Diving into the Deep End

Battling my inner boredom to tackle historical writing

When I started my novel, I didn’t know what I had gotten myself into. More than once have I surveyed my work and wondered if I’d ever be able to do the subject justice. Not only am I writing in a different location, but also a different time, one that I didn’t know much about when I started. But that’s why it was interesting—because it was new.

After receiving feedback on my drafts, I started to realize that I needed more historical context to get this story to the finish line. But the question is—how do you swim in the waters of history while keeping the spark of your story alive? This is my attempt at figuring that out.

The Goal

Goal: Keep my reader “in” the story.

Do you know when you read a book set in history, and it’s so seamless, that you feel like you understand the culture in a way that a history book never could? Those are my favorite kinds of stories. From The Lion Women of Tehran to Cloud Cuckoo Land, they weave in tales of struggle and strife, bringing the humanity to the front and center, but all in an historical backdrop.

What I’ve been learning is that when not done well, a reader can get “taken out” from a story set in a specific date and time. I can understand this. If I were to read about my hometown of Portland in the 1990s and talk about the 120 degree summers, I would be miffed. (Context: It wasn’t that hot back then.) It’s not about writing a history book, but it is about having enough connection to that actual time and place to keep the reader engaged.

The Problem

Problem: I get bored with history books.

There is a reason that I was not a history major. I love to read, but I love to read things that I’m interested in, and names and dates have never been my thing. I’d rather know how the different modalities of the arts were impacted by the Romantic era, how it showed up in art and poetry and novels, and why that was a response to the time that came before it. But if you gave me a test on prominent figures of the era, I’d fail.

When it comes to reading a nonfiction history book, even the best of them, I tend to lose steam approximately 40% of the way. Why? Because that’s where it gets more detailed and specific, and I tend to lose the thread. Then, I forget the important details, so I don’t have context anymore, and then I’m just reading a bunch of names and dates and events. BORING.

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New Tactics

I don’t have all of the answers. This is my first novel, and I’m still learning my personal approach to writing and researching. And this is just one aspect of my novel, albeit an important one! So, I’m approaching this with curiosity and an environment of experimentation.

I’ve been learning a lot about how my attention works, and how it’s better to work with my brain rather than work against it. Instead of forcing myself to “try harder,” I’m going to try different things:

1. Books + notebook: going old school

2. Index card system: a new way of taking notes

3. Focused research: solving specific problems

4. General research: immerse in the time and place

At the forefront of my experiment is to notice when my attention wanes, and switch things up. Plus, by approaching this like an experiment, I’m going to be keeping track of what works and what doesn’t work.

This phase of my writing is going to be about collecting information, not fixing problems within the text. That will come later, and I’ll share that approach when the time comes. But for now, I’m going to try to overcome my research woes through identifying past problems, playing with new techniques, and noticing the results. And also gel pens.

Writers and historians—how do you approach the topic of research? Do you battle the same woes? Do you have tried and true techniques? Share them below—I’ll try whatever works!

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