How to… Make sure your research/worldbuilding doesn't drown your story

So, I recently sold an historical to Carina. Yay me! Vikings FTW! But, and here was the tricky part, writing historical is very different to writing fantasy. In fantasy, of course, I can just make stuff up. And I do. But historicals need to be at least fairly accurate, or you'll have history buffs sending you emails about how the colt 45 wasn't invented till the year after your hero used it…

But in many ways, especially in how you use your worldbuilding/research they are very similar. Worldbuilding serves much the same purpose in fantasy as research does in historical – it gives the reader a sense of place and/or time. It lets them, for that short while, inhabit somewhere different.

The trick is, not to drown your story in it. Because your reader almost certainly is reading mainly for the story. Not a treatise on how beer was made in 844.

Now when I decided to write this historical, I decided to approach the research in much the same way I do worldbuilding. In fantasy, the little worldbuilding I do up front is all to do with culture. This culture values this, so these things are likely. Details come as I write. Researching Vikings, before I started writing what I looked for was attitude and laws. So, Saxons for example didn't automatically leave everything to the first born son (that came in with the Normans). Instead they often willed their lands etc to who they wanted to have it. Because of this, and because a widow with a lot of land was obviously a big draw, a law was introduced that no widow can be made to marry for a year after her husband's death.

This little nugget, combined with my Viking hero's absolute belief in seidr, that is magic, and Bad Guy's attempt to take over the fjord (hey, coups are universal!) started off my plot. Everything else, all the little details of how they lived, what they ate etc came later, much later. I researched them only when it was relevant to the plot/depth – that is, if I had my heroine making dinner, it helped to know what it would be! Being the type of writer I am, the more I knew upfront, the more likely I would dump it in the novel to no effect. Your mileage may vary, depending on what sort of writer you are.

That's my method of making sure research/wordlbuilding doesn't overwhelm the story – only 'discover' it as and when I need it. If I end up a little light at the end of the first draft, it's easy to go and add extra detail. I find it harder to cut.

Now, if you're more of a planner, this probably won't work! You'll want to know all the details up front. This is fine and dandy, if that's how you need it to be. If not, then the 'as you go' technique can really help not drown your story in details. If you know all your stuff before hand, that's a different thing. Just try to make it relevant to what is actually occurring and what the reader really needs to know. That almost certainly does not include a three page description of anything. Really. Layer it in, subtly.

Please.