To research When Shadows Fall, I spent a lot of time at the library going through old books. The old and mustier, the better. Why? Because I find the older the book, the more history.
Then we took a trip to Washington State and stopped at all the Oregon Trail centers along the way. My children were ecstatic. But hubby was a trooper.
We also took a trip to Georgia. And we stopped at the forts and visited different sites along the trail. Also visited Andersonville and an old naval museum in Charleston, SC, but those are for another story.
I also purchased the Oregon Trail Game and played it to see where my characters were going, what they might deal with. I bought my stores, and feed for my oxen and headed out. I think I sank my wagon and lost it all on the first river fording. It's a good thing we don't have to worry about wagons and water. Unless of course we're speaking station wagons and bottled water from a gas station.
It is also amazing to me, how the trip took several months. And today we can cross that distance in a couple of days driving. Now we have restaurants and gas stations and rest areas.
During the time Rebekah is on the trail, she makes mention of the amenities they have in 1863. Which was an eye opener to me. I would find her trip hard. And she was thankful that the trail was easier.
How would I have fared on the Oregon Trail with the bugs and sickness? Would I have gone stark raving mad? I'd like to think I wouldn't… but who knows?
When Shadows Fall http://tinyurl.com/d93p77a
In the Manor of the Ghost http://ning.it/dB0zAj,
Touched By Mercy http://ning.it/9OJZ5r
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"For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD... " Jer. 29:11
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I suppose you do what you have to do, but I find the hardships they lived with back then mind bloggling. Life was less certain. More things could kill you and no one would even know... You just wouldn't show up! So glad to live today and just read about back then. ;)
ReplyDeleteHi, Patty,
ReplyDeleteIt is true they did have a hard time back then. I like being alive today, but I suppose I will always wonder how life would have been like.
Thank you for coming by.
Tina P.
Interesting. I used to read a lot of historicals, and I was always amazed at the amount of research the authors had to do to make the story believable. Maybe that's one reason I write contemporary romantic suspense. I do a lot of research, but not in musty libraries. lol
ReplyDeleteYour books sounds really wonderful. I need to check it out.
Since the Oregon Trail ran through the country I'm from and knowing that area, I probably would have been one of the rustlers stealing anything I could muster away from the wagon train... Oh the back valleys of the lava flats... (evil laugh) Just kiddin'
ReplyDeleteI love the research. Before writing THE LIGHTKEEPER'S DAUGHTER, I wanted to actually go inside a lighthouse, but didn't have that opportunity. However, I watched lighthouse movies and read both fiction and non-fiction books in volumns.I think I found everything ever put on the Internet about life in the early 1900s.I was lucky that my grandmother had lived in that era and had described many of the customs and old medical remedies. She was married the day WWl ended.
ReplyDelete