Inside Audrey Harrison’s process for historical romance research
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Bestselling author Audrey Harrison has published nearly forty novels since her independent debut in 2011, and her passion for the period comes through in every detail.
She recently shared how she turns historical romance research into believable Regency-era fiction. She walked through her research habits, her writing schedule, and the doubts she still faces after years of success. This gives readers a detailed look at what historical romance research actually looks like in practice. Readers get a sense of just how much work sits behind a single line of dialogue or a throwaway historical detail.
Audrey’s approach blends curiosity, discipline, and a genuine love of digging through old diaries and reference books. She treats historical romance research as both a craft requirement and a personal joy. That combination shows up again and again throughout her answers, and it explains why her books feel grounded in a specific time and place. Writers hoping to break into the genre will find plenty of practical takeaways here, from where to find reliable sources to how to keep a research habit from swallowing an entire afternoon.
Audrey also touches on the emotional side of writing, including the imposter syndrome that still visits her before every release. Her honesty about that struggle balances out the more technical parts of her insights. Her knowledge covers publishing history, genre choice, character psychology, and the small details that make Regency fiction convincing. Each topic circles back to the same idea: good historical romance research shapes every part of the story, even when readers never notice the specific facts behind a scene.
Audrey’s willingness to share her methods makes this conversation valuable for anyone drawn to writing in a historical setting, whether Regency England or another era entirely.
Following passion despite early rejection
Audrey always wanted to write historical romance, but an editor once told her the genre had no market. She took that rejection to heart and published two contemporary novels instead. Neither book connected the way she hoped, and she suspected her heart simply wasn’t in them. A half-finished historical manuscript kept nagging at her in the background. She eventually decided to publish it herself and see what happened.
The book shot to number two in the United States and hit number one in the United Kingdom. Audrey admitted she half expected someone to call and say the sales figures were wrong. That early success taught her a lasting lesson about publishing gatekeepers. Sometimes the people making decisions about what will sell simply get it wrong.
Her story shows why following a genuine interest can matter more than chasing a supposed trend. She didn’t abandon historical fiction after one rejection, even though it would have been easy to do so. Instead, she waited for the right moment and trusted her own instincts about the genre. That patience paid off in a way few debut authors experience.
Her breakout success also set the tone for the rest of her career, since she has stayed almost entirely within Regency and Georgian settings ever since. Audrey’s experience offers a reminder that one person’s opinion about a market doesn’t always reflect reality. Plenty of successful historical romance research and storytelling has come from authors who ignored similar discouragement. Her path from rejected pitch to bestselling author remains one of the more compelling parts of the conversation, and it grounds everything else she says about craft and research in a real, lived example of persistence.
Understanding the Regency period
Audrey writes primarily in the Regency era, though definitions of that period vary among historians. A strict Regency runs from 1810 to 1820, but many authors stretch the boundaries from 1800 to 1827. Audrey tends to favor the tighter 1810 to 1820 window for her own historical romance research. She loves the fashion, the social rules, and the trends that defined that decade specifically.
Choosing a narrow window lets her go deeper into fewer years rather than spreading her knowledge thin. That focus shows in how confidently she discusses clothing, customs, and daily life from the period. She contrasted this comfort with her hesitation about writing a later trilogy set in the 1840s. Even a gap of twenty or thirty years can change social norms in ways that feel unfamiliar to a Regency specialist.
Audrey compared that shift to the difference between the 1980s and the 2000s in modern terms. Small changes accumulate over decades, and historical romance research has to account for that drift. Writers sometimes assume any pre-modern setting requires similar research, but Audrey’s experience suggests otherwise. Depth in one narrow period can matter more than broad familiarity with an entire century. Her Victorian trilogy, based on her husband’s family history, pushed her outside that comfort zone. She has since decided not to write additional Victorian stories, preferring to stay within her established expertise. That decision reflects a broader theme in her interview: knowing the limits of one’s own historical romance research can be just as valuable as knowing the facts themselves.
Audrey’s careful attention to period-specific detail explains why her readers trust the world she builds on the page.
Reading widely before writing
Before Audrey ever tried writing Regency fiction, she immersed herself in the genre as a reader. Her first job out of school was at a library, and library staff could check out unlimited books. She took full advantage of that perk and read constantly. During this period, she discovered Georgette Heyer’s novels and fell completely in love with the genre. That discovery shaped the rest of her career as an author.
