Birth of a Book – The Research

When writing a historical novel, research is paramount. Of course, one usually flocks to Wikipedia to do research, but that can be a vague starting point. It’s vital to find good sources and confirm the information you receive (I was told by a good writing friend to confirm with at least three sources). Hence it became important for me to do adequate research on a country such as the Netherlands that I had only visited for a few days but decided to write a book spanning many years during World War II. Not only did I have to research the culture (which I describe in the previous blog) but the German invasion during World War II, the series of events that occurred during the occupation of the Nazis in the Netherlands, what happened leading up to the Jewish deportations, and other facts to make the storyline as realistic as possible.

Errors inevitably occurred though, and I was glad to find some of them over the course of the editing process, such as the timing of the initial bombings (I had depicted it as a daytime event, but discovered it actually occurred at night).

Then of course the story requires Dutch customs and the Dutch language to give the story flavor. All of it needed careful research and documenting of facts. Whenever I found some excellent sources, I would print out those pages. I kept a running file in a Word document of good research links I could revisit as needed.

I also watched YouTube videos of survivor interviews during the time period of the deportation of the Jewish people at the theater in Amsterdam. It was difficult to decipher as they were done in Dutch with English subtitles, but I got the gist of what was being said.

Books also became necessary research tools, as I took out a few at the local library (the lending capabilities of a local library with ties to universities and other places work well) and reread parts of The Diary of Anne Frank.

On-site visitation helps to bring another dimension to the book that can’t be done otherwise. I visited many locations depicted in the book, including central Amsterdam, Edam, Volendam, and the surrounding landscapes. I also toured both Anne Frank’s Secret Annex and Corrie Ten Boom’s Hiding Place.

I tried my utmost to provide adequate and accurate historical research in Escape from Amsterdam. But like all books, there could be some errors in it and for that, I apologize. But I sincerely hope that the realism portrayed in the book will shine through and allow you to be transported into a time of tremendous difficulty but also a time of determination and spirit to overcome evil with good.