Tag: Research

Posted in Research

Sometimes We Must Sacrifice for Our Art

Posted on by beckylevine

And sometimes, we just get to enjoy that sacrifice a whole lot!

Here’s what I’ll be doing this week:

 I have gotten quite behind in my research reading for my historical YA. “Behind” translates into, “Oh, boy, do I have a lot of books out from the library that can’t be renewed for much longer!”  So this week, although I’m hoping to get some scene plotting done as well, a big chunk of my time will be alloted to, if not reading all these books, at least reading through them to see if they have any of the information I need.

And, then, you know, I’ll put them back on my shelf and return them to their various library homes, until I get to another chapter and realize I need them again!

It’s supposed to rain on and off this week, so, honestly, I’m looking forward to quiet time on the couch, with the rain falling outside and the cat keeping me company inside. It’s been a fairly disjoined week or two, as well, so I’m also looking forward to refocusing, re-immersing myself in my story world—getting back into the time and setting, while I mull over what trouble my MC will get herself into next. The one thing I’ve learned about this character, is that—as much as there are times I’d like to—I can’t rush her.

Plus, it’s weeks like these, when I feel like maybe you’re stepping too far away from the writing, that I surprise myself by finding treasures to bring back to it.

What’s your project for the week?

Posted in Research

Friday Five: What I Learned at the Library

Posted on by beckylevine

Let’s go back a few years. Okay, a few decades, to the last time I did any substantive research at a library. Let’s call that year, oh…1985. University of Virginia. A beautiful library.

With card catalogs and books.

Basically, you looked through the catalog and then you went and looked through the book. I vaguely remember that they did have computers, and you could find and get a copy of a journal article or two, but I honestly can’t remember if I did that myself, or if those computers were only for the librarians to get into.

The basic thing I’m saying here is that your resources were limited. It didn’t feel that way, it felt wonderful and exciting and like you were going down multiple paths to find out about your chosen subject.

Ha. 

The “me” that was doing research then had no clue about how many paths there were, or how far the spider webs of connective research could spread. Because, you know, the Internet was just a gleam in some ten-year-old’s eye back then. That’s just one of the many things I learned on my trip to San Jose’s Martin Luther King library this week. Here are a few others.

1. You are now allowed to bring food and drink into a library. Really! They even have a little cafe down on the first floor where you can buy it. Some floors only allow the drink, but, where I was working, it was all good.  And Numi Green Tea and a Cool Mint cliff bar make research a much happier thing.

2. Librarians are saints. Definitely. Here’s the thing, though–They’re really good at this research stuff. And they make it look pretty darned easy. Um…not. My best recommendation to you–if you sit down at the computer, and what you thought they told you to do just doesn’t work like it did for them, go back and ask for more help. If you can’t email or save the file you thought you’d be able to, go back and ask for more help. If you don’t know how to even start finding the books and articles on that list of autobiographies by women doctors, go back and…well, you get the point. Because they’ll keep helping you! Nicely. With smiles. And not an ounce of that “Are you an idiot, or what?” tone you’re so afraid of hearing.

3. You don’t need to bring any coins for the copy machine. I didn’t even see a copy machine. And you may very well not have to worry about paying for printed copies. You just…are you ready? EMAIL everything to yourself! (Okay, well, you go back and ask for help emailing everything to yourself!)

4. Libraries are still quiet, but they’re not painfully quiet, anymore. Remember, you already have sipping and munching noises. And you have the faint click of lots of people texting on their phones (yes, me, too). You even have a few faint voices of people *gasp* TALKING on their phones. Now I did venture up to the top floor to look for a few books, and that floor was labeled as a quiet zone, and it was…very quiet. But, you know, the quiet zone used to be the whole library.

5. This last thing I learned may be more about me than about the library, although they’re tied together. There is, for me, a quality of research I’ll call TMI. Yes, Too Much Information. I don’t know if my brain is hard-wired this way, or if it just needs to be stretched and retrained out of those card-catalog-to-book limits, but my synapses do not go happily along all the possibilities the Internet and Intranet offer. My visit felt a little bit like the computer was asking me over and over, with increasing impatience, “Is this what you need? Is this what you need?” And all I could say back was “I don’t know. I don’t know.”

There’s a tie-in here, somewhere, with the introvert-extravert definitions at Shrinking Violet Promotions (where an introvert may or may not be shy, but does get an energy-recharge from alone time; an extrovert gets that same research from interacting with other people). My visit to the library was not a recharge experience.

I’m not positive, but I think I found some resources that will help me with my story. I feel like I just dipped into things, and only the next couple of weeks of downloading and reading will tell me if I skimmed any gold off that surface. I’ll need to go back to the library, and I will go. I’m pretty sure I’ll get better at this each time I go.

