Hi Victoria,
I’ve been stumbling across your blog many times and many of your articles are are marked as favorite under my Stumbleupon account. I have nursed my passion for writing since high school and I now will be entering my Junior year of college. I would like to write in Historical, Fantasy, and general Fiction genre. I am currently researching about the Tudor period for a novel I would someday like to write. I was wondering if you have suggestions on ways to manage research and maintaining historical accuracy.–Melanie Lambrecht

Why, thank you, Melanie. How kind. I know I get the majority of my visitors from Stumbleupon, but I never know who’s sticking around and who’s just passing through.

Yes, your research must be meticulous in this day and age, as so many professionals are writing about their specialties and the availability of information is simply staggering. Your competition is fierce—your research has got to be as good as (or better than!) theirs.

So I’m going to do something a little different with this question: I’m going to refer you to a book. Roz Morris has written and self-published a small book called Nail Your Novel in which she teaches all about handling research. Roz has ghost-written eleven books for which she needed to do a tremendous amount of research, and her book is based on how she handled it.

I’m guessing she did it right, too, because eight of those eleven books became best sellers.

I know she’s in the middle of revamping it—altering the interior design and (I think) even re-doing the cover—but it’s the same information, whether you get the original or revamped edition.

I use her advice. Everyone should.

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