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5 Ways to Enhance World-Building for Your Historical Novel

One of the biggest compliments a writer can receive is “I felt like I was there.” (In my mind, this is second only to “I stayed up all night to read your book.”)

(The Joys of World-Building in Fiction.)

When I describe world-building, the word I like to use is immersion. This word applies not only for readers but also for writers. What Robert Frost said about poetry—“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader”—is also true when it comes to world-building. You have to strongly believe in the world you are creating so you can virtually walk the streets and interact with the various settings.

Research, of course, plays a major role. But you must go beyond the typical research books to fully immerse your reader. Here are five ways to do that.

Use Contemporary and Primary Sources

When I was writing my most recent novel, Napoleon’s Mirage, I was fortunate to find al-Jabarti’s Chronicle of the French Occupation. This gave me a more rounded perspective on Napoleon’s military campaign through Egypt and Israel, allowing me to encompass the Egyptian Muslim point of view regarding these European invaders. It also opened a window into what life was like for a typical Egyptian scholar of the day.

For Beyond the Ghetto Gates, I used a Vatican document about a miracle portrait of the Virgin Mother in a cathedral in Ancona, Italy. It not only described how the painting affected the city that was facing an imminent attack but also included two real-life people who became important characters in the novel.

Find Books and Other Sources That Describe What Life Was Like

From Daily Life in the Middle Ages, to Fashion in the Time of Jane Austen, to Classic Italian Jewish Cooking, to The Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England—these are just some of the books that contributed to my knowledge of how people cooked and what they ate, what they wore, how they dealt with illness, and how they traveled.

And then there’s the web, which can be a great resource. Especially when you’re in the middle of writing and need to find a specific detail quickly so you don’t derail the creative process.

With a growing catalog of instructional writing videos available instantly, we have writing instruction on everything from improving your craft to getting published and finding an audience. New videos are added every month!

View Museums and Paintings

Museums are rich sources not only of paintings but also artifacts. Napoleon’s belongings seem to be scattered throughout European and American museums, so I’ve seen his tricorne general’s hat complete with Revolutionary cockade, his shaving kit, his linen shirts, glass decanters, medals, and more in various cities. (I wish I could have attended the exhibit with his camp bed.) Of course, it’s no surprise that Napoleon was painted over and over again during his career. As I mainly wrote about him as a young general, I described him using portraits painted during the Italian and Egyptian campaigns.

Bonaparte at the Pont d’Arcole, by Baron Antoine-Jean Gros (c. 1801), Musee du Louvre, Paris

I’ve spent hours absorbed in period portraits and paintings to be able to describe the fashion, hair styles, musical instruments, and interiors and exteriors of homes of the time. Museums often will stage rooms from different periods, including furniture, wall hangings, paintings, and objects d’art. Standing in the midst of one of these rooms and imagining your characters moving about, sitting, leaning against a wall, etc., can be an exhilarating way to enter their world.

And then, there’s nothing like staring into a glass case and seeing a dagger from the Babylonian period that is perfect for your novel. I was incredibly fortunate that, when I was researching Babylon: A Novel of Jewish Captivity, the Metropolitan Museum mounted an exhibition, “Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade and Diplomacy in Second Millenium BCE.” The museum included some 350 objects, including a replica of the Ishtar Gate and the royal throne room, with a mosaic floor, both of which are included in the novel. But that dagger held a special place in my heart:

Ophir glared at the weapon in his father’s hand. Like most Amorite daggers, the tang was made of copper smelted with tin and hammered to a deadly edge, a thick layer of twine nearly covering the grip. A weapon for close quarters fighting, for plunging into a heart at near range. There had been more than fifteen years of such attacks, intimidating the returning Judeans.

Explore Maps

One of my most prized possessions is a map that my husband created, photocopying the pages from The A to Z of Elizabethan London and painstakingly taping it together. Having the ability to navigate the actual streets where Shakespeare and company walked was instrumental not only in my verse novel, In the Shadow of the Globe, but also to the novel I’m currently writing.

Created Map of Elizabethan London

Of course, you may not always be that lucky. But even Google maps can help you figure out distances from city to city, which in turn can help you calculate how long someone would take—on foot, on horseback (I tend to use the time noted for bicycles and then add or subtract, depending on how urgent the trip is). And if your characters are making a long trip, Google maps can help you decide where they might find an appropriate inn for the night.

Extrapolate From Your Own Experience

In Napoleon’s Mirage, Napoleon’s soldiers have a merciless trek through the desert. They are wholly unprepared for the heat and sun, wearing woolen uniforms and carrying very little water. Having lived in the desert myself for a couple of years, I’ve experienced sandstorms—the sharp shards flying into your face, the grit in your eyes, sandy taste in your mouth, and the fact that it filters into every room, no matter how closed. So of course, when it came time to write that scene, I was able to fully describe it:

The world was suffused with yellow grains of sand that prickled his bare skin, crept inside his sodden uniform. Daniel raised a hand to protect his eyes against the itching as sand crawled inside his eyelids and stuck there, tenaciously. His men were coughing, bent over, some walking backward. Feeling tiny pellets slip down his throat, Daniel ached to cough but controlled the urge, somehow knowing once he started it would be impossible to stop.

