Joanna Miller: 'Never let research and historical accuracy get in the way of telling a good story'
BY Maya Fernandes
3rd Apr 2025
Joanna Miller was a student on our Writing Historical Fiction and Write to the End of Your Novel courses in 2021, and The Rewrite Doctor course in 2022. We caught up to discuss the release of her debut novel, The Eights – out now from Fig Tree.
We spoke to Joanna about her research process, how she navigated the challenge of balancing multiple narratives and her advice for aspiring historical fiction writers.
Joanna, you studied on our Writing Historical Fiction and Write to the End of Your Novel courses in 2021, before taking our The Rewrite Doctor course in 2022. How did studying with us impact your approach to writing?
Writing Historical Fiction was my first ever novel-writing course and hence I devoured every single drop of information, listening to some sessions twice! It was perfectly pitched for an emerging writer and also extremely practical; I was keen to know what not to do, as well as what would work. Some of the passages I wrote on the course – and on Write to the End of your Novel – made it through countless rounds of edits and appear in the published version of The Eights.
The Eights explores the lives of the first four women at Oxford University in the 1920s. What inspired you to write about this moment in history?
Oxford is one of my favourite cities in the world, and I am lucky enough to have studied there three times. In 2020, the university shared a post celebrating one hundred years of women being admitted as students. The images were grainy and the faces solemn, but I instantly wanted to know who these pioneering women were, and what hurdles they had faced to get there.
Harold Macmillan described Oxford after the Great War as a ‘city of ghosts’ and I soon realised that a novel set in 1920 would need to consider the impact of the war on its characters. I began my research by reading Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth. Brittian’s description of returning to Oxford after nursing in France inspired Otto’s story in The Eights. Brittain appears several times as a cameo.
Each of your main characters comes from a very different background. Did you find it challenging to balance the different narratives?
The Eights is told in the third person, with the point of view shifting between four women; grieving Dora, enthusiastic Beatrice, quiet Marianne and sharp-tongued Otto.
To ensure the woman got equal attention, I kept a tally of the various points of view and assigned each person a different coloured font so I could check that nobody disappeared for too long. Because the four characters were often together, I had to think about whose ‘experience’ of a scene was most interesting and what that would mean for the reader.
I differentiated between the characters by considering their verbal tics, speech patterns and body language. I wanted each woman to view the world in their own unique way, noticing separate things and using different imagery from their friends.
Writing about post-World War I England must have required a lot of research. Were there any particular discoveries that surprised you during your research?
I thoroughly enjoyed researching The Eights, especially when I came across something fascinating that I knew would enhance the story. Social histories and memoirs were my starting point and Oxford’s Bodleian Library kindly renewed my card after thirty years, allowing me to access hundreds of documents relating to the first women students. I even stayed overnight at St Hugh’s College, where the story is set, and got to read first-hand accounts by students from the 1920s.
I was surprised to discover how strict the rules were for the women; no alcohol, no mixed dances, not being allowed to talk to men at lectures, morning roll call in chapel, curfews and having to pay for chaperones if meeting men.
Oxford’s first women students were also subject to misogyny; they were mocked in university publications, refused entry to societies and male dons could refuse to teach them. The Oxford Union debated whether women’s colleges should be razed to the ground. All great material for a novelist!
What tips would you give to aspiring authors trying to write within the historical fiction genre?
- Visit locations in the novel if you can, preferably at different seasons and walk the routes your characters would have taken. I visited Oxford over fifty times in the course of writing The Eights, often with my dog, Dickens, in tow. I never left without something useful to add to the novel.
- Immerse yourself in the music, art, literature, film, and photography of the period. Collate all your research in a private Instagram profile that you can revisit at any time. I read novels, magazines, and newspapers published in 1920 (available in the British Library) which helped me develop a feel for the language of the period. Dialogue needs to be accessible to modern readers, and a nod to the era is often all that is required.
- Never let research and historical accuracy get in the way of telling a good story. It can be hard to let go of the fascinating research you’ve done but cutting ‘info dumping’ from a first draft can really add pace. Some authors say that you should do your historical research and then forget it all. For me, research was ongoing; I was still adding new facts and ideas at the last possible moment.
Do you have any historical fiction books on your ‘to be read’ pile that you’re really excited about?
I’m away from home at the moment but have brought with me The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue, Small Bomb at Dimperley by Lissa Evans, and The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable. I’ve heard great things about all three.
A happy bonus of becoming a published author is being sent proof copies of novels. It is such a privilege! Three historical fiction debuts coming out soon that I would recommend are: Mere by Danielle Giles (3 April), The Midnight Carousel by Fiza Saeed McLynn (24 April) and The Show Woman by Emma Cowing (1 May).
And finally, what’s next for your writing journey?
For the next few months, I’ll be busy publicising The Eights but I’m currently researching my second novel. It’s set just before World War One. I hope to complete the first draft when I am a Writer in Residence at Gladstone’s Library later this year.
Get your hands on a copy of The Eights.
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