Research Mode

ByD'Ann Mateer
9 Comments

I’m currently researching the possibility of a project so I thought I’d pull back the curtain and let you see a bit of my process.

I say possibility because as interesting as the history is, I’m not sure yet if I can make it into a compelling novel. Which, honestly, is often the way a book project starts for me. 

Research mode, for me, entails several different things. 

First, I’m reading intensively. Right now it’s a biography of a woman influential in what we in America call The Great Awakening and in the UK they call The Evangelical Revival. But I’m not only reading and highlighting and taking notes on this woman’s life. I’m also noting the culture she lived in—mid-eighteenth century England—and the events of family and daily life during that time. 

Besides reading through an actual book, I’m also chasing rabbits online. When I find a person, place, or situation that seems to be prominent or intriguing, I go to the Internet to give me at least the basic facts. And those facts often lead to more rabbit trails! But some of the most interesting historical facts are found where the rabbits run. 

How do I organize all these various things? My process has evolved over the years, but at the moment I am doing several things: 

  1. I have a physical notebook for rabbit trails. Each page holds notes on a person, place, or event. New rabbit trail, new page. 
  2. I save webpages and google books into my Evernote files. Not only do I tag these by time period and geographical region, but I will also note something unique to this project so I can find them all again with one search.
  3. If I own a physical research book, I highlight as I read, but I’ve also been adding sticky flags on those pages with a one-word category of what the highlights on that page relate to. This, I hope, will make it easier to find what I need more quickly. 
  4. I will create a timeline once I have done a good bit of reading. I have mostly done this on paper, sometimes a spreadsheet, but this time I want to try an app I have called Aeon Timeline. 

Finally, I’ll let myself daydream. Because if there is one thing I know, it’s that historical fiction is fiction, no matter how much it is steeped in and centered around the historical record. So I still need to find the story and characters that resonate with me and with readers. 

Only after all of this time and effort can I evaluate if I really have a viable next writing project. Honestly, that’s the worst and hardest part of writing for me—deciding to dive into one thing over any of the other ideas in my head or in my that-might-make-a-good-story files. 

So that’s me in research mode. As a reader, does any part of the process surprise you? As a writer, any tips for managing research mode or deciding on a story to tell? 

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Inspired by novelist Eugenia Price, D’Ann’s dream of writing historical fiction with an element of faith began in middle school, though her serious drive toward publication took a bit longer. D’Ann is the author of four historical novels and one novella, as well as a contemporary short stories in a compilation volume. D’Ann and her husband of 30 years can be found in Austin, TX when they aren’t touring historic sites or visiting their grown children.

9 Comments

  1. This is very helpful. Thank you. Currently I bookmark and file research on my computer. For the WIP, I also build a spreadsheet bibliography. But Rabbit Holes and books are a mess. I love that you keep a rabbit hole notebook with one page per topic. How do you find the page you need? Do you keep a table of contents? I could do the same with book notes. Starting a new set of notebooks now!

    1. I put a heading at the top of my rabbit hole pages so I can flip through and find the subject I’m looking for. But a table of contents would work great, too. My notebook for that isn’t huge, so it’s manageable. And the pages are perforated so I will eventually remove and scan them into Evernote and tag them so I can find them again. Hope that helps!

  3. Love all those sticky note flags, D’Ann. I adore sticky notes. Ha! Sometimes I find something in history to inspire my stories, but often I work in the opposite direction. I have an idea for a story and then must research how that fits into the history of my time period. I keep a Word doc filled with research tidbits and links to websites with helpful information. Tidbits that seems the most crucial, I’ll copy and paste into the Word doc iteself. I’m working on a project right now with a heroine who is a staunch supporter of the temperance movement and an active member of the WCTU along with the Texas chapter. It’s been interesting learning more about the women who drove social reform and fought for sufferage along with temperance.

    You are so right about those rabbit trails. Sometimes they can turn up some fascinating history that ends up sparking an entire story. 🙂 Other times they just suck you down into a bottomless pit of information. Ha!

  4. You are so organized! I love to read how other writers organize their research, especially historical research. Thank you for chiming in too, Karen. Right now, I’m writing a historical novella and I have 10 windows open on my computer and two books open with highlights on my desk, in addition to a notebook with facts I jotted down. Research often slows me down when I need to start writing because I think I don’t know enough yet. How do you deal with missing information? Do you write around it or keep trying to find it before you start writing?

    1. I don’t consider myself a super organized researcher, I’ve just learned where to put things so I can find them again! I usually write around the missing info and search for it later. By the time I know enough for a timeline and the general overview of the history, I dive into story and go back later to research specific facts I need. I’m always tweaking my process!

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