Sometimes you can also recreate your characters’ experiences. I have a good friend who wrote a novel about a woman warrior on the Asian steppes, who bought herself a Mongolian bow and, while not nearly as skilled as her heroine, could feel what it must have been like to shoot with it. Other authors I know like to dress in clothing appropriate to their characters—which can be a charming marketing ploy when promoting your book!

While juggling many details while telling your story can seem daunting, it’s important to be as accurate as you can. There are rules you must create while creating your own historic world, and deviating from them can jar the reader. Do realize, however, that you won’t always get it right—simply because you may not always know when you’re wrong. But if you do the work required to bring the particulars to life—to immerse the reader into your world—you’ll create a world worth visiting.

Check out Michelle Cameron’s Napoleon’s Mirage here:

Bookshop | Amazon

(WD uses affiliate links)

37 thoughts on “5 Ways to Enhance World-Building for Your Historical Novel”

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  • 宮崎謙介（自由民主党）の議員辞職に伴う京都3区は、自由民主党・京都府第3区で、民進党公認の前職・泉健太（社民党推薦）が当選、民主・町村信孝（自由民主党）の死去に伴う北海道5区は、公明党・

  • 築地小劇場の観劇歴を有する大岡は、テレビから流れるテレビドラマや舞台中継、海外ドラマなどに見られる「新劇調」の存在を指摘した。 これは築地小劇場の翻訳体やそれに起因した悪癖であり、さらに固定された俳優達が今や指導する側に回ったことで、後進が不本意に継承している構図であるとも解説した。以後、日本国外の作品は1960年代前半をピークとして放送された。地方なまり一つ直す熱心も時間もないままに、時代の必要に応じて、西欧の近代化を輸入しなければならぬという、やむにやまれぬ事情の産物だが、新劇二十年の歴史は、欠点の克服には向っていなかったのである。

  • スケイン様封入体は運動ニューロン疾患以外に、進行性核上性麻痺や大脳皮質基底核変性症、ピック病、老人脳などでも線条体で高頻度に認められる。錐体路の変性がしばしば認められる。組織学的には、皮質表層の不明瞭な海綿状変化を呈し、側頭葉極内側面皮質の変性と海馬吻側のCA1-支脚移行部の限局性神経細胞脱落は認知症を伴う筋萎縮性側索硬化症の特徴である。 このカテゴリーが筋萎縮性側索硬化症の中核であり古典型と進行性球麻痺型が該当する。

  • 1954年（昭和29年）10月1日 鹿沼市、上都賀郡菊沢村、東大芦村、北押原村、板荷村、西大芦村、加蘇村、北犬飼村が合併し、2代目鹿沼市を新設する。横04：鶴間駅東口 – 鶴間車庫 – 下鶴間 – 亀甲山 –
    大貫橋 – 川井宿 – 今宿 – 鶴ヶ峰駅 – 西谷駅前 –
    梅の木 – 和田町 – 洪福寺 – 浅間町車庫前
    – 横浜駅西口（土曜・

  • 日本における2019年コロナウイルス感染症による社会・ 「日本の宗教界は新型コロナウイルスのワクチン接種をどう考えている」宗教情報センター、2021年10月6日。 「『仮面の告白』ノート」（『仮面の告白』月報
    河出書房、1949年7月）。当時、TBS系で放送されていた報道情報番組の「ブロードキャスター」でスポニチ紙面を紹介するコーナーも打ち切りとなり、番組に出演していた当時同紙の大隅潔記者も降板した。村井章介『北条時宗と蒙古襲来-時代・

  • 1944年（昭和19年）には国からの強い要請を受け、長い歴史を有する南海鉄道（南海）と新設合併する形で今に至る近畿日本鉄道（近鉄）が発足、資本金2億3147万円、総延長約630kmの路線を有する日本最大の民営鉄道会社となった。 ※レイアウト変更により、スターチャンネル1、J SPORTS 1、J SPORTS 2、J SPORTS 3、J
    SPORTS 4、日テレプラスが未収録となった。 フラワー）」であり、日本における菊に相当するものであった。本来はクイズサークルが行う普段の活動そのもので、定例会と呼ぶべきものである。

  • チャンピオンズリーグの優勝セレモニーでは、自身が長らく背負った背番号8の後継者としてフェデリコ・ なお、この勝負で9戦全て同じ牌を出し合う確率は1/362,880である（勝負としては7戦まで引き分ければ残りの勝負に関わらず引き分けとなる。 2008年8月に開催された北京オリンピックでは3試合に先発出場し、谷口博之らとともに主力として攻撃を牽引したが、グループリーグ3戦全敗で敗退した。

