# Need-to-Know Facts or Topics



## Devor (Dec 18, 2011)

For one of the stories I'm writing, I'm trying to stay somewhat true to the historical time period, and I need to admit I was surprised by how much my preconceptions were wrong before going into the research.

I think the same is true for a lot of writers, at least getting started.  And I know a lot of people find research to be more laborious and frustrating at least than I do.  So I thought I'd start a thread for people to share the facts that you needed to know or were surprised to learn, and a little about the topics that you had to research for your writing - especially those facts that you think others writing similar stories will need to know.

So assume that I've seen the LOTR movies and want to write fantasy, but I know absolutely nothing about pre-modern times.  *What do I need to know so I can just get started writing?*


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## Sparkie (Dec 18, 2011)

Know absolutely nothing?  Hmm...

One would want to start with general world history, I would think, then identify the regions and\or cultures you want to relate to and then start doing more specific, in depth research on those.  Celtic and Norse mythology is popular, but don't ignore African, Mesopotamian, or Germanic history or belief structures.  One never knows where useful facts or ideas can be found.

One thing I never realized (until I took a trip to the Fields Museum in Chicago) is just how much of our present knowledge of many ancient peoples is due to their burial customs.  The Egyptians are a classic example of this, but not to be overlooked are some asian and native american cultures who took great care in their funeral rites and, unintentionally, provided evidence of their religious faiths.

If you have trouble with research, or are simply not inclined towards the effort it takes, remember that you don't need to know everything.  You need just enough.  How much is enough is hard to define, but considering a fantasy story need not read like a history paper or pathology report, I wouldn't sweat too much over the details.  Still, details can make all the difference, so if you can retain a tidbit or two that can have a positive influence on your writing, then put up with the difficulty and keep reading, viewing, conversing, or whatever else you must do.

And Devor, I can relate to the point you made about preconceptions.  Being a bit of a know-it-all, research is often a humbling experience for me.


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## Codey Amprim (Dec 18, 2011)

Trying not to repeat anything that has been said thus far...

First off, get an idea of the quality of living and how peoples of multiple cultures lived during whichever era your book decides to focus on. If it's futuristic, then, well, look at what other futuristic universes offer. During this, you're going to stumble upon architecture and technology.

Then, I'd move onto arms and armor. That is, unless you decide to make it revolve around battles of words -then you'll need to see how they speak. I don't remember how many times I've either seen or heard weaponry depicted wrong. A halberd is a pole-axe, not a pike! And Lamellar armor isn't a kinght-in-shining-armor suit of platemail, it's more samurai. Crossbows don't shoot arrows, they shoot bolts. Etc.

Beyond that, though, is someone else's post.


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## Ravana (Dec 19, 2011)

Depends on what you're writing. Short stories? Probably very little you "need" to know: your basic familiarity with reality should suffice to prevent you from perpetrating anything complete ludicrous. 

I say that, of course, having encountered more than a few cases where this turned out either to be not true or where the author lacked a basic familiarity with reality: it's always difficult to tell which.… 

Let's see… you should know that Medieval armor was not electroplated. (The makers of _Excalibur_ were apparently unaware of this.) You should know that a twenty-foot-wide stream has bends that are more than thirty feet long. (Twain excoriates Fenimore Cooper on that little point: you may be sure it has been true throughout history, not just in recent times. He doesn't even bother to point out that a boat that's longer than the bend is can't go around it.) You should know how much a loaded pack weighs, what its volume capacity is, and that a sack of 10,000 gold coins weighs about 95 pounds. (Every _D&D_ game I've ever played.) 

Less obvious items:
You should know that when used against metal armor, a sword effectively turns into a blunt weapon: it does not chop through it and slice off off limbs. (See just about any fantasy movie, and a great many stories as well.) 

You should know that most people in the ancient and Medieval world never laid eyes on a gold coin their entire lives.

You should know that any three minimally competent fighters attacking a single person simultaneously, with any coordination between them whatsoever, will defeat him—you have my promise on this: I know because I once told three complete SCA novices how to do it, and they handily won the contest they were engaged in, over teams of much more experienced fighters. (The reason had to do with the "coordination" rather than the "competence" part… though this also clearly demonstrates that the norm in such cases is to attack as individuals, or else they'd've been outscored by others doing it correctly. So it's up to you what happens when your hero gets ganged up on.) The corollary to which is that you should know all Errol Flynn's combat scenes were _very_ carefully choreographed. 

For longer works: I'd have to say there isn't anything—in terms of specifics—that you _don't_ need to know. No, you don't really need to "know everything": no one can know everything, and a great deal of what any given person does know will never make it into a story he's writing. But entirely apart from the general "if you're going to write about something, you should go to the trouble of learning about it" principle, you should at a minimum _think through_ what you are including… using your basic familiarity with reality as a guide: that should clue you in to what you may need to look more closely at. 

How often have you read stories where the characters don't seem to need to eat, for instance? Or worse, drink? You don't need to go into depth about what they're eating, and if they're passing through lands with lots of small streams, they can refill their water at their leisure. But here's where the weight and volume of what they're carrying starts to seriously comes into play… along with how long it takes food to spoil. You say they hunt some game to supplement what they're carrying? Anybody ever done that? How long did it take you to bag something? That's time lost that could be devoted to traveling. They have a pack horse carrying their goodies? What's _it_ eating? Grass? Hope you remembered to have them stick to areas where forage is good.

And even if _they_ have to eat, it seems nothing _else_ ever does. Take a minute to consider the ecologies of all those critters authors sprinkle liberally (and casually) throughout their worlds. Maybe they don't have to eat: "this is fantasy"—right? Though if they don't, why are most of them so hungry whenever the characters show up?

