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Do you have specific recommended sources for the "pre-Statute Britain and Ireland" part of your Harry Potter worldbuilding, or is it just sort of a melange of stuff you've picked up + too many papers to concisely list them? You're one of the few HP fic writers I've come across who seems to be familiar with "how stuff actually worked during these times, in these places," and of them, you're definitely the most prolific.

(I am specifically trying to keep this from being an onerous question, please do not feel like you have to spend an hour ((or more, god forbid)) going through a bibliography or something)

Thank you!

So, I think one preliminary aspect of making Harry Potter worldbuilding make sense is understanding that before you get to the Statute or anywhere in modern times, the canon verse is already an alternate history. (Or more specifically a secret history, but the distinction isn't important at that point.) On the one hand, canon is clear that real knowledge about magic was removed from the muggle world and obfuscated, which means that some magical practices that had other functions in our world (religious, emotional, political, etc.) also/instead had literal effects in their history, and therefore magic must have had real effects on events. On the other, there's this second society of magical people running around who have institutions and cultural practices that didn't exist or have clear parallels in the real world stretching back well before the Statute.

But at the same time, that alternate history has to be close enough to get us something very close to the real world 90s; there are subtle differences (some terror attacks in the Troubles were canonically Death Eater activities, for example, and I think there's some indirect evidence that UK elections went differently in the 90s) but basically we ended up with a recognizable modern world. So I tend to assume magical institutions/cultural practices/etc make the most sense as kind of a fictional subculture embedded within real events and broad cultural changes even before the Statute. They're affected by real world historical events - including after the Statute, just in different ways - but they have their own stuff going on, and the ways they're affected aren't always straightforward. Plus their economy is different, they live for hundreds of years, their medicine is different, etc.

So, I definitely take stuff for inspiration, but I'm not necessarily trying to make magical culture or history precisely match the real world.

But I think exposure to both different kinds of art/literature (historical media, and historical fiction from our time) and research can really help with portraying that, and doing it creatively. Middle Ages economies and politics were often locally variable anyway, and honestly, there's a lot we don't know, so having different interpretations (in pop culture as in research) is valuable for thinking about the past.

As for working on it yourself, my recommendation would be to read some general histories to give yourself a sense of broad chronology, important events, long-term developments, etc, and then read more specific works on what you're interested in or what you particularly want to write about. When reading nonfiction, I would generally recommend sticking to some combination of academic work, pop history by academics, and pop history that specifically cites academic or archival sources. Some of this is definitely available in other formats like podcasts and indie documentaries, but be careful vetting stuff. Unfortunately, the history media market includes a lot of straight up misinformation and lies. Also keep in mind that academics often disagree with each other; at first you may not be very informed, but I recommend thinking about the evidence each author offers and whether you agree with their conclusions from the beginning. These judgments will be more valuable as you learn more.

With historical fiction in general and historical fantasy in particular you're never going to be one hundred percent right - on the one hand, research is always continuing and changing, and on the other there's a point where as a historian I can say "and that's all we know," whereas as a writer I have to make a decision about underwear or swordplay or whatever, right or wrong. IMO what makes historical fiction well-researched is when you can leave people with a better understanding of something about the past than they started with, and a sense of curiosity about learning more. I hope I've succeeded at that!

(General disclaimer: I think most of you know this but I work on the Middle East and Eastern Europe, not western Europe, and while I do some global and cross-cultural professional work, most of my Harry Potter-related reading is more of a hobby than my job.)

Some introductory book recs:

The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe, Matthew Gabriele & David M. Perry

Byzantium: The Bridge from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, Michael Angold

Europe After Rome: A New Cultural History: 500-1000, Julia M.H. Smith

Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250, Florin Curta

Farming in the First Millennium AD: British agriculture between Julius Caesar and William the Conqueror, Peter Fowler

If you have specific interests go ahead and send a follow up ask or ask me on Discord!

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PEAKY BLINDERS  Season 1 | Episode 3

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Bride of Winter | Catelyn Stark, née Tully

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ok ignore how shitty this gif is i made it in two seconds but like oh my god are you guys seeing this. audibly went oh my god out loud in the theater

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If you don't get away, you just become what everybody already thinks you are.

THIS TOWN (2024-) dir. Paul Whittington

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can we talk about the details in challengers though bc yes the churro scene but patrick hooking a foot under the stool next to him so art will sit closer to him. patrick swiping through all the girls but taking a minute to swipe the guy on the app. the beds pushed together. the mirroring action of art spitting his gum in tashi's hand now and in patrick's hand then. everything, just everything.

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art having all the athletic qualities that make him the husband (drive, will, humility) and patrick having all the athletic prowess that make him the mistress (talent, charm, ego), which of course means together they make the perfect doubles team

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There is a sort of constant battle between the two of them to the degree that they are fighting, but they are taking care of one another. When the sugar goes on the cheek of Patrick, Art takes it off with his hand in a very nice gesture of kindness -- and very intimate, I would say. But at the same time, they are really tense. And I think it’s about being jealous of one another, but at the same time wanting one another.

Challengers (2024) dir. Luca Guadagnino

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When you hear a new song on the radio and you’re desperately trying to pick a notable phrase so you can google it later

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“im not gonna do anymore thumbnai—“

this one is fun, i will probably mess with the idea some more but i really want to make a rhaenicent print… they make me crazy

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I felt like drawing flower crowns again.

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Challengers, 2024

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Art spitting his gum into Tashi’s hand and then them showing Art spitting his gum into Patrick’s hand when they were younger was fantastic

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after several discussions that left me baffled, let me throw this out to the masses: do you look at ao3's icons when you're looking for a fic to read?

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for a canon-compliant Regulus bildungsroman (Reg/Evan relationship)…

Regulus’s friend group will regardless include Rabastan, for Reasons, and I’m kind of leaning Evan older and Barty younger based on what canon implies but idk.

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New Crow Time 🎀🏅