Fantastic video. Followed this on from your most recent historical research video earlier in the week through your link. Both videos are incredibly helpful and insightful.
Katie!! I could not put your book down. I read it straight through. I absolutely loved it. What brilliant writing. It was amazing. You’ve got to get this sold to a good director/producer. Movie or a limited series. O. M. G!! I knew it would be good but it was just wonderful!! I’m telling all my gal pals first thing in the morning. Everyone must read this!!! I hope you’re already planning the next one!! Brilliantly written. 🥰🥰
I'm drawn to researching landscape and setting - the type of stone used to pave a road, the local flora and fauna, the look and smell of a particular London street. There are two books that I've found really helpful. One is Walter Thornbury's Old & New London (1873) in four volumes, which gives descriptions and history of every street and building in central London. Another is Henry Mayhew's enormous London Labour & the London Poor, which runs to 3,000 pages or roughly two hundred hours on audio and describes London's poorer quarters in numbing, granular detail. It's basically Sketches by Boz if Dickens had gone on writing that book for much of his life. I find it completely fascinating.
Great point about the value of reading primary sources. If you rely on secondary sources you are reading what someone else thought was important or interesting. If you read the primary sources you get a more unfiltered look at the past and you will find little details that you can’t find anywhere else. And Fiction of the time period provides so much insight. Really enjoyed this. Thank you Katie.
This was such an interesting insight into how writers research... it is really similar to how I dig into social history when doing genealogy research so I got some good ideas for new places to look for sources!
Katie, this video is a valuable tutorial for any one who is a writer, and your suggestions and sources are excellent tools for any author, or student writing a school paper. I appreciate the hard work to put it together. Also, you thrilled me hinting about another book in the works and I’m looking forward to reading it!
Hey, Katie, Allen here 😊 Just found your novel faced upon the New Releases shelf at my local library here in Portland Oregon (and--of course!--made a video about it), checked it out, and shall read it, soon. 😎🎉😊
I have no plans to write, let alone a historical novel but this was really interesting to see what different tools you used to write your book and too make it feel as authentic as you could!
This was such a fascinating video! I'd love to hear more about history from the Victorian period, specially related to specific books that talk about certain historical events or customs of the past if you'd like to go in that direction.
This was facinating and not too long at all. I am very impressed by all the work you have put into your research. Enjoyed this video very much and having read your book it made this much more interesting. Thank you!
What an interesting video, thank you so much for taking the time filming it. Especially interesting for me was the language research and the book recommendations about that topic. The history and different meanings of words is so fascinating to me. And after watching that video I'm looking forward to read The Secret of Hartwood Hall even more (it's already on my shelves just need to finish other reads before) I hope you a lovely day, Katie 💜
This was such an interesting video! I loved the discussion on 'feeling Victorian' vs 'being 100% authentic'. Especially interesting was the language section, the having books open on Project Gutenberg and searching them is such a good idea, and I think I'm probably going to spend half the day on Ngram now out of curiosity; the Hello graph really surprised me and I am going to make an effort to use the word remarkable more often 😁 You should definitely treat yourself to a night or two at Gladstone's Library, that is really such a great idea of the owners!
Ngram is great! Yes, hello as a greeting is basically a 20th century thing entirely. It was used a bit in the 19th century but only as like a shout - so, you might say 'hello, is anybody here?' but not 'hello, how are you?' Gladstone's Library just looks amazing!
Thanks for that, i've been writing a fantasy based on irish mythology and wrote all of my research notes down on index cards as recommended by another author but I have a slew of them and even when categorised they're a nightmare to flick through , especially when trying to write. Searching on a document sounds like a more efficient way
Really great video. Very interesting about your research. I’m curious how long it took you to research and finish your book? I’m thrilled to hear you are working on another novel!
So, it took me maybe six months to write the first draft, but followed by I guess two years of on-and-off editing. I was researching as I went, while writing and while editing, rather than all at the beginning, I guess.
