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Becky Levine on Research & Finding your Story in the Details

I’ve mentioned before how much I love Becky Levine’s book, The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide. If you just joined a group, if you’re thinking of starting your own group, or if you’re wondering why the writing group you’re in works (or doesn’t), you should read this book.
Becky Levine’s expertise stretches well beyond writing groups. She’s an editor and freelance writer who also writes picture books and young adult fiction. When she speaks, I pay attention. Not long ago, she posted on Facebook about one of her current projects, a historical fiction, and I asked if she’d be willing to stop by and talk about research for such a project. I’m thrilled and honored she said yes.
Welcome, Becky!
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When Christi asked me if I’d write a guest post about research in historical fiction, my first reaction was pretty much: “But I SO haven’t figured that out yet.” Then I remembered that a lot of my favorite posts are ones where I sort of think things through, so I checked with Christi if that would work. Luckily (?!), she said, “Yes.”

The first thing you should know is that I am a fan of historical fiction that does not cover the page with heavy layers of historical detail. I much prefer books that use as few words as possible and still manage to give me a strong sense of time and place. (For some examples, see Sherrie L. Smith’s Flygirl, Joyce Moyer Hostetter’s Healing Water, and Kathryn Fitzmaurice’s A Diamond in the Desert.) Basically, I want more story than history.

The second thing you should know is that writing a historical-fiction novel that stays light on details does not, as far as I can tell, cut down the amount of research you have to do. Obviously, you can’t know which details are the perfect ones until you’ve found them. Which, on some days, makes me sigh.

Because, honestly, I have a love-hate relationship with research.

I love falling in love with my world. My current WIP is set in 1910ish Chicago, with threads of Hull-House, a possible cameo from Jane Addams, and questions about carving out a life in America as the daughter of immigrants, especially an immigrant mother who lives in constant fear of that world out there. Let me tell you, Chicago at the turn of the last century was an amazing place. If something was happening in America, it was happening in Chicago. And, probably, it was happening at Hull-House. Change was thick in the air, and, yet, when I stand at a distance and look at 1912 and 2012, it seems to me that too little has changed.

Which Way?What’s the hate part? Okay, hate is probably too strong a word. Confusion? Lost-in-the-maze-itis? A strong feeling of Not-in-Kansas, anymore? Research can be a matter of looking for one specific fact that you’re sure you need to know. (Should I tell you how many pages I read trying to figure out whether, if you went to Hull-House, you knocked on the door or just walked in?) It can be a process of reading an entire book about one narrow subject. (Hey, I’ve got a great read for you on how electricity came to Chicago!) It can be trips to the library, browsing through their catalog, tapping your neighbor’s shoulder, and asking them if they can think up another keyword for your search on hospitals in 1910. (Forget cellphones: how did you get hold of an ambulance before there was at least a payphone on every corner?) There are days, truly, that the research is overwhelming.

So why do it? Because you never know what you’re going to find. (That’s the love and the hate part!) I’ve read several books on Hull-House and Jane Addams, and the details I can choose from are plenty. Hopefully I’ll use the right ones. They’re not, however, the most important thing I’ve learned from all that reading. What is? The feeling of the settlement house, the sense of women who really cared; who pushed their own limits to find a job where they could be useful; who made sacrifices so they could surround themselves with like-minded, intelligent, creative thinkers. The sense of a place where, if you did knock on that door, someone was going to open it, draw you inside, put you to work, and give you a home. A better one than the one you’d left behind.

So you turn pages, you browse the Internet, you read letters and diaries, you talk to people at museums. Gradually, piece-by-piece, you come to an understanding of the world you’re writing about. An understanding that I think, I hope, will seep into the pages of your story and create that feeling of a distinct, unique world. Without burying your reader in detail after detail after detail.

Yes, it’s important for me to know the facts about what happens at the Hull-House door. It’s even more important for me, and my reader, to feel the energy and excitement that was going on behind it. And research—whether you love it, hate it, or (most likely) both—is the path to it all.

Becky Levine is a writer living in California’s Santa Cruz mountains. She’s currently working on a young-adult historical novel, as well as her first picture book. Becky is the author of The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide (Writer’s Digest, 2010) and works part-time as a grant writer for a local art and history museum.

*Blog photo credits: Dru Bloomfield on flickr.com and Cohdra on morgueFile.com

 

 

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Plan the Story, Meet Your Characters.