  • “Russian Navy fleet visits Da Nang city” (英語). “Japanese navy pays friendly visit to the city”.
    “Russian naval ships arrive in city”. “海上自衛隊練習艦「はたかぜ」及び護衛艦「いなづま」のダナンへの寄港について”.
    “海上自衛隊の練習艦2隻がダナンに寄港、外洋練習航海で［政治］”.第二次世界大戦前と比べると大幅に少なくなったが、現在のフランス軍も常時海外へ展開している。 VietnamNet.
    2008年3月28日時点のオリジナルよりアーカイブ。

  • 2021年5月10日には、国家安全法違反という理由で9冊の書籍が香港の公共図書館から撤去された。 マンデラの言葉を引用して「生まれたときから肌の色や出自、信仰の違いを理由に他人を憎む人などいない」とツイッターに投稿。太田文雄によれば、中国共産党機関紙、人民日報系の環球時報に「2006年3月4日に沖縄では住民投票が行われ、その結果75%の住民が独立を求め中国との自由交流の再開を要求、残りの25%が日本への帰属だが自治を求めた」との記事が掲載された。 2021年4月3日、「香港、台湾、沖縄、そして「日本」-新たな世界を夢想するオンライン対話」では、呉叡人、松島泰勝、深尾葉子、駒込武が討論した。

  • 日本からベトナムへの輸出は、化学・日本は、カンボジア問題が包括的に解決されれば、カンボジアに対して財政支援する用意ができており、要求があれば、国際連合の基金への援助や、その他国際平和維持活動などの求めに応じることを非公式ながら保証した。日本国とヴィエトナム共和国との間の賠償協定
    を参照。 ジュネーヴ協定によって150人が日本へ帰国したが、その他はベトナムに留まり続けた模様である。

  • 特に独ソ戦開始後、アインザッツグルッペンと呼ばれる特別行動部隊による大量殺人で犠牲者数が激増した。語幹形成母音（英語版）のない名詞の与格単数形がIでは-ei、IIでは-iになる。 ちなみにログラン由来の仲間として、もっぱら中国語に影響を受けた Ceqli や Gua/spi、Visual Basic や速記法にヒントを得た Lojsk などがある。弥生時代に日本列島に伝わったイネは、中国で粳の栽培が先行したこと、記紀などに糯や餅が登場しないこと、糯という字が奈良時代の「正倉院文書尾張正税帳」が初出であることなどから粳であったと考えられている。

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  • ラインナップは55v型と65v型を設定し、55v型にはスラントデザインモデルのAX900に加え、スタンダードデザインモデルのAX900Fも設定される。
    85v型では、液晶パネルがVAパネルとなり、スピーカーはウーハーを2個に増やし、音声実用最大出力が40Wに向上される。操作面も強化し、テレビに向かって話しかけるだけで録画予約や「マイチャンネル」の操作まで可能な日本国内での民生用テレビで初となる「ダイレクト音声操作」も搭載した。
    ベーシックグレードのAX700シリーズはAX800/AX800Fシリーズにも採用されている「4Kファインリマスターエンジン」や「4Kフレームクリエーション」を搭載し、HDMI端子は将来の4K放送やコンテンツの充実化に対応するため、HDMI2.0準拠を3端子備え、4K試験放送や4Kソフトの視聴に必要なコンテンツ保護規格HDCP2.2にも対応。 C300シリーズは連携機能を強化し、HDMIケーブル経由によるデジタルムービーカメラやLANケーブル経由によるドアホン・

  • “イエメンからサウジにミサイル攻撃、首都上空で迎撃・ “シリア東部でISが爆弾攻撃、避難民ら75人死亡”. “動画：イエメン南部の人質事件収束、子ども2人含む35人死亡”. “ネパールで定員超過のバスが川に転落、31人死亡 飲酒運転か”. “スペイン、カタルーニャ州議会を解散
    州首相、反乱罪で訴追へ”.

  • フランス軍当局はこの事実を糊塗し勝利したように見せかけたが、既にベトミン軍は守勢を脱し以降は正規軍による積極的反攻にでた。超短波を使用したFMラジオ放送については、1957年12月にNHK-FMが東京で試験放送を開始し、翌1958年12月には学校法人東海大学により、放送教育を目的とした「東海大学超短波放送実験局」が放送を開始した。 1949年8月にソ連が原爆実験に成功し、10月に北隣に中国共産党による一党独裁国家の中華人民共和国が成立すると、翌1950年1月にソ連と中国がベトナム民主共和国（ホー・

  • プレースキック — キッカーが得点を試みる。 ユヴェントスの選手でセリエAの1シーズンで25得点を記録したのは、1960-61シーズンのオマール・ 「柳田選手が月間ＭＶＰ！
    3月23日、ガラタサライSKの副会長アブドゥラヒーム・ の領域（相模川流域、県中央部）と師長国造（しなが-）の領域（酒匂川流域と中村川流域、県西部）を合したとされる。

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