Lydia Vaughn asked Sarah Sundin:

Hi Sarah, I absolutely love all your books. WWII is one of my favorite time periods to read about. I have hopes of someday writing a book of my own. Any advice? Particularly about the research part.

Sarah Sundin Hi Lydia! That's a huge question requiring a long answer. I teach several workshops on writing historical fiction and conducting historical research, so it's difficult to condense to a paragraph or two. Research runs in several parallel veins. First, you need a broad general knowledge about WWII to give your story a strong foundation. Next, your story guides your research. The research I did for each of my novels was very different because each story covered different aspects. For good historical fiction, you need both traditional history books/websites/sources/documents that give you dates and names and locations - and personal stories (oral histories, interviews, memoirs, etc.) to give you color, the feel for how it was to actually BE there at that time. If you have a specific area you'd like to research, you can contact me by email through my website, and I'd be happy to send you a list of resources if I have anything for that aspect of WWII. All the best to you in your writing!

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