I think I'd once decided that I wasn't going to write historical fiction, either! Instead I was going to write fantasy novels in which I could use whatever bits of history I liked to make up my own places (like the time I based a palace on a book I was reading on the Romanov palaces--except for the kitchen, which was from Hampton Court). Best-laid plans...
There is a pretty strong association of flats with New York, I suppose. When I went to visit some friends there recently, we went on a tour of a tenement building in the garment district in which they'd re-done several flats to depict housing at various points in the neighborhood's history. It was really interesting, and heartbreaking--but I don't know if there's much out there for learning about housing for other social classes.
I usually try to find lots of paintings and photographs as well (though for some reason I always forget about Google!). I'm not a very visual writer, so it helps me to have an image I can work from and even describe bits of if I need to. Biographies can be helpful in that resepct, or houses that are now museums.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-09-05 05:19 pm (UTC)There is a pretty strong association of flats with New York, I suppose. When I went to visit some friends there recently, we went on a tour of a tenement building in the garment district in which they'd re-done several flats to depict housing at various points in the neighborhood's history. It was really interesting, and heartbreaking--but I don't know if there's much out there for learning about housing for other social classes.
I usually try to find lots of paintings and photographs as well (though for some reason I always forget about Google!). I'm not a very visual writer, so it helps me to have an image I can work from and even describe bits of if I need to. Biographies can be helpful in that resepct, or houses that are now museums.