Spare Me the Details by Susan Page Davis

Susan Page Davis

While writing The Prisoner’s Wife (my novel in the New England Romance Collection), I had to learn a lot about the Maine/Massachusetts legal system in colonial days. A quirk of the law led me to write this story, about a marriage intended not to last that turned out to be one of those forever unions.

My research included a trip to the old jail (Old Gaol) in York, Maine, with three of my children. We had a wonderful day, and I highly recommend a day touring Old York to anyone who has the chance. (Learn more about The Museums of Old York at http://www.oldyork.org/ )

While we were there, we toured the Jeffers Tavern and several historic houses, in addition to the Old Gaol. I learned many intriguing tidbits, but they weren’t all suitable for my story.

Did the man who beat his wife to death with a codfish make it into my story? No.

Did the fascinating mourning samplers on display in one of the houses made it into my book? No.

Did the pleached alley or the herb garden or the secret hiding place in the fireplace… You guessed it, they did not.

But all of these things are still in my mind and may show up in one form or another in another story. Immersing ourselves in the past for a day gave us a feeling for early times and the way people lived in them.

But not all the things I dig up in research can go in the book.

My first book, Protecting Amy, was also a historical romance. In it, several cavalry troopers were protecting a young woman. When confronted by a band of bad guys, they made a stand. The story is pre-Civil War, and they used muskets. The loading process takes time. I went over the steps with my husband, a former gunsmith. I wanted the reader to understand how agonizing it was to have to reload after every shot, so I described that in detail in the story.

My editor cut it all out. He wrote a note to the side—“Just let him shoot.”

At first I was upset. After all, this was my first book, and I was proud of my story and my accuracy. It took me a while to come around to his way of thinking. I had to learn that the reader didn’t necessarily want all the minutiae. The reader wanted a fast-paced, smoothly flowing story. This was an action scene, but I had slowed it to a crawl.

So, yes, writers, revel in your research. Soak it all up. Enjoy it. But don’t try to give your readers a history lesson. Set the scene with vivid touches and stay true to the times in all that is said and done, but remember, it’s the people and the relationships that count most. As a writer, I’m a stickler for accuracy, but sometimes as a reader, I can do without the details.

Dora here. As a reader, I tend to get bogged down with too many details, especially technical aspects of a particular profession, but usually I will keep reading. As a writer, it's painful to slash sections or details that have taken me hours to research, but with every book I write, I become more comfortable with what to include and what needs to go.

How do you feel about this? Readers, do you skim past areas laden with unnecessary info or do you put down the book? Writers, do you find it difficult to accept your editor's recommendations to weed out unnecessary details? 

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Susan Page Davis is an award-winning author with more than 40 novels published in the historical, mystery, romantic suspense, and contemporary romance genres. A Maine native, she married an Oregon man and now lives in western Kentucky. She’s a winner of the Carol Award, the Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award, and the Will Rogers Medallion. Visit her website at: www.susanpagedavis.com , where you can enter her monthly drawing for books.

The New England Romance Collection contains five complete historical novels set in Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, including Susan’s award-winning novel, The Prisoner's Wife: Jack Hunter is about to be hanged for the murder of his neighbor. Jack knows he's innocent, and the unscrupulous constables will seize his land when he's dead. He asks Lucy Hamblin, the only girl he ever loved, to marry him in the jail. Her father broke them up three years ago, but now her father is dead. Will Lucy be willing to grant his last request and become the widow Hunter? Set in Maine, 1720. Buy now from Amazon: http://is.gd/qM11Sh or Christian Book: http://is.gd/JSjF7H

Research and the Writer’s Journey by Susan Page Davis

Whether we write historicals or contemporary novels, research still plays an important part in the writing process. Today’s guest author Susan Page Davis shares just how important research can be! Enjoy!

Research and

the Writer’s Journey

by Susan Page Davis

Research is a part of writing that I love. Sometimes it seems to go on and on, however—even after the manuscript is turned in. That happened with my April book, Love Finds You in Prince Edward Island.

I read and researched for many hours before and during the writing of this book. I spent time at the provincial archives in Charlottetown, PEI, reading old newspaper accounts of the preparations for Prince Albert Edward’s visit to the island in 1860 and other historical sources. I loved every minute of it—and I thought I had everything straight.

But when the copy editor sent me her notes, something jumped out at me. Neither one of us had noticed it before, but now it was obvious as I reread my story. Several times I’d referred to Province House, the main government building in Charlottetown. It was there when the prince visited—in fact, a ball was held for him there, in the legislative chamber. But Prince Edward Island wasn’t a province yet. Canada wasn’t Canada. (Upper Canada and Lower Canada at that time referred to Ontario and Quebec.)

Now, I knew that PEI was a colony, not a province, in 1860. And I knew they didn’t join the Canadian Confederation until 1873. I also knew from my previous research that the building in question was called the Colonial Building during the years before PEI became a province. But I’d used the two names interchangeably in the book, and that wouldn’t have happened in 1860. So it was a simple matter of double checking, then searching and replacing “Province House” with “the Colonial Building,” but I’m sure if I hadn’t caught the mistake every Canadian who read the book would have howled in laughter.

Another research emergency occurred when I had just started writing a book. The editor had given my synopsis to the art department so that they could work on the cover. In the synopsis, I’d mentioned the hero taking the heroine a bouquet of wildflowers. “What kind of flowers?” the art department wanted to know. So I had to drop what I was doing at the moment and research what kind of flowers were native to that location and would have grown there at that time of the year.

Ah, research. It draws us on, into the land and the culture we want to portray to the reader. I love it. But I always wonder if I did quite enough!

Susan Page Davis is the author of more than thirty published novels in the historical romance, mystery, and romantic suspense genres. She is a past winner of the Carol Award and Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award. The mother of six and grandmother of six, she and her husband Jim live in Kentucky.

To learn more about Susan and her books, please visit www.susanpagedavis.com