One of the tools a writer uses for authenticity in their story is research. Whether it’s how to disassemble and clean a Glock, which poisons are quick killing and leave no trace or what women wore in the 14^th century it all takes research. The better you know your facts, the more authentic your story. As a result you become somewhat of an authority on the topic. The added benefit is you are now the go to person when you play trivia and can play a mean game of scrabble.

Writing historical fantasy, even though it’s made up, still requires a level of authenticity. Several of my stories are based on people who are responsible for research. Whether it’s my heroine, Rebeka, the renowned history professor in my Druid Knight Tales or Cari, the exception art appraiser in my upcoming series, River of Time, my stories require research.

My latest release, Knight of Rapture, required an understanding of old manuscripts. While I researched several sites I came across an online class offered by Stanford University. I had a smattering of knowledge about manuscripts but this class explained the making of manuscripts, interpreting manuscripts, working with manuscripts and transcribing them. . It’s been several years…hmmm… decades since I was in school but the lure of finding out the details was too much to pass up. I took the plunge.

What is a manuscript is and how is it made? Manuscript means, literally, handwritten from manus and to write from scriba. Another word for is chirography. Basically, anything that is handwritten using any implement from a quill to a modern biro (pen) is a manuscript.

There are hundreds of thousands surviving today from circa 500 to 1500 CE. Medieval manuscripts can be found in repositories throughout the world.

The early papyrus manuscripts were made from the pulp of reeds found along the Nile River in Egypt through southern Sudan. This medium or substrate (the surface scribes used to make their books and scrolls) was used before animal skins were processed and stretched to create parchment and vellum. Papyrus parallels the use of parchment and vellum until about 800 CE. After this time the use of papyrus rapidly declines.

Vellum is made from cow skins while parchment comes from sheep. Goat and deer skins are also used. To prepare the animal skins they are dipped in lime for a number of days to clean it of any animal material. It’s then rinsed thoroughly and pinned to a frame to dry. Once the skin is dry it is sanded until it is smooth. Finally, it’s cut into a page or bifolium. These are folded into gatherings or quires. Several quires are stacked together to form the traditional medieval manuscript.

The class goes into details on how papyrus, parchment and vellum are made. It also discusses the early rag paper technology. We are not only learning about how the manuscripts were produced we’re also learning how to transcribe manuscripts. While the details on making the substrates (I’m proud I can use that word in a sentence) it is how the manuscripts are transcribed and interpreted that attracted me to the course.

Understanding how the manuscript is produced gave me some good technical pieces for my story. I can think of other aspects of chirography that I can use in the stories. Perhaps a study of inscribing techniques will help my heroines.