Don't ever cut your research short. Especially in historical fiction. I mean you better have a very good understanding of the time period, and if you are writing about real people, you should get them right, too.
Now everything doesn't have to be accurate to the last detail. It's called historical FICTION after all. And even though all of the characters and the major events in my story about John Dunn are true, I am taking the liberty to spiff it up somewhat.
Because if you want your story to be read by anyone, it better be exciting and full of tension. And in 19th Century Africa, there's plenty of that. Heck, the story starts and ends with a war. But there are a lot of little things that you have to get in there, things like interpersonal relationships that the research doesn't really divulge.
For instance, none of the research gets too much into John Dunn's wives. Other than the fact that he had 49 of them, I mean. So I'm spiffing that part up, and as I mentioned yesterday, one reason is because I need a strong female character, and I'm quite sure that some of them were very strong characters. Especially his first one.
It's time to move ahead full steam.
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