I heard it was one of the rules of letter-writing during the Victorian period, that you should write to such a high standard that it was good enough to be published, even if you never intended to give your letters to anyone other than the intended recipiant. I'll have to find the link to a video Ruby Granger did on her channel. I was going to ask you actually, have you read "The Short Life And Lobg Times Of Mrs Beeton"? Think that's the title. I have yet to read it, but found it curious to learn that a fair amount Mrs Beeton put her name to was not necessarily her own work.
This was fascinating to listen to, your commitment to historical accuracy is impressive! But could you talk a bit why authenticity is so important to you personally, besides enjoying the process of research? Our preoccupation with realism and authenticity when we talk about media is almost a given these days, so I'm wondering if you might have felt like you had to do all this research or that there was no other way of telling the story that you wanted to tell. Hope I've made myself clear)
Thanks for the question! I suppose I feel like historical authenticity is quite integral to me for writing about the past - I'm doing a Q&A soon, so I'll put this on the list and discuss it more :)
Very interesting video! Some of these things I knew, but you definitely also provided some excellent new resources (source books! ngram!). Perhaps it's because I've seen a lot of old English country manors so I knew what you were talking about, but you did a fantastic job describing Hartwood Hall! Because when you showed the picture of Corsham Court it looked almost exactly like how I imagined Hartwood Hall, just with slightly smaller wings (and significantly less gloomy but you know).
Fantastic video. Followed this on from your most recent historical research video earlier in the week through your link. Both videos are incredibly helpful and insightful.
Katie!! I could not put your book down. I read it straight through. I absolutely loved it. What brilliant writing. It was amazing. You’ve got to get this sold to a good director/producer. Movie or a limited series. O. M. G!! I knew it would be good but it was just wonderful!! I’m telling all my gal pals first thing in the morning. Everyone must read this!!! I hope you’re already planning the next one!! Brilliantly written. 🥰🥰
Thanks so much, Myra!
I'm drawn to researching landscape and setting - the type of stone used to pave a road, the local flora and fauna, the look and smell of a particular London street. There are two books that I've found really helpful. One is Walter Thornbury's Old & New London (1873) in four volumes, which gives descriptions and history of every street and building in central London. Another is Henry Mayhew's enormous London Labour & the London Poor, which runs to 3,000 pages or roughly two hundred hours on audio and describes London's poorer quarters in numbing, granular detail. It's basically Sketches by Boz if Dickens had gone on writing that book for much of his life. I find it completely fascinating.
I really need to read London Labour & the London Poor - I've read a few extracts but I think it'd be fascinating in full!
Great point about the value of reading primary sources. If you rely on secondary sources you are reading what someone else thought was important or interesting. If you read the primary sources you get a more unfiltered look at the past and you will find little details that you can’t find anywhere else. And Fiction of the time period provides so much insight. Really enjoyed this. Thank you Katie.
Exactly :) Thanks!
I’ve been researching this era for 16 years and this is excellent, Katie. Thank you!
This was such an interesting insight into how writers research... it is really similar to how I dig into social history when doing genealogy research so I got some good ideas for new places to look for sources!
Ooh, that's so cool!
Katie, this video is a valuable tutorial for any one who is a writer, and your suggestions and sources are excellent tools for any author, or student writing a school paper. I appreciate the hard work to put it together. Also, you thrilled me hinting about another book in the works and I’m looking forward to reading it!
Thanks, Larry :)
Hey, Katie, Allen here 😊 Just found your novel faced upon the New Releases shelf at my local library here in Portland Oregon (and--of course!--made a video about it), checked it out, and shall read it, soon. 😎🎉😊
I have no plans to write, let alone a historical novel but this was really interesting to see what different tools you used to write your book and too make it feel as authentic as you could!
Thanks :)
Interesting and useful. 💯 Thank you for generously sharing your knowledge and experience. 🤗
This was such a fascinating video! I'd love to hear more about history from the Victorian period, specially related to specific books that talk about certain historical events or customs of the past if you'd like to go in that direction.
