Years ago I did almost all the research I needed to write about Regency England. I spent about a year reading everything I could get my hands on. I’d read a book, look at the sources that author used and read all those books. Read and repeat.

Finally I had either read everything cited or the works cited were unavailable. And mostly everything was becoming repetitive by then anyway. I compiled bunches of notes in huge binders and labeled them accordingly: Travel, Entertainment, Food, Gentlemen’s Pursuits, Country Houses, Servants, and so on. Now, after writing about 12 Regency historicals (not all of which have been published), I rarely have to consult my library or my binders.

You would think if I had it so easy, I would use that to my advantage. But what do I do? Instead, I decide to write about something I haven’t researched extensively: ships and sailing.

It’s not that I really want to write a book that takes place on a ship. It’s just I keep coming up with plots heading that direction. So finally I succumbed and am now working on a book set mainly on ships. It’s not even due until June, so it will be a while before readers see it. That’s a good thing because I’m pretty far behind the curve in the research department.

I don’t know what other writers do, but when I’m writing a draft and come to a point where I need to look something up, if I can’t do it quickly, I make a mark and go on. My mark is XX. Then later I can search all the XXes and do the research then.

So far I’ve written 50 pages, and I have a lot of XX. That tells me I might want to do some research sooner rather than later. I’ve found one of the best sources for researching things, like ships or castles, is children’s books. When I wanted to write medievals, I bought a bunch of kids’ books on castles. Some where illustrated and others just talked, very simply, about life in a castle.

So I adopted the same approach for researching ships. I ordered a book showing the inner workings of a nineteenth century ship. I also ordered a couple of movies that take place on ships of that time, most notably Master and Commander. I don’t know how I missed that one when it first came out. Until those arrive, I’ll be searching the internet.

As a reader, do you ever think about the research an author does? As an author, how do you handle research?