Reading widely gave Audrey a foundation that later informed her own historical romance research. She already understood period-appropriate clothing terms, social customs, and daily routines before she started writing seriously. Consistent reading in a genre functions as its own kind of education, even without formal study. Audrey’s personal book collection now includes around four hundred research titles. Many of these are diaries from people who lived during or near the Regency period. She finds these firsthand accounts endlessly useful, even when their content seems mundane at first glance. One diary from a governess describes daily routines in exhausting detail, yet Audrey still mines it for authentic texture. She joked about wanting more gossip after a hundred and fifty pages of children being reported as well. That mix of boredom and dedication captures her approach to historical romance research generally.
She reads for atmosphere as much as for facts, letting small details accumulate over time. This habit of reading before writing gave her a natural fluency in the genre’s conventions. New writers hoping to enter historical romance could benefit from following a similar path, immersing themselves in the genre before attempting their own stories.
Building a research library
Audrey’s approach to historical romance research centers on collecting physical reference books alongside diaries and letters. She specifically mentioned The A-Z of Regency London 1819, a detailed street map she uses to plot where her characters live and travel. She also relies on Cant, a guide to the slang and language used by rogues in Georgian London. These resources help her avoid modern words that would feel out of place in a period story.
Audrey described checking word origins constantly while writing, since some common English words did not exist until well after the Regency ended. She gave an example of catching herself using a word first recorded in America decades too late for her setting. This kind of granular checking takes significant time, but Audrey considers it essential to credible historical romance research. She estimated spending three hours of research to produce a single line in a finished book. That ratio might sound inefficient, but she sees it as part of the enjoyment of writing in this genre.
Audrey believes a writer needs genuine enthusiasm for research to sustain a historical fiction career. Without that enthusiasm, the constant fact-checking would likely feel like a burden rather than a pleasure. She compared her own research habits favorably to Georgette Heyer, whose personal reference library became legendary among fans.
Audrey doesn’t claim the same level of expertise, but she shares Heyer’s commitment to accuracy wherever possible. Her research library keeps growing, and she described her family’s exasperation at yet another bookshop visit. That ongoing collection process feeds directly into the specificity readers notice in her finished novels.
Getting inside period-accurate mindsets
Writing convincing historical characters requires more than knowing the clothing and vocabulary of an era. Audrey explained that she also studies how people thought and reacted to situations differently than modern readers might expect. Diaries proved especially useful for understanding these mental shifts. She admitted that some diary entries shocked her with how much they contradicted popular assumptions about the period. Many people associate strict morality with earlier centuries, but Audrey found Georgian society far more permissive than expected. She noted that heavily enforced social rules often masked significant amounts of private misbehavior.
Audrey uses villain characters partly as an outlet for depicting that hidden side of history. This balance lets her keep the overall tone of her books clean while still hinting at a more complicated reality underneath. Her books stay relatively free of explicit content, partly because her nieces were early readers of her work. She wanted stories appropriate for young teenagers when she first started publishing. That personal constraint shaped her voice as much as any historical fact did.
Audrey’s comments suggest that accurate historical romance research includes emotional and psychological accuracy, not just physical details. Readers today might assume characters from two centuries ago felt and reacted the way modern people do.
Audrey pushes against that assumption by grounding her characters in period-specific attitudes toward class, gender, and propriety. She uses real historical events and social tensions to inform how her characters behave under pressure. This deeper layer of research helps her stories feel emotionally authentic rather than simply decorated with period costumes and settings.
Choosing settings that matter
Audrey’s stories take place across several locations, though she returns often to specific favorites. She has what she calls an obsession with Bath, a city in southern England she would happily call home. Many of her novels are set there, at least in part. London also appears frequently, since it served as the center of Regency-era society and culture.
Audrey has occasionally taken her stories further afield, including a novel set in Portugal during the Peninsular War. She traveled through Spain and Portugal for two weeks while researching that book, visiting actual battle sites in person. Only a small fraction of that trip made it directly into the finished novel, but the experience shaped her understanding of the setting.
Audrey noted that some of that unused research might resurface in a future story. This willingness to travel for historical romance research shows real dedication to authenticity. Not every author can visit the locations they write about, but Audrey clearly values firsthand experience when possible. Her north versus south England comparison also illustrates how much regional differences mattered during the period. Bath and London offered very different social experiences than the industrial towns further north. Audrey grew up in that northern region herself, which may explain her fascination with the more fashionable southern settings she writes about.
Choosing a setting isn’t just a backdrop decision for Audrey. Each location carries its own social rules, economic realities, and historical events that shape the plot. Her attention to place adds another layer of texture to her already detailed historical romance research process.
Letting research spark new stories
Audrey often finds that her research trips generate new story ideas rather than simply supporting existing ones. She described a visit to London’s Foundling Hospital that began purely out of curiosity. As she walked through the building, she felt an immediate pull to set a story there. That single visit eventually produced two separate novels. Audrey called this experience a recurring pattern in her creative process. A location or detail will spark a strong reaction, and she knows immediately that a story needs to come from it. Her husband has grown accustomed to these moments during family outings and vacations. He often jokes that she can’t visit anywhere without connecting it back to the Regency period somehow. Audrey laughed off his skepticism, insisting that some outings really are just for fun. Even so, her husband’s teasing points to a genuine pattern in how she works.
