I recently read Leigh Bardugo’s The Familiar, a historical fantasy novel. Where Bardugo’s Ninth House was a five-star read for me, I’d place The Familiar at four stars. I liked the story, and the main character Luzia grew on me as the story progressed. I didn’t love the Hunger Games-type magic show, and though I liked the happy ending, I wasn’t entirely sold on it.
The Familiar is about Luzia Cotado, a poor young woman working as a servant in Madrid who can perform magic. The story is set in the late 16th century, and Luzia and her family are Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity during the Spanish Inquisition. Fear of the Inquisition looms large in this story.
One of the things I liked about The Familiar is how Bardugo brings in historical details only where needed rather than laying them on thick with an information dump. In the Afterword for The Familiar, Bardugo shares her historical sources, and it’s apparent that she did her research.
Seeing how Bardugo weaves the information into her 16th-century story reminded me of the tips I’ve shared about how to research historical fiction in a way that captivates readers. There are certain details we should look for when we research historical fiction. We want to carry our readers into our historical world by touching their senses. Our readers should feel as though they are standing alongside our characters in that place and time.
What do your characters see, hear, taste, touch, and smell? Often it’s the smaller details–what people wore, what they ate, and the houses they lived in–that bring historical fiction alive. Remember, historical novelists are world builders as much as fantasy writers, only our worlds are based on places and people that once existed.
Clothing
Studying what people wore during your time period can be a lot of fun. Pinterest is perfect for this since you can often find examples of the clothing you want to describe.
If you’re writing about the Victorian era, Ruth Goodman, in her book How to Be a Victorian: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Victorian Life, describes what it’s like to wear Victorian clothing and undergarments. YouTube is also a great place to find examples of clothing from various eras. There are many videos showing historical clothing, how it was made, and how it was worn. I found a great video of a woman dressing for an 1870s ball on YouTube while writing Hembry.
While clothing details can be interesting, you don’t want to go overboard describing clothing since that could distract from your story. Whatever details you share, you want those details to flow seamlessly through the narrative. Don’t stop to describe an outfit in minute detail, that is unless the outfit plays some larger role in that scene or that story. There has to be a reason why you’re bringing these specific details to the reader’s attention.
Does someone see a woman in her stays who shouldn’t? That would be a reason to describe those stays. We’re telling stories set during an era we don’t live in, so we can’t assume that our readers know what people wore in seventeenth-century Massachusetts, sixteenth-century Spain, or any other time.
We don’t want to spend two paragraphs describing clothing since that would slow down the action, but we do need a few details to help immerse readers in the time.
Hairstyles
Treat hairstyles the same way you treat clothing. Unless your novel has a specific reason to dwell on Marie Antoinette’s ship-shaped wig, you don’t want to spend a lot of time describing hairstyles. Use a gentle touch. It only takes a few specific details to help your reader visualize your characters.
Food
I’ve lost track of the number of times I said I should have been a food historian. I love researching and describing the food of the era I’m writing about. Sometimes, in true food historian form, I’ll even cook a few historically accurate recipes. I love to cook, so exploring historical recipes is something I enjoy.
You don’t need to go to such lengths by any means. My habit of including meals in my fiction is largely influenced by my love of Dickens, who delighted in describing food. I do think readers are more interested in reading about food than other details because what people ate gives a particular insight into the era, and, hey, who doesn’t like food?
When I researched When It Rained at Hembry Castle, I found Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management, first published in 1861, which contains some of the most popular dishes of the Victorian era. Discovering recipes for gravies, puddings, and pies, as well as main courses, helped my Hembry friends eat well. As they’re sharing a delicious meal we can join them at the table and listen in on their conversations and learn who they are and how they fit into their world.
People
Who were the real-life people important to your era? How will your fictional characters interact with these real-life people? How can real-life people add interest to your story? Perhaps your story will even be centered on a real-life historical figure. No matter how you choose to include real-life figures, you need to know who the important people from your era are and you should understand their role in history.
Buildings and Places
What is the geography of the place you’re writing about? Where do your characters live? What do your characters’ homes look like based on the era and their social status? The stately home in When It Rained at Hembry Castle plays an important role in the story. I even named the novel after it.
James Wentworth’s home, a seventeenth-century wooden house built before the Salem witch hunts, proves to be an important character in Her Dear & Loving Husband. As with other historical details, the best time to bring attention to buildings and places is when your character notices those places. Is this the house where your characters live? If so, then they would notice the creaking stairs. Are your characters on a journey and discovering new places? Then they would notice new sights and sounds.
Culture
I love learning about the culture of the era I’m writing about. In addition to learning about the food and the places, I love discovering what people read, how they spent their free time, the art they looked at, the music they listened to, and their lifestyles in general. Touches of culture can add a deeper layer of interest to our stories.
GRAPES
One trick I learned from a history class I took years ago is to think about the historical world I’m creating through the acronym GRAPES.
Geography—How does the climate and landscape affect the people who live there?
Religion—How does the society’s belief system and traditions affect the people who live there?
Achievements—What are the achievements of this society—good and bad?
Politics—What is the power structure in this society?
Economics—How are goods and resources used in this society?
Social Structure—How does this society organize people into classes? Who ends up in which class and why?
Bardugo uses all of the above to bring her readers into the trials and terrors that faced those living during the Spanish Inquisition. The Familiar is a good example of how to weave specific details into a historical story.
No matter how you share your historical details, it’s important to remember that we don’t want to burden our readers with an information dump. If we focus on moments where our characters notice new things or are placed into new situations, then we have a logical place to step back and fill in the information that makes historical fiction special.
