#(i mean i do hit up the patent rolls but that's because i've got obscure blorbos and hyperfixations) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

heartofstanding · 1 year

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Sometimes writing historical fiction is like... you just want to know. You know you can't know, that no one knows and the evidence isn't there and barring some miraculous rediscovery, won't ever be, or you know if it's possible to know, it's buried in unpublished records or in publications you don't have the ability to access and might even need a postgrad degree to access or understand. But you just want to know. And you can't.

#text posts #historical fiction #ngl the 'evidence exists but its unpublished or in publications you can't access' terrifies me as a histfic writer #probably because how uppity and obsessive the goodreads histfic community was in the 2010s when it was like #'everything must be the most accurate the most likely version of events' and would treat it as a moral offence if the author got it 'wrong'#and would sometimes refer to obscure publications to debunk the novel #i don't expect novelists to hit up the patent rolls or do such extensive research that they discover things before actual historians do #(i mean i do hit up the patent rolls but that's because i've got obscure blorbos and hyperfixations)#and it really depends so much on ability/training/luck/wealth/location as to whether you can access the stuff in the first place

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