Historical romance research doesn’t happen only at a desk surrounded by books. It also happens during travel, museum visits, and even casual family trips. Audrey’s openness to inspiration from unexpected places keeps her creative process fresh across nearly forty published novels. She contrasted this organic process with a more structured plotting approach, noting that she identifies as a pantser. She rarely outlines before writing, preferring to follow ideas as they emerge. This looser structure means her research can shape the plot in real time rather than simply filling in details after an outline is set. That flexibility lets a single museum visit reroute an entire manuscript, something a more rigid planning process might not allow as easily.
Turning historical limits into plot devices
Historical settings create both opportunities and challenges for a novelist working through the constraints of an earlier era. Audrey noted that illnesses which are minor and treatable today were often fatal two centuries ago. This reality complicates any scene where a character needs to survive an injury or infection. She described researching period-appropriate head injuries that wouldn’t prove fatal, which alarmed her husband when he glanced over her shoulder. She has also researched historical poisons for a mystery subplot, another topic that raised eyebrows at home.
One novel required her to identify an animal bite that could cause illness without being immediately obvious to characters on a deserted island. Audrey joked that she has learned enough to become a herbalist if her writing career ever stalled. These specific, sometimes unusual research questions illustrate how detailed historical romance research can get in practice. Writers can’t simply invent medical outcomes that suit the plot without checking historical accuracy first. Audrey takes this responsibility seriously, even when the research topics sound alarming out of context. She sees these constraints as part of the fun rather than an obstacle to creativity.
Working within real historical limitations often pushes her toward more inventive plot solutions than she might otherwise find. A character can’t simply recover from a wound as easily as a modern character could, which raises the stakes naturally. Audrey’s comments suggest that historical accuracy and strong plotting aren’t in conflict. Instead, careful research can actually generate better story tension by forcing writers to work within genuine period constraints rather than around them.
Facing the realities of childbirth and mortality
Childbirth was one of the more dangerous realities of the period, and Audrey’s research turned up a striking example of it. She recalled reading a diary entry from a ship captain’s wife who gave birth to a stillborn child in the morning. That same woman hosted a dinner party later that same evening. Audrey admitted the entry still seems almost incomprehensible by modern standards. Losing a child today would typically halt all social obligations for an extended period.
During the Regency and Georgian eras, infant and child mortality rates were far higher than they are now. Families considered themselves fortunate if all their children survived to adulthood. Audrey noted that many women experienced multiple losses over their lifetimes, often without extensive public grieving. This detail reflects how differently death and loss factored into everyday historical life.
Modern readers might assume grief looked the same across centuries, but Audrey’s research suggests otherwise. Social expectations around mourning, resilience, and daily obligations shifted dramatically between then and now. Life during that period could be genuinely difficult in ways modern readers rarely consider. Audrey emphasized how routinely people faced loss without the support systems available today. This kind of emotional and social research matters as much as clothing or dialogue for building an accurate historical world.
From self-publishing to traditional deals
Audrey has self-published nearly all of her novels since her 2011 debut. 2023 marked a notable exception, when she published three Regency murder mysteries with Dragon Blade Publishing. The publisher gave her freedom to choose her preferred subgenre within the Regency setting. Audrey chose cozy mysteries, a category she has always personally enjoyed reading. Writing mysteries required a different approach than her usual romance-focused plots. She admitted that blending mystery elements proved challenging for a writer who doesn’t typically outline in advance. Looking back, she acknowledged that more structured planning would have helped the mystery-writing process significantly.
Despite that challenge, she described the experience as genuinely enjoyable overall. Audrey has since returned primarily to self-publishing for her ongoing projects. Her career illustrates that self-publishing and traditional publishing aren’t mutually exclusive paths for an established author. She moved between the two models based on which subgenre and publisher fit a specific project. This flexibility reflects broader shifts across the publishing industry, where successful independent authors sometimes take on traditional deals for select projects.
Audrey’s experience with Dragon Blade also shows how genre choice and publishing model can intersect. A traditional publisher might offer more infrastructure for a genre shift like moving into mysteries. Meanwhile, self-publishing gives her more direct control over her core Regency romance catalog. Both paths have clearly worked for her at different points in her career, and she doesn’t seem locked into one model going forward. Her willingness to experiment across formats mirrors her broader curiosity as demonstrated throughout her historical romance research process.
