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hrjHerewith, a far-from-complete list of topics I need to research before I get too far into writing Alpennia Book 3 (Mother of Souls):
* women's colleges in western Europe in the early 19th century
* flooding and flood control ditto
* large and small-scale weather patterns in central Europe and their contributions to drought and flood patterns
* canals and their social and economic consequences ditto
* people from the Horn of Africa in disaspora in Europe in the 18-19th century
* female composers of the early 19th century, particularly the context of performance and recognition
* nationalist topics in early 19th century opera
* patterns and triggers for social unrest in the early 19th century in Europe generally
* the general background poltical chronology of my relevant era and the subsequent decade
* epidemiology of insect-borne diseases, particularly those with seasonal cycles
Suddenly, I'm slightly daunted. But not too much. You see, here's the thing. I have a pretty details set of plot-layers already, revolving around these topics. I did some initial poking around when certain details first occurred to me. (For example, I already have some research stashed away on the rise of women's colleges in the 19th century from back when I was laying out some key details of Rotenek University.) But for the most part, I have every confidence that the things I need exist -- I just need to pin down the specifics.
There have been several reviews of Daughter of Mystery that commented on all the research I must have done to get the historical setting right in that level of detail. But I'd say that only about 10-15% of the research in DoM was done in the context of writing the book itself. The rest has been spread out over the last 40 years. I've had such good "luck" with my initial plot ideas panning out because I've spent my life voraciously reading everything I had the slightest interest in. It's there in my subconscious telling me whether I'm on the right track or warning me to check into some detail before getting my heart set on something. I need to do some serious research to discover how the details will play out, but I'm confident about the general shape. In fact, it's familiarity with the general shape that generated the current plot-draft in the first place. It would be impossible to write the Alpennia books if I weren't such a compost-heap history geek in the first place.
* women's colleges in western Europe in the early 19th century
* flooding and flood control ditto
* large and small-scale weather patterns in central Europe and their contributions to drought and flood patterns
* canals and their social and economic consequences ditto
* people from the Horn of Africa in disaspora in Europe in the 18-19th century
* female composers of the early 19th century, particularly the context of performance and recognition
* nationalist topics in early 19th century opera
* patterns and triggers for social unrest in the early 19th century in Europe generally
* the general background poltical chronology of my relevant era and the subsequent decade
* epidemiology of insect-borne diseases, particularly those with seasonal cycles
Suddenly, I'm slightly daunted. But not too much. You see, here's the thing. I have a pretty details set of plot-layers already, revolving around these topics. I did some initial poking around when certain details first occurred to me. (For example, I already have some research stashed away on the rise of women's colleges in the 19th century from back when I was laying out some key details of Rotenek University.) But for the most part, I have every confidence that the things I need exist -- I just need to pin down the specifics.
There have been several reviews of Daughter of Mystery that commented on all the research I must have done to get the historical setting right in that level of detail. But I'd say that only about 10-15% of the research in DoM was done in the context of writing the book itself. The rest has been spread out over the last 40 years. I've had such good "luck" with my initial plot ideas panning out because I've spent my life voraciously reading everything I had the slightest interest in. It's there in my subconscious telling me whether I'm on the right track or warning me to check into some detail before getting my heart set on something. I need to do some serious research to discover how the details will play out, but I'm confident about the general shape. In fact, it's familiarity with the general shape that generated the current plot-draft in the first place. It would be impossible to write the Alpennia books if I weren't such a compost-heap history geek in the first place.