But only, you know, because of #2.  🙂

Posted in Research, Uncategorized

True Confessions: When Research Gets Scary

Posted on by beckylevine

Remember this photo?

I posted it sometime last year (?) to show how big my stack of research books was getting. Of course, that stack has grown since then, and let’s not even count the books that have come home from and gone back to the libraries.

I find research at once exciting, inspiring, and frustrating. I read so many pages, and–lots of times–I just find myself diving into the world my characters live in. I discover facts that make story connections leap into my brain, read about social and cultural trends that unfold personality layers and conflicts, and find beautiful little details that I can use for setting and atmosphere.

Other times, I can’t find what I want.

That’s what last week was like. I spent way too much time on the Internet, obviously googling all the WRONG terms. I browsed online, trying to find the right books to enlighten me. Can you say dead end? Picture Wile E. Coyote painting the “tunnel” on the rock, the Roadrunner zipping through, and Wile crashing absolutely into the stone. Yep.

So…I’m going to the library on Tuesday. My wonderful bookmobile librarian has helped me figure out that some of the stuff I need is at the San Jose State University library, which I can actually get access to with my San Jose REGULAR library card (they’re connected somehow, by one of those magic, wand-waving library affiliations). And she’s told me, kindly, but firmly, that I need to go there.

Now, I like libraries. I LOVE libraries. When I was little, my sisters and I were just like the kids in Edward Eager’s books, checking out our 10 books from the library, per week, and sharing them around so we’d have (wait, let me do the math) 30 books each to read. My school librarians were always friends, because, you know–they didn’t have to do an ounce of work to get me to read. (Although I do wonder what my 4th-6th grade librarian thought of me checking out Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain multiple times during those years. Secret? I thought it was a fantasy novel, but it was SO big, I never cracked the cover to find out the truth!) Libraries are cozy, warm, and–let’s face it–smell like paper and ink.

But library research? Um, not so much. I’ve done my share. In 10th grade, I wrote my nonfiction research paper about fairies (yes, really), and you can imagine that  took a bit of digging. I did my master’s orals on the Brontës and my thesis on Wuthering Heights. More digging.

I don’t [Insert appropriately whiny tone here.] like it, though. I find it…overwhelming. It’s like trying to solve an Agatha Christie mystery, without any assurance that Poirot will actually tell you what happened at the end. One reference leads to another, leads to another, leads to…you get the point. And even if you DO find the actual document you want, it won’t necessarily be a lovely memoir or well-written history book. It might be…an academic article! Or an original source that’s filled with numbers and statistics and data, all in someone’s charmingly scribbly, totally illegible cursive.

I know, you’re thinking…well, why the heck is she writing historical fiction. Oh, because this silly girl came to me, as I was reading about the 1913 Suffragist march on Washington, DC, and said, “I want to be at that march. I need to be at that march!” And now I’m in love with that girl, totally stuck with the belief that she’s right.

Which means, yes, I need to be at that library. I’m listening to all of you historical-fiction and history writers (Yes, you know who you are–stop looking over your shoulders to see if I’m talking to someone else!), and I’m going to put my worries in the hands of a librarian. I’ve blocked out all of school hours on Tuesday, and I’m driving to downtown San Jose, and I’ll have my notebook and my pencils and my questions and my open mind, and I’m going to put myself in the hands of a kind, supportive, technically-savvy librarian.

And, hopefully…

that painted black spot on the rock face will turn into a real tunnel for me, and I’ll come out the other side, with the details and atmosphere I need.  Wish me luck!

Posted in History, Research

Five Historic Tidbits on a Friday

Posted on by beckylevine

Been deep in lovely research all week. Here are a few things I’ve learned about being an immigrant on your way to Chicago in the early twentieth century

  1. You might not make it. The Immigrants’ Protective League kept stats on how many girls were supposedly put on a train to Chicago, from their port of entry, and didn’t get there. Some they found. Some they didn’t.
  2. The address you had for your family might not be real, might be wrong, or might have had a change of residents three times over since you got it.
  3. You were very likely to have lost track of your luggage, including the feather bed you’d brought with you.
  4. You were put on a train to be “fair” to the railways, even if it meant a few extra days of travel. Say there were 10 railways with trains leaving your port of entry and going to Chicago, with various and sundry stops along the way. Say there were 500 immigrants that day on their ways to Chicago. 50 immigrants went on each train, even if it meant heading down to Norfolk, Virginia, then back up to Chicago. If you didn’t bring enough food for the extra legs of the journey, oh, well.
  5. If you were one of the lucky ones, someone from the Immigrant Protective League was at the station, or across the street in their offices, to greet you in your own language and help you find your way through the maze of confusion to your new home. With a bed to stay in for a few days, if needed, while they tracked down that address or that family. And found you a job.

