Your Novel’s Time Frame: Researching the Big Picture

"To give an accurate description of what has never occurred is not merely the proper occupation of the historian [fiction writers], but the inalienable privilege of any man of parts and culture." Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900, Anglo-Irish playwright and author, in The Critic as Artist, published in Intentions, 1891.

Need to move into time groove of your novel? Where do you start researching daily life, politics and fashion? Google, Project Gutenberg and JSTOR provide interesting leads. Reading encyclopedia articles, general history texts and children's books with illustrations provide great overviews. Below you’ll find a few online resources to gain a big picture of the time period.

Recapture the year’s nostalgia

What was like ‘back when’? Whathappenedinmybirthyear http://whathappenedinmybirthyear.com/ focuses on American pop-culture, as well as some world and sports history. The information unfolds as if typed by someone, which may be irritating if you’re in a hurry. It also jumps ahead to your teenage years to include some pop culture. I immediately started singing the words to the year’s most popular hit song.

Generate a customized time capsule

Check out top news headlines for the week, the decade’s top songs, books and consumer prices, President, VP and academy award winners. The advanced time capture allows you to select specific headlines, birthdays, songs, TV shows, toys, and books for the selected date. You can edit the information and add your own information to the final page.

Review the time period news stories

HistoryBuff.com focuses primarily on major, and not so major events in American history were reported in newspapers of the time. Time periods cover 1700-1739, 1740-1769, 1770-1799, 1800-1830, 1831-1860, 1861-1865, 1866-1885, 1886-1915, 1900-1915, 1916-1940, 1941-1945, 1946-1965, 1966-1980, 1981-2004.

Looking for a fashion blast from the past?

This website sorts costumes according to historical periods. The history of hairstyles provides an overview of hairstyles from 3000 B.C. to present day. Did you know that women in the 1660’s wore six-inch heals? Check out the history of shoes.

Find holidays and observances for every day of the year

The Daily Almanac provides a fascinating list of trivia, plus a timeline of the world.

Recreate historic recipes

Did you know the Chinese ate ice cream in 3000 BC? From 17,000 BC to 2009, the Food Timeline presents a buffet of fascinating tidbits about food.

To Kindle or Not to Kindle, That is the Question

Amazon's Kindle: Are you for it or against it?

Maybe, like a friend of mine, you're asking what is a Kindle? Amazon calls it an wireless reading device. Call it a handheld electronic bookreader. No bindings. No front and back covers. No pages.

I was intrigued by the idea--and put off by the $399 price tag. Downloading books cost $9.99 per book. You can also subscribe to newspapers or magazines via your Kindle.

There are pro-Kindle folks and anti-Kindle folks. Some people--me included--like holding a book in their hands when their reading. They don't like the idea of reading off a screen. They think a Kindle will interfere with their reading pleasure, if you will. I think this might happen--but until I try a Kindle, I won't know for sure.

Author David Edelman says such talk is silly when you consider that a Kindle allows you to hold your entire library in your hand or download new books whenever you wish. Edlman goes so far as to suggest that the Kindle will lead to the death of the novel.

"... the written word is going electronic. Permanently. Soon. Once that happens, storytellers will have no need to shoehorn their stories into these 8x 12 hunks of pulped wood and ink. And once we’re not restricted to the medium of the novel, we’ll be leaving the form behind.
The death of the novel doesn’t mean the death of storytelling. It doesn’t mean that nobody’s ever going to put an Aristotelian structure of fiction into 120,000 words. On the contrary, it’s going to mean that storytelling will finally be unleashed. We’re going to see fiction strap on blue tights and a red cape and really soar.
Personally I think that’s going to be fun to see."

Hhhhhm. I see Edelman's point, but I'm not sure if I agree with it or not. And that's okay. I haven't seen a lot of people toting Kindles around yet. Maybe if the price drops that may change. I don't know.

To be honest, I've read novels that have jumped over the proverbial building in a single bound--and they were the old-fashioned kind. I don't think Kindle is the new superhero tool of novelists.