v. o. kapelman· v. o. kapelman · Research · 1 min read
Letters in the Archive
What a bundle of faded letters taught me about the people behind the dates.
This is sample text. Historical fiction begins, for me, in the archive: a municipal register, a ship’s manifest, a letter whose ink has gone the color of tea.
The detail that changes everything
A single line, a grocer’s debt or a misspelled surname, can unlock a scene. Facts give the story its walls; invention furnishes the rooms.
What I leave out
Research is a lake and the novel is a cup of water. Most of what I learn never reaches the page, and it still shapes every sentence.