I used to believe that my best writing happened while under pressure and without a plan. Pick a prompt, jump on a first line, go.That strategy still works for small projects, but when I approach a longer, more complex story – like a novel – I find some planning helps.

During the last several months, before I kicked off with the first paragraph of a novel I wanted to write, I tampered with outlines and notecards and concept maps, trying to wrap my head around the heart of a story (this particular novel requires research and a definite sense of direction). I also spent time with my characters.

In the past, I would begin a story with a fuzzy vision of a main character, his or her name, a hint at what they wanted. But this time around, I dug deeper. I gathered a pool of resources for character development and probed into the lives of a few people the novel would spotlight.

If you peruse Twitter or Facebook or your favorite author’s blog, you’ll find plenty of character worksheets. The questions on the worksheets vary, but they all read like an application. I’ll print off these sheets from time to time, especially when they come from an author whose work I appreciate, but no one sheet or exercise works well for me. Maybe they’re too rigid for this panster at heart. So, instead of relying on one specific form of character development, I pulled ideas from a few different places and gave myself a variety of prompts from which to draw.

1. The Character Sketch

From the presses of Writer’s Digest comes a great publication, Write Your Novel in 30 Days, complete with worksheets like the ones mentioned above. This simple form (one of many within the workbook) guides you through the basics, like name and birth date and physical descriptions. It also prompts you to consider character role and internal or external conflicts.

2. Characterization Exercises

Cathy Day (author of The Comeback Season and the blog, The Big Thing) spoke on a panel at the AWP Conference in Chicago this year. I couldn’t make it into the conference (though I got close), but I did find access to a document, compiled by Day and her group of panelists, on the best practices for teaching a novel workshop. I’d love to take one of these classes, but since I can’t, I’m especially grateful for the few writing exercises listed within:

  • “Describe each of your primary characters in the novel…their psychology: likes/dislikes, hopes and fears, odd predilections, good and bad habits…friends and nemeses.”
  • “Let’s hear them. Write representative speeches…for each of the primary characters.”

3. Character Visualization

From the files of Glimmer Train, Yelizaveta P. Renfro’s article about “Creating the Fictional Family” focuses on several directions writers can take, questions to ask or exercises in visualization:

  • “Visit your characters at home. Family often have specific places that are important to them…. Spend some time mentally visiting the places that are important to your characters, and write down everything you can.”
  • “Picture your characters. Having a physcial picture of your characters can help you get to know them. Find a photo or a painting of your fictional family. . . . Once you have your picture, put it at your side and write everything you observe in the image.”

Renfro suggests stopping into an antique store for pictures of real people. I’m suggesting another idea: the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog, where you can search for and find thousands of images. Little treasures, like this one:

Photos that make you want to tell a story.

Do you plan? And, how do you get to know your characters?

* photo credit: Alvimann @ morgueFile.com
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Put on your listening ears, we’re reading.

This week, I am part of a virtual literary salon. Last December, my story, “If It Wasn’t for Sylva”, was published in an anthology. As a bit of promotion for the book, E. Victoria Flynn, Stephen Penner, and I made videos of ourselves reading excerpts from our stories.

While you sit in your comfy chair and sip your latte or stir your chamomile tea or crunch ice from that mid-day mojito (because I have a certain friend vacationing in Puerto Rico as I type this…lucky girl), you can click and listen to a sampling of stories from The Dead Shoe Society Anthology.

I recorded the video below a few days ago with my son’s iPod (used totally without permission, but then I did help purchase the thing), while sitting in the dining room under natural light, praying the phone wouldn’t ring and hoping the pixels might soften my crow’s feet. The whole experience was witnessed by an audience of one — the mailman, who dropped the mail through the slot just as I stopped recording.

He always has such good timing.

Following the video, you’ll find information below on how to get your hands on the book and read more if you want. Too, don’t forget to stop by E. Victoria Flynn’s website to hear a snippet of her story, “The Deadest One”, and Stephen Penner’s site to catch a bit of his story, “Lady Justice Wears Heels”.

Drumroll, please…and Play.

Click here to listen to E. Victoria Flynn.

And, here to listen to Stephen Penner.

The Dead Shoe Society Anthology can be purchased on Amazon or on Smashwords, in print or in e-Book format.