I'm working on a historical novel and it's probably one of the most daunting tasks I've ever tackled. Excuse me if that sounds oh so cliche, not my intention. But it is honestly one of the hardest projects I've worked on. See, it's based off of an event that took place roughly one hundred and seventy years ago. (I think I blogged about this a while back, can't quite remember). The small town of Madison, Indiana caught fire one night and after the men gave up trying to save the buildings, the womenfolk didn't give up so easily and continued to fight the blaze. The women ended up being the town's heroes.
I called Madison's Historical Society to see if they had any records of what happened and apparently, the only thing they have on file is an old newspaper article about the fire that came out a few days after the incident occurred. There are most likely people currently living in Madison who had family members who helped save the town and I don't want to just make up fictional people in place of real ones who lived all those years ago. How do I go about getting my gathering my facts for the story when all I have to go on is an article? Yes, this is a fictional novel, but like I said before, it's based off a true story and I want to keep my facts straight. Any ideas on how to do this?
Leah, I Googled 1844 fire in Madison, Indiana, fire in Madison, Indiana, and women heroes 1844 fire in Madison, Indiana, and came up with absolutely nothing. Are you sure of the date, and /or of the town? If this is an historical fact, it has to be on Google somewhere, but I sure can't find anything at all about it. The only remarkable incident in that town in 1844 was the new railroad. I don't know where else you would look.
ReplyDeleteIt was 1845 when the fire occurred, at least that's what the newspaper article said. I ran into the same problem when I tried doing internet searches on the fire. Not sure why nothing exists online about it. I suppose I'll have to ask the Madison Historical Society that question.
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