One of the things I do during the first, major developmental rewrite of my books is to follow up on my ‘TK’ (notation to do later) notes and research. Usually I’ll have done some initial research (enough to write the first draft). Sometimes I’ll have just jotted something down with a note to ‘TK check this later and rewrite if needed‘.
I’m currently writing the ‘ball’ scene of chapter (now) twelve – just before the final ‘major characters missing each other’ before the final confrontation scene. It’s a Thursday night, the day before Sir Arthur Conan Doyle leaves by train, to continue his lecture tour in Melbourne. Thursday nights at the Palais Royal were traditionally ‘Fancy Dress Carnival’ night, each with different themes.
I’d umm-ed and ahh-ed about the fancy dress theme I to use for the dance. ‘Famous couples‘ was the on-the-fly idea, and the first draft was written with that in mind.
Today I decided to sift through Trove (https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/2720792) concentrating on The Register and The Advertiser Adelaide newspapers. The photos below are some of the references I found to The Palais Royal (circled), showing the week’s theme was ‘Baby Week‘. Oh, dear. Why didn’t I look this up earlier?
Now, I could just ignore the newspapers and go with the ‘Famous Couples’ theme, or rejig the chapter to reflect the historical one. Yes, I know it’s a fantasy cosy mystery but, my brain keeps screaming at me to at least try to give a nod to the facts… (I’m just that kind of person.)
I’ve also highlighted the newspaper advert reminding me that Doyle’s last lecture was on the afternoon before the dance/ball. That’s a simple task of a few sentences to fix in the previous chapter…
All in all, not a biggie but I’ve got some thinking to do today.
(This post was originally posted for my Patreon supporters on 17th July, 2021. Higher level Patreons will see a sneak peek of this scene as part of their short story reward)
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