Thanks, Katie! This is a huge, huge help!
This was facinating and not too long at all. I am very impressed by all the work you have put into your research. Enjoyed this video very much and having read your book it made this much more interesting. Thank you!
Thanks very much!
I'm really looking forward to more by Katie, loved Secrets of Hartwood Hall!
Thanks :)
I love this video so much! As a fellow research nerd it's fun to see all the ways you've researched 😁
I love Agnes Grey, I feel it is underrated. Love the amount of detail you went into for your book
What an interesting video, thank you so much for taking the time filming it. Especially interesting for me was the language research and the book recommendations about that topic. The history and different meanings of words is so fascinating to me. And after watching that video I'm looking forward to read The Secret of Hartwood Hall even more (it's already on my shelves just need to finish other reads before) I hope you a lovely day, Katie 💜
Thanks very much!
This was such an interesting video! I loved the discussion on 'feeling Victorian' vs 'being 100% authentic'. Especially interesting was the language section, the having books open on Project Gutenberg and searching them is such a good idea, and I think I'm probably going to spend half the day on Ngram now out of curiosity; the Hello graph really surprised me and I am going to make an effort to use the word remarkable more often 😁 You should definitely treat yourself to a night or two at Gladstone's Library, that is really such a great idea of the owners!
Ngram is great! Yes, hello as a greeting is basically a 20th century thing entirely. It was used a bit in the 19th century but only as like a shout - so, you might say 'hello, is anybody here?' but not 'hello, how are you?' Gladstone's Library just looks amazing!
Gladstone's Library...wishlist already... 🥰
Thanks for that, i've been writing a fantasy based on irish mythology and wrote all of my research notes down on index cards as recommended by another author but I have a slew of them and even when categorised they're a nightmare to flick through , especially when trying to write. Searching on a document sounds like a more efficient way
Really interesting!! Thank you!!
Really great video. Very interesting about your research. I’m curious how long it took you to research and finish your book? I’m thrilled to hear you are working on another novel!
So, it took me maybe six months to write the first draft, but followed by I guess two years of on-and-off editing. I was researching as I went, while writing and while editing, rather than all at the beginning, I guess.
I heard it was one of the rules of letter-writing during the Victorian period, that you should write to such a high standard that it was good enough to be published, even if you never intended to give your letters to anyone other than the intended recipiant. I'll have to find the link to a video Ruby Granger did on her channel. I was going to ask you actually, have you read "The Short Life And Lobg Times Of Mrs Beeton"? Think that's the title. I have yet to read it, but found it curious to learn that a fair amount Mrs Beeton put her name to was not necessarily her own work.
I haven't read that one, but I'll have to look into it!
This was fascinating to listen to, your commitment to historical accuracy is impressive! But could you talk a bit why authenticity is so important to you personally, besides enjoying the process of research? Our preoccupation with realism and authenticity when we talk about media is almost a given these days, so I'm wondering if you might have felt like you had to do all this research or that there was no other way of telling the story that you wanted to tell. Hope I've made myself clear)
Thanks for the question! I suppose I feel like historical authenticity is quite integral to me for writing about the past - I'm doing a Q&A soon, so I'll put this on the list and discuss it more :)
Great video
Yes, in fact lately I've been re-educated on what it was to actually have lived in the US during the 1960s, which my memory obviously had corrupted.
Your next book, eh??
It's in the works . . .
Very interesting video! Some of these things I knew, but you definitely also provided some excellent new resources (source books! ngram!). Perhaps it's because I've seen a lot of old English country manors so I knew what you were talking about, but you did a fantastic job describing Hartwood Hall! Because when you showed the picture of Corsham Court it looked almost exactly like how I imagined Hartwood Hall, just with slightly smaller wings (and significantly less gloomy but you know).
Ngram is the best! I use it so much, and it's just fascinating . . . And I'm glad to hear Hartwood did look like Corsham Court in your head!
Hi Katie, thanks. Can I send you an e-mail please? :)