Historical Fiction: Part Four – Conducting Research
Editors, teachers, librarians and critics will usually scrutinize the facts in a historical fiction story. The historical details have to be well researched for the story to remain credible.
In The Sorcerer’s Letterbox, Jack discovers a letter in a drawer and finds himself corresponding with Edward V, one of the princes imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1483. After penning a reply, Jack finds himself trapped in late medieval England.
While it was not overly important to explore the political complexities of England in the aftermath of the Wars of the Roses, facts had to be checked and rechecked. Some of this naturally involved research into the clothing of the era, everyday life, maps of medieval London and so on, but some aspects of the novel required more attention. The language of the scroll Jack finds had to be appropriate for the time period and be written in both the style and the alphabet of Middle English, as it was spoken in 1483.
Real characters are also used in the book, such as Richard III, so that their exact location at the time described in the story had to be accurate. Research focused on the Tower of London, such as which buildings existed within the complex in 1483 and the layout of the grounds. I also researched the leading personalities late medieval England, Richard III, Edward V, the Wars of the Roses, the mystery of the Princes in the Tower, pretenders and imposters, medieval maps, the history of the English language and all about the time period depicted in the story.