How often have you read stories where after a fight the characters bandage their wounds—of course they do: but where did those bandages come from?—and then never suffer any ill effects from those wounds again? No infection, no fever, not even stiffness… they're miraculously healed by the next time they're called upon to exert themselves. Which is _the moment they start moving again_, if the wound is to the torso or leg. Modern medical science could learn a great deal from these people, it seems.

Don't even get me started on characters who spring up from their bedrolls fully armored when attacked in the night.… 

How often have you seen the ancient equivalent of the six-shooter that can fire twenty shots without reloading—the quiver that is never exhausted? How many arrows can one person realistically carry—and how many _would_ one person carry?

Recurring again to fantasy games, though hardly exclusive to them: how often have you seen characters carry spears and polearms underground? How many people can fight side-by-side in an area of a given width? How many dragons are likely to reside in caverns they can't fit out of the exits to? How many goblins will fit in a phone booth?

In other words, what you "need to know" is that your world _still has to make sense_, even if it is fantasy. If you don't want to deal with the effects of wounds, fine: use magical healing. Not bandages. If you don't want to worry about carrying enough food to get through the wilderness, fine: everybody gets elven bread. If you want swords to cleave through armor, they'd better be magical as well. And so on. But everything that _isn't_ "magical" had better work the way it does in the real world… and if you don't have personal familiarity with a subject, and can't work out with logic at least how to avoid obvious pitfalls, then it's time to crack a _non_-fantasy book or two and do some research.


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## Devor (Dec 19, 2011)

Thanks for all of the input.

Let's say we want to put together a guide:  A quick fantasy research primer to read before you write.  Something designed to help people save hours of research and still avoid the dumb mistakes.  Something to help you just get started.   What would it need to include?  That's what I want to see.

I'm going to put together a list of topics and facts, and depending on the scope of the project, I may actually write such a guide or at least post a list of quick links to a good source.  I'm not sure yet.

So for example:

I absolutely needed to know about how people travel, how long it takes on foot or by horse, what supplies they needed, how food and rations were stored, and how much food was needed on a journey.  So that would all make up a "Travel" entry in such a guide.


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## Benjamin Clayborne (Dec 19, 2011)

This is why we <3 Ravana.


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## Ravana (Dec 19, 2011)

Benjamin Clayborne said:


> This is why we <3 Ravana.





Yeah, I figured I "over-answered" on that one. As is my wont. 

Good choices for a "Travel" entry. May want to add appropriate clothing relative to weather conditions. Of course clothing could make a separate category, but I'm pretty sure that for most cases, that would involve more detail than the basics. Subcategories for "Travel": land and sea. 

Next category: "Combat," since that seems to be all but essential to fantasy writing. Need to have some idea of armor, weapon and shield types, what each do (to bodies as well as to each other); ranges for missile weapons; ideally some notions about size and weight, especially since the latter will figure into "Travel" considerations. Slightly more advanced would be tactics, individual and group (what can actually be done with a certain weapon, how difficult is each to wield, what sorts of "fancy moves" are possible and which ones will get you killed instantly if you attempt them…); wear and tear (armor straps break all the time, blades blunt rapidly, metal corrodes).

"Health." What are the effects of wounds, how are they treated, how long does natural healing take–all direct corollaries of combat; what other sorts of ailments are common; what are the effects of exhaustion (short-term: how long can a person really fight in a single action? long-term: progressive effects of extended travel and exertion), of lack of food/water/sleep, of being wet/cold for extended periods.

"Economy." In broad scope, more detail than most people would need. At a minimum, though, what sort of coinage is used and how much can it buy: what does a meal and a night at an inn cost? How much is a round of drinks? What constitutes "rich" relative to the surroundings? How much does money weigh?

"Terrain." Mostly important relative to travel: how difficult is it to journey through mountains, deserts, swamps? What resources are/aren't available in each, what special preparations need made? Also important to who/what lives where.

Perhaps more advanced topics, less vital to the beginner: ecology, settlement patterns.

I'll add more as I think of them. Want to leave some for everybody else.


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## Codey Amprim (Dec 19, 2011)

I swear, Ravana, everytime I read your posts I learn something. Anyways, continuing...

"Forms of Rule." Could cover the typical types of ruling during most fantasy works, such as kingdoms and rule by multiple lords (like a House of Lords type of rule), and how their parallels in real history actually worked. Could also cover how rulers typically came to be throughout history, and inheritance in history (heirs, male vs. female heir, how inheritance worked).

"Quality of Life." As stated in my previous post. Life wasn't very clean or healthy during the middle ages and dark ages. Could include common structural themes of the time periods, such as common types of houses and the materials used. Could be divided into a "Structuring" category covering medieval structures and architecture. Could even further include a "Castles" category; Where castles are built around, why, what is needed, what do or can they contain, time and costs for castle/fortress/keep construction, and typical types of castles could all be topics mentioned within it.



@ the  "Travel" - include measurement systems as well.


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## Jess A (Dec 19, 2011)

The _Art of War_ is an interesting read when looking into battle strategy.


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## Devor (Dec 20, 2011)

So . . . this seems like a lot, but I think we can pull this off, eventually.  What am I missing?

Introduction - Purpose, limits of this guide, table of contents

World History Basics
Politics and Society
Economics/Currency
Architecture
City Life
Home Life
Clothing and Equipment
Health/Healing
Travel
Seafare
Hunting
Environment

Weapons, Armor, Combat, Warfare - could probably be a whole guide of its own




Little Storm Cloud said:


> The _Art of War_ is an interesting read when looking into battle strategy.



Great book, read it in college.


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