Necessary research

I've always said that my reason for writing science fiction is because I like the freedom of making things up. That's true, up to a point, but any SF writer who ignored concepts like evolution by natural selection is asking to be laughed at.

But recently I've had to delve into what for me is a research first, and that's the world of Victorian Britain.  I've volunteered to read a story at a new local con, the Underwater Steampunk Weekend, being held at the Submarine Mueseum in Gosport, Hampshire.

The story has to have a steampunk theme, and reference 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea in some way. Being me, I wanted a feminist woman character in my story, but I needed to know what was possible for that era.  So I made her a rich heiress who is refusing to marry.  She's fascinated by science, and has used her inheritance to have a submarine built for her.  That's reference number one to 20,000 Leagues.

The next part was spooky.  I'd forgotten the details of the story of 20,000 Leagues, and I happily went about creating a large sea monster that's a cross between a narwhal and a right whale.  And then I re-read a summary of the plot of 20,000 Leagues, and came to the point where the submarine is initially  thought to be a giant narwhal.  My mind was definitely on the right track with this story.

I wanted to reference Charles Darwin and On The Origin of Species, so the next stop was to go to my copy of the book and check its first publication date.  That was 1859, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was published in 1870.  So it was entirely reasonable to unite a story referencing the new-fanged theory of evolution with a submarine exploration tale.

I didn't want my character to be weighed down by long skirts in a cramped submarine, so my next stop was to check whether Victorian women wore trousers.  They did, and among the types were voluminous pantaloons (not what I needed) and close-fitting riding breeches.  Those were just the thing for a submarine, so my Miss Morris wears them.

My research gave my story its direction, and when I read it out in the beer tent I can be confident that at least the historical background to the story is correct.