Saturday, March 14, 2009

When will my research end?

The farther (further?) I get into writing this book, the more questions I have. At this point, I'm wondering why on earth I chose historical fiction. It would be so much simpler if I could just make up everything instead of having some of it grounded in facts about the era and the setting.
Right now, I'm writing a segment in which Sophie is in the polio rehab ward, and the research I've done about polio rehab of that era has paid off. But now I find I need to research the culture of their medical practice, like was their medicine socialized, were there insurances with caps, etc. Those details will impact how long Sophie can stay in rehab and what kind of services poorer members of the society would have access to. If the story is going to be authentic, I have to get that right.
I think I could research that era and the details of the story for the rest of my life and never finish writing the book. In order to finish, I have to know when to say when. I guess it's not yet.

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