Books, Browsing, and Begging: Tips and Tricks to Keep From Drowning in Information While Writing Historical Fiction
By John Winn Miller
Only John Winn Miller could write an article on books, browsing, and begging that taught out tips and tricks to keep from drowning in information while writing historical fiction.
The legendary American sportscaster and writer Red Barber once said, “Writing is easy. Just sit down and open a vein.” As I and any other historical fiction writer can tell you, that is an understatement.
Not only do we have to write an engaging story with lots of action, suspense, and romance, but we have the added burden of hundreds, if not thousands, of eagle-eyed readers scouring our work like homicide detectives for the slightest anachronism or historical inaccuracy. The only defense against being embarrassed is a sometimes-maddening chase down one rabbit hole after another in pursuit of an elusive detail, otherwise known as research.
I’ve written three World War II-era novels–one published, one sold, and one in progress–and while I’ve come to enjoy the research, I’ve had to learn some tricks to keep track of that mountain of information. I was determined to be specific and historically accurate about everything from what people ate to what brand of watch they wore to how they treated diseases and even to how sailors steered a U-boat.
I had to answer all those questions and many more to write my debut novel, “The Hunt for the Peggy C,” about an American fugitive who struggles to rescue a Jewish family on his rusty cargo ship, outraging his mutinous crew of misfits and provoking a hair-raising pursuit by an unstable Nazi U-boat captain bent on revenge.
Of course, it would have been much easier to write if I had chosen a subject I knew anything about. But I didn’t pick it; it picked me after I watched a terrible movie with my wife and daughter years ago. I kept telling them I could write a better screenplay. That night, I had a dream. When I awoke, I knew the first and last scenes and the name of the ship, the Peggy C. Now, all I had to do was figure out how to fill in the cavernous gaps in my knowledge; I had never been on a tramp steamer or a U-boat, and I knew next to nothing about the sea.
But where to begin?
Fortunately, we live in an age of easy access to eBooks and subscription services like Scribd and Kindle Unlimited. So, I bought or borrowed every book (and documents on Scribd) that seemed relevant and then searched their bibliographies for other books, articles, documentaries, and academic studies that might be useful.
That was the easy part. Next, I had to read everything and take notes. Of course, I didn’t read every page of every book. Instead, I often used keyword searches and indexes to save time. I could easily highlight interesting items on my Kindle and either email them in a batch to myself or use a trick I learned about accessing them on my laptop by visiting (https://read.amazon.com/kp/notebook) and signing into my account.
For hardcover books, I highlighted interesting passages. But then I had the hardest time remembering where they were until I started marking the pages with sticky notes with keywords.
Nonetheless, it was sometimes difficult to keep track of all that information. Often, when writing a scene, I’d have to review page after page of notes to find just the right detail. Eventually, I learned to create separate documents for notes on such subjects as tramp steamers, U-boat history and techniques, life in Nazi-occupied Holland, Jewish traditions, etc. I also did short biographies of each major character so I could weave in bits and pieces of background and be consistent.
The internet proved essential because I wrote my first novel while shut in during COVID-19 and couldn’t travel to U-boat museums or specific locations. Going online allowed me to watch documentaries and training films, read diaries and blogs maintained by historical societies, and visit Holocaust museum sites in America and Holland or war history sites like cryptomuseum.com and warhistoryonline.com. I also listened to oral histories at the Imperial War Museums, searched original documents at Britain’s National Archives, and read articles at such scholarly sites as JSTOR.org and PDXScholar.library.pdx.edu. In addition, I watched a slew of videos on YouTube.com showing U-boats in action, storms at sea, and life at a Nazi transit camp for Jews in Holland. Fortunately for me, there are several amazingly detailed websites about U-boats, such as Uboat.net and Uboatarchive.net.
One important trick I learned to do while writing was to footnote everything so my editors and I could double-check my work. In Word documents, click on “References” in the toolbar and then “Insert Footnote” and paste in the URL for your source. Or, click on “Citations” and add books, documentaries, websites, and journal articles.
