Cyndi's List: currently boasts over 120,000 links.  

Genealogy Links: This site concentrates on searchable databases.

Genealogy Newsgroups/Mailing Lists

Rootsweb is home to many genealogy mailing lists.  Although some of the lists are dedicated to a particular family name, Rootsweb has more than 24,000 lists, many of which relate to particular places, periods, or groups (whether defined by ethnicity, religion, occupation etc). 

You'll also find details of some mailing lists on Cyndi's List.

Some mailing lists are more active than others; some list members are newbies, while others are very knowledgeable about their areas of interest. Some genealogy lists are strictly for genealogists; others are for anyone interested in the "genealogy, history, or society of [insert area of interest]."  Check the list descriptions. If you find a list that covers your area of interest, and you're not sure whether it is or isn't for genealogists only, ask the list owner.

As with all things on the internet, the usual caveat applies to websites and newsgroups: use your common sense, use the internet as a starting point, and double check the facts. 

Genealogy "How To" Books

There are a many books on "Researching Your Ancestors".  Browse through a few next time you're in a bookshop or your local library.

Why might such books be useful to the historical writer?  Because the best of them are a plain English guide to past laws and society; they will tell you what records are available, and what records you are unlikely to find, and why.  For example, most experienced genealogists would be able to tell you that it isn't a good idea to marry your 19th Century English hero to his deceased wife's sister. 

Genealogy Software

This is the software that genealogists use to record information.

Given the popularity of genealogy, many of you will have a genealogy program on your computer, and will be aware of what the latest software can (and can't) do. If you have one of these programs, take another look at it, and start thinking fictional people instead of dead people.  Ask yourself whether this software might help you create characters and plan your books, or whether it might assist in keeping track of developments in your latest WIP.

Although many of these programs began life as "genealogy" programs (names, dates, and family tree charts), some have developed into family history research management tools that will also hold narratives and photographs, help you record and plan your research, will create bibliographies, timelines, chronologies and....  

And, yes, they will also create family tree charts.  Have you ever picked up a novel and opened it to find a family tree chart in the first few pages?  Publishers use these because charts make some relationships easier to follow.  If nothing else, consider using the charting facility, whether your book is historical or contemporary, stand alone or one in a series.  

If you don't have any genealogy software, but think you might find it useful, then try talking to some genealogists about what the various programs will and won't do -- there are numerous programs available, and they all have different strengths and weaknesses. If you don't know any genealogists, then there are mailing lists for genealogy software.

All writers work differently, and not everyone will find this software useful.  The question is: will it help you?

Some of the software producers used to provide working demos, but seem to  have now moved to "walkthroughs" -- e.g.  Family Tree Maker and The Master Genealogist.  

The only free working demo of which I'm currently aware is Relatively Yours II, a fairly recent Australian program for genealogists and family historians.  This is a limited working version (limited by the number of people about whom information can be entered), is about 20MB in size, and has to be downloaded in 2 files.