I'm starting a story about a boy who lived in this time frame and I needed some help with finding out what it was like to live there. Like foods, transportation, all the good and the bad things that went on. It would help me out greatly to have someone help me out on this. Anything is appreciated. Thank you.
I'm a sucker for historical fiction, and having attempted to write one myself (and having subsequently failed), I'm going to say that Google is your best friend. There are certain specific details that you can always search for while you're writing, but it always speeds up the research process to jot down 'need-to-know's prior to hitting the library/the internet.
Like, when you talk about the 1800s, are you interested in the early 1800s, the 1850s, or the 1880s/90s? The early 1800s were quite a different place from the latter half, so you're going to have to narrow down to a specific time frame you're setting your novel in. Also, when you say '1800s', do you mean 19th century England? Or India? Or America? Setting is a subcontext in a series of contexts it's important to be certain of, because India in the 19th century was a very different place compared to other places, with a culture unique to itself (and this goes for any other culture that you might be writing in).
It's important to be sure that the information you have is correct, and that you're not making generalisations about a particular time, people, place, or circumstance, too. I find that it's more helpful to check out the references section in Wikipedia articles than the articles themselves, because those tend to be public domain and can be edited as such. I'm also a stickler for books over internet wherever possible, where history is concerned.
On transportation, maps, etc., I looked at a map of the London Underground for my novel, and those are very readily available on the internet. What specific place are you writing about? Also, how realistic do you want the novel to be? It's not possible to be correct at every instance while writing historical fiction, and inconsistencies /do/ exist. This article might help a tad. Plus, I'm always an advocate of reading what you write, so read all the historical fiction you can get your hands on (good /and/ bad)!
I'm a bit late here, but I thoroughly agree with Pompadour! When and where are important. We tend to blend together decades from other centuries, or even centuries from other millenia. But life wasn't the same for everyone, everywhere, everywhen. Sure, there are some things that were universal (for example, people didn't wash their hair. Even rich people. It was not a thing they did. They brushed their hair a lot, and washed the brush. It was time consuming, but it worked because their scalps weren't constantly compensating for all the oil that just got washed out. Cool, right?), but most of the little details of everyday life that you're looking for are not.
However, if you want to know anything about 1830's France, I'm your girl. Anyone from the Les Mis fandom, really.
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