researching tips / 3 posts found
Top 5 Things To Know Before Doing Archival Research on Your Book
I have worked in archives for 20 years and have helped many authors navigate this complex and thrilling world to support their own stories. What’s more, every novel I’ve written has featured an archive in one form or another. I love writing about the archives and the mysteries they contain. (How To Do Writing Research During a Lockdown) I also love doing archival research, which can be as satisfying as solving a tough crossword puzzle or fitting in that final puzzle piece. If you’re intrigued by the idea of using archives in your writing, here are the top five things […]
How To Do Writing Research During a Lockdown
I’ve always been a great believer in hands-on research. This dates from when I was writing my first novel, Living Dangerously. My heroine was a potter, and I asked a friend who was one to help me. She was willing, and we set a time for me to visit her in her working environment. I had imagined I’d stand in the corner of her studio and take notes. She had different ideas. She gave me a lump of clay and told me what to do. (Writing Inspirational Novels With Flawed Characters) The feeling of having the clay in my hands […]
Fear Factor: How Embedding in Extreme Environments Can Lead to Compelling Fiction
Fear is a big, dumb mutt of a word. It’s what you feel when a bus barrels at you head on, when a wonky email lands in your inbox, when your kid says he’ll be home by nine and it’s nearly 11. But fear is useful. It springs you from the path of that bus, lifts your hand from the keys, fires up your detective skills to track down your kid. But fear, in all its incarnations—dread, apprehension, anxiety, unease, even awe—can do more than save you from buses; it can also make you smarter, more adept in your surroundings, […]