Serendipity in the Dark

I'm working on a new novel. Not writing yet, but still in the midst of that pre-writing stage I love, which is a combination of research and dreaming the story into being. The process is akin to feeling my way round an unfamiliar room in the middle of the night, turning on lamps to create small pools of light, gradually discovering more of where I am.

Research, which for me is mainly reading books, helps in obvious ways: the dates by which various railway lines were in operation; the number of servants people could afford depending on their incomes – these are the historical facts it's important to me to get right. It's not so much that I'm afraid readers will pick me up if I get it wrong, but I need to feel I'm building my story on a firm foundation.

But research helps in less obvious ways too; while the shape of the novel is still fluid, what I read about real people or events or processes, can nudge my thinking in new directions, give me more ideas for the plot.

I discover a certain High Church family had their own Chaplain living in the grounds. Now there's a character I hadn't thought of who might have an important part to play…

I read about the pits used in the leather tanning industry where the hides were softened in a mixture of water and dog poo. Aha! That gives me an idea for something that might happen…

Apparently Horace Walpole coined the word serendipity in 1754 explaining that he formed it from the title of "a silly fairy tale, called The Three Princes of Serendip: as their highnesses traveled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of."

For me, this describes Generic pills whithout prescription the business of research exactly: going on an exciting journey, making unexpected discoveries, turning on more lights…