And, yes, I used Wikipedia–extensively. However, I was careful to use it more as a link to authoritative references rather than a primary source.
Another great help was Google Maps. I used it to calculate distances and to plot accurate paths for my characters to travel with the names of actual streets and buildings along the way. Using Street View, I could walk along with them and describe the street scenes. Again, I insisted on using small details and reporting with all five senses for authenticity and atmosphere.
Here’s just how obsessed I could be. The moon played a vital role in submarine warfare; U-boats preferred to surface in the dark but hunted best when submerged under a full moon. So, I consulted uboatarchive.net, which had translated hundreds of U-boat captains’ war diaries to get the exact moon phase for each day of the 3,000-mile sea chase in my first novel. Most readers won’t even notice; those who do will appreciate the attention to detail. The same is true for diseases because their diagnosis and treatment have changed dramatically over time. That’s where writers’ groups like the Historical Novel Society can help. It has an Online Historical Medical Resources website.
Here’s another trick: don’t forget the kindness of strangers. I was constantly surprised by the generosity of historians and other writers who answered my pesky questions. For instance, I was desperate to learn what women’s shoes were made of in Nazi-occupied France because leather was reserved for the military. One fashion writer I contacted did research in another person’s outrageously expensive book, took pictures of the relevant passages, and emailed them to me. (Turns out, the shoes were made of every kind of material and an artificial leather known as Synderme, made from ground leather scraps mixed with a binding agent.
Something I did not do was watch movies about the war. Too many got the facts wrong or used modern dialogue. For instance, a U-boat captain never yells “fire” to shoot off torpedoes because that would cause panic among the crew about the ship being ablaze. Instead, he would say “torpedoes los” (torpedoes away). The one possible exception to my avoiding movies was “Das Boot.” I had watched it years ago but didn’t revisit it as I was writing because I was afraid I might subconsciously steal some scenes.
Although doing all this research can be tedious, it is immensely rewarding when the surprises start popping up. I was constantly delighted to find myself thinking: “What? I had no idea about that.” Weaving those obscure facts into a story is like adding a secret sauce to delight readers who love to learn something stranger than fiction while being entertained. In my case, I discovered that Hitler had pirates; a secret American-made fuel helped the RAF win the Battle of Britain by making its planes faster than the Germans’; electric buttons drive U-boats for directions and depth, and the only steering wheel onboard is reserved for emergencies.
Finally, don’t be afraid to ask or pay for help. I used reedsy.com to find editors and hire a former submarine officer and novelist to double-check my nautical descriptions. He was a lifesaver. Who knew that you shouldn’t whistle on ships or that “aye” and “aye, aye” are not interchangeable? I even had a professor friend connect me to a Ph.D. student in the War Studies Department at King’s College London to double-check my historical references.
Despite all my research, one mystery remains, one I hope someone can help me solve: whatever happened to Lieutenant Colonel Claude Dansey, the controversial second-in-command of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) during the war? Some said he was a master spy who could be charming and called him “Uncle Claude;” just as many, if not more, called him nasty, corrupt, abusive, and “the sort of man who gives spying a bad name.” I have contacted every living biographer, historian, and agent’s relatives who’ve written books mentioning him. I even emailed SIS directly. But no one could help me. In “Colonel Z” by Anthony Read and David Fisher, Dansey appeared to have a pleasant retirement after the war. But in “Spies,” Ernest Volkman writes that Dansey was moved into a meaningless job sometime in 1944 and was pressured to resign because of ill health. He left without a pension or word of thanks and died of heart disease in 1947.
So, if anyone knows the real story, please email me at [email protected], and I’ll happily send you an autographed copy of my novel. (Yes, this is another type of research. It’s called begging.)
***
John Winn Miller is a former award-winning investigative reporter (Pulitzer finalist), foreign correspondent, newspaper editor and publisher, screenwriter, independent movie producer, and novelist. His debut novel, “The Hunt for the Peggy C,” is available in hardcover, eBook, and Audible. The sequel, “Captain Rogers’ Long Watch,” comes out in October 2024.
Click here for more blog posts!