and decied to keep it in or not.