Wednesday, October 04, 2006
How do I balance research and writing?
Readers often inquire if I do the research first or begin writing first. Once I get an idea for a book, I do preliminary research. When I have a general command of the time and the events in the story, then I begin to write.
While writing, I do a bit of a dance between writing and research. I write until I need to know a detail, then I return to the sources. I find out what I need to know and then go back to the writing. So it is back and forth between the research and the writing.
In my forthcoming book, Lili's War, I had to find out when the residents of Philadelphia read about the battle of the Wilderness in the newspapers and if a train went from Philadelphia to York, Pennsylvania. In both cases the writing could not continue until I found out these details.
After I am done, I check to make sure I have all the details correct. For example, in colonial times men wore "cocked hats." Today we call them "tricorn hats." If I find that the word "tricorn" has slipped in anywhere, I have to replace with "cocked."
While writing, I do a bit of a dance between writing and research. I write until I need to know a detail, then I return to the sources. I find out what I need to know and then go back to the writing. So it is back and forth between the research and the writing.
In my forthcoming book, Lili's War, I had to find out when the residents of Philadelphia read about the battle of the Wilderness in the newspapers and if a train went from Philadelphia to York, Pennsylvania. In both cases the writing could not continue until I found out these details.
After I am done, I check to make sure I have all the details correct. For example, in colonial times men wore "cocked hats." Today we call them "tricorn hats." If I find that the word "tricorn" has slipped in anywhere, I have to replace with "cocked."
