Susanna Kearsley’s talk was subtitled ‘How to go straight to the source for the details that bring your own fiction to life’. Susanna, an enthusiastic and engaging former museum curator was able to illustrate her talk with examples from her own esteemed writing career and was keen from the outset to emphasise that the principle of ‘best evidence’ applies to any kind of research and not just historical fiction.

So what exactly is ‘Best Evidence’?

The best evidence rule is a common law rule of evidence which can be traced back at least as far as the 18th century. Susanna explained that that the general rule is that secondary evidence such as a copy or facsimile is not admissible if an original document still exists. She went on to explain how to apply this rule practically in researching fiction.

Susanna uses, for example when researching her novel ‘Sophia’s Secret’ which was shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year, a basic investigative structure for getting the facts right. It is essentially a three pronged attack; one- get the facts, two- talk to the witnesses and three- study the scene. Very similar to the procedure that the police use when looking into a crime.

Susanna warned of the perils of relying on secondary sources. For one thing, the writer of such a source may not have relied on ‘best evidence’ themselves. Another issue can be revised accounts of what may have happened in particular event. The example cited here was the Jacobite Rebellion which has been pertinent to Susanna’s work and which the various participants have been subsequently embarrassed by their role in it. As a result it is of vital importance to source the original records for an account of what happened.

So, although Susanna warned that secondary sources should be read with care she did however recommend them for the fact that a careful perusal of their bibliography could point you to an original source. One such pointer gave her some excellent dialogue from an actual conversation that had taken place and leads to references in diaries such as ‘Boswell’s London Journal’ have led her to capture the cadence of a person’s speech accurately for that period of time. She advocates the use of original letters and diaries as excellent sources for the way people conversed.

Regarding talking to witnesses; Susanna offered some great practical advice for all writers whether published or not. Always tell everyone you’re a writer when on a research trip and make sure you tell them straight away. All local contacts are useful for research and it usually is easy to get people to help- once you’ve gone it’s too late! Local vicars, historians, librarians, museum workers are particularly good sources but tell everyone because you never know who might be able to help.

If you’re writing about a particular occupation it’s crucial to get those little details correct. Get someone in that trade to read it through for accuracy. For example, when Susanna had a character who was an archaeologist, she had a university pretend he was ‘on staff’ and she would ring and check that the things she wanted him to do were possible given his duties etc!! She asked the team what writers get wrong most when they write about archaeologists. Apparently, it’s that they are red haired and that when the artefacts are discovered, they’re mostly intact!

An absolutely super, and thought provoking talk. Thank you so much, Susanna

Written by Karen Critchley