Research Mode

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