Researching authentic period dialogue
Dialogue research raises its own set of questions for Regency characters. Audrey points again to Georgette Heyer’s work as a strong reference point for period-appropriate speech patterns. Beyond fiction, Audrey relies on specialized reference books like her Cant guide to Georgian slang. She also keeps a large reference book focused specifically on sailing terminology for nautical scenes.
Audrey cautioned that general internet searches only go so far for this kind of detailed historical romance research. She prefers books with established scholarly credibility over unverified online sources. Diaries remain useful for dialogue research as well, especially transcriptions that preserve original spelling and punctuation. Audrey joked that some diarists had worse punctuation habits than she does.
Writing in British English rather than American English raises its own challenges. Audrey acknowledged that regional word choices can pull readers out of a story more than spelling differences do. She specifically mentioned that sidewalks and pavements represent different regional terms for the same feature. American readers might not notice the distinction, but British readers often catch these inconsistencies immediately.
Audrey also flagged the word ‘gotten’ as a common trip-up, since British English typically favors ‘got’ instead. These small choices matter more than people might expect for maintaining a consistent historical voice. Audrey’s attention to regional and period-specific language shows another dimension of her overall research process. Getting the history right isn’t enough if the dialogue sounds anachronistic or geographically inconsistent with the setting she has built.
Balancing a demanding writing schedule
Audrey described a writing schedule built around clear daily routines. She typically publishes around six novels per year, though she planned to slow that pace slightly going forward. Her mornings usually start with administrative tasks like emails and social media. Before lunch, she reviews and revises the previous day’s writing to tighten the prose. Afternoons are reserved for several hours of new writing, often five or six hours at a stretch.
As she nears the end of a manuscript, her writing days can stretch to fourteen hours regularly. Audrey acknowledged that this pace isn’t unusual for her during a project’s final stretch. When writer’s block strikes, she steps away from the manuscript entirely rather than forcing progress. She switches to a different story and lets the original idea rest in the background. Audrey described one specific block involving a plot point about an animal bite on a deserted island. She kept returning to the problem mentally until targeted historical romance research finally provided a solution. This pattern shows how research and problem-solving intertwine throughout her writing process. Blocks aren’t always about finding the right words; sometimes they require finding the right historical fact first.
Audrey’s schedule reflects significant discipline, built through years of balancing writing with other responsibilities. She credited her background juggling a full-time job, two young children, and night classes for that discipline. That foundation helps her maintain a demanding schedule even now, well into a prolific writing career spanning nearly forty published novels across multiple subgenres and two different publishing models.
Managing imposter syndrome as a bestselling author
Despite her commercial success, Audrey admitted she still struggles with confidence around each new release. She described experiencing significant imposter syndrome, a feeling she said anyone close to her would immediately recognize. Audrey said she often doubts her own abilities and considers finding a different career entirely. These feelings tend to intensify specifically around publication dates for new books. She relies on family and friends to reassure her during these periods of self-doubt. Audrey joked that her loved ones have learned to simply acknowledge her worries without much argument. That light, supportive response helps her move past the doubt and return to her regular routine.
Audrey traced part of her discipline and resilience back to her education. She earned a psychology degree while working full-time and raising two young children under five. Her husband worked shift hours during that period, adding further complexity to her schedule. Audrey credits that demanding chapter of her life with teaching her the discipline she still relies on today. She left school early and hated the traditional classroom environment throughout her childhood. Adult education, chosen on her own terms, gave her a completely different relationship with learning.
Audrey has occasionally mentored other writers she met through conferences, though she doesn’t run formal courses. She said she doesn’t feel qualified to teach a structured class, despite her extensive experience. She remains open to informal conversations with other authors through social media and her website. For readers new to her catalog, Audrey recommends starting with The Bluestocking’s Quest, the first book in an ongoing series that showcases her approach to historical romance research and storytelling in a single accessible volume.
About Audrey
Audrey Harrison believes she was born in the wrong century, though she’d miss modern showers and dental care too much to fully commit to time travel. A shy bookworm as a child, she escaped into stories rather than algebra, and took her first job in a library right after school. Over twenty years in the public sector followed, including stints with the police and in council crime prevention, until redundancy and a health scare finally gave her the space to write. She’s been writing full-time since 2011, still driven by an obsession with history, research, and family-centered stories with happy endings and unexpected twists. A 2018 Amazon Kindle Storyteller Award finalist, she credits her readers for the confidence to keep going despite lingering imposter syndrome.
This blog post was developed from a previous First Draft Friday conversation between Alessandra Torre and Audrey Harrison. Want to hear Audrey and Alessandra discuss these techniques in their own words? Watch the full 30-minute First Draft Friday conversation, including questions from the live audience. Episode #76
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