When I decided to write Boston Proper I knew I was going to have to do a great deal of research. Since we live in the information age, I was actually looking forward to it. Little did I know that there was a real art to such research. I promptly made a deal with my friend Stacy. I would pay for dinner every time we went out to eat if she would head up all the research. Let me just say this about that: Stacy loves to go out to eat. It was worth it, though. The detailed information she was able to uncover added so much lush realism to the novel.
There was an aspect to the research that I did not anticipate. There were a number of nuggets Stacy brought back to the author’s tent which took me by surprise.
I am completely guilty for thinking that the things in our world today have always just been there. Not a very flattering quality, I must say. But in my defense, I’m just not the type to wonder when coffee first became mainstream. For me, I have coffee in the morning, and that’s that. As far as I am concerned, the Romans did the same thing. But Stacy’s research helped me come out from behind the magic curtain and realize a few things about how the world grows from year to year.
As an example, I never really thought about the word homosexuality. To me, the word had always existed. Obviously not. It took its place in the Victorian Era in the late 1900s. Before that, there was no “medical” term to describe a man finding another man attractive – or a woman for that matter. There were only everyday words to express one’s reservations about a person’s sexuality. Phony. Not a straight shooter. Different sort. Not a regular Joe, (or Jane.) Of a delicate nature. A bugger, (England.) Soft. Hiding a secret. The list goes on.
Orange juice. Again, it never occurred to me that orange juice didn’t always exist since the beginning of time. As it turns out, it was quite the thing to be served orange juice for breakfast in America at the start of the 20th century. A side note: It only took a few short years to make it across the pond to England – but for only the elite.
Contraception. Women used all manner of household items. That was a difficult one for me to face. Men were nowhere to be found when it came to responsibility. I would like to think that we as a society have made remarkable strides since then. But the truth be told, I’m guessing only marginally.
Aspirin. Until the late 1900s, if you had a headache, oh well.
As far as “the horseless carriage,” I didn’t realize that there were a number of working prototypes. Then Ford Motor Company made its move by revolutionizing car production, affectively taking over and pushing so many other companies into bankruptcy.
The Greenhouse. Before Stacy’s research, I could have well imagined a lovely greenhouse just off the kitchen of a great estate in the 1800s. Nope. The late 1900s.
The most disturbing research Stacy turned in was the unbelievable destruction of the San Francisco earthquake – early 20th century. The loss of lives was staggering. The city was nearly leveled and burned for days. Finding a way for me to process that information and turn it into material that I could use in the novel was a real challenge.
I’m in the process of researching Book 2. It takes place between the late teens of the 20th century up to 1931. I’m looking forward to all the strange and intriguing things I will learn.