Because, at that point, the government sure wasn’t going to help you.

Posted in Research

I’m Off!

Posted on by beckylevine

This’ll be me tomorrow morning—bright, early, and probably surprisingly chipper!

airplane01

We kind of go down, over & up, then down again (if you’re looking down at the map, that is!), with lots of layovers, so we probably won’t get to Illinois much faster than if we WERE in this little plane. But we’ve got books, music, podcasts, a deck of cards with Gin Rummy instructions, and–best of all–anticipation! Son is probably looking forward to midwest-cousin time as much as I’m looking forward to Chicago, so we’re both going to be in great moods.

Hopefully, those moods will last through security checks, over-crowded flights, and a dearth of free airplane peanuts.

I’ll most likely be off-blogs and Twiter/FB for a few days. Just think of me walking museum halls, burying myself in research stacks, and eating Chicago pizza to find out WHY it’s so different from California’s.

Have a great week, everyone!

Posted in Research, Uncategorized, WIP

Friday Five: Chicago Countdown

Posted on by beckylevine

1. In four mornings, son and I will get on a plane–okay, THREE planes–to Urbana, Illinois, where my older sister & family live.

2. In five mornings, I will hug son good-bye and travel with my sister (in her cool Prius; think she’ll let me drive?) to CHICAGO, where we’re staying for two nights, basically two days, and many, many research stops.

  • Hull-House museum (the ORIGINAL house from which Jane Addams grew the incredible undertaking that was her settlement house.)
  • Chicago History Museum
  • Spertus Museum & Library
  • Chicago Public Library (1913 Chicago Tribune ON MIRCOFICHE!)
  • The house my grandmother lived in until she came to California. We won’t go in, but we will DEFINITELY see the balcony she and her twin sister slept on during hot summers.
  • MAYBE the cemetery where her older sister is buried, the one who died during the big influenza wave. I have some phone calls to make about this one.
  • Macy’s. NO, I’m NOT just going shopping (note the JUST). This Macy’s is in the building that was the original Marshall Field’s department store in Chicago–total glitz and glamor.
  • Who knows WHERE else.

3. We’ll probably eat, too. Any can’t-misses in downtown Chicago? Chicago foods I HAVE to try? Throw recommendations into the comments!

4. In 7 days, we will drive back to Urbana, where I will spend the next few days hanging with nephews (and TOTALLY owning them at Pictionary, thank you very much!) and trying to process all the information I collect in Chicago. Can you say BRAINTWIST? I will also post MANY photos on my blog, assuming I can get them from camera to laptop.

5. In 11 days, I will get back on three planes and come home. In 11 days, it will also be my birthday, and I can’t think of any better way to celebrate than to come back to California, full of history and images and FEELINGS to weave into my WIP.

Excited? Me? Oh, no. 🙂

Posted in Research

Research: What Do You Need & How Do You Find It

Posted on by beckylevine

heIn about a month, I’m hopping on a plane to Illinois. I’ll drop my son with his cousins (Oh, yeah, he’ll SO miss me. Not.) grab my sister for a couple of days, and head north to Chicago.

It’s research time.

My YA WIP is set in Chicago. In 1913. In March. Well, summer is just a better traveling time, and my sister swears she’ll be my reader for weather stuff when the book is done. So, we’re going.

Is this the perfect time to go? Probably not. Would it be better if I’d finished at least one draft of the novel? Most likely. Do I live a life of nothing but writing and leisure, with a townhouse in Chicago and a private jet to take me there anytime I want, not to mention a butler to make all the arrangements? Oh, sure.

None of us do. As writers, we work with the schedule we have, get in as much book-reading and online research as possible, then carve out the hours we can to go and do the live research. For my MG mystery, which is set in Santa Cruz, this meant I wrote as much as I could, then drove over the hill to explore settings, take photos, and talk to a few people.

This time around, I get to cram all that into a couple of days. Whee!

Anyway, I’m thinking about research & how to get ready for the trip, so thought I’d find a few links about writers & research and share them with you. 

 Go crazy. And have a great 4th of July!

Posted in First Drafts, Getting Organized, Outlining, Plot, Research, The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide

When the Itch Hits

Posted on by beckylevine

Do you scratch it?

I’ve been talking a lot online about the research & planning I’m doing for my YA historical novel. It’s been going great. I’m learning tons about my characters, about their wants and their conflicts, about their back-story and their future. I know there’s more I can learn.

Except I’m itching to put all this aside and get writing.

I promised told myself I would finish Donald Maass’ Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook before I started writing. I said I would do a bit of plotting before I dug in. There are at least a third of these

researchbooks

that I haven’t read yet, and more I need to add to the shelf.

I can hear you all now. “Just write it!”

And here are your very good reasons:

  • I’ll learn more about your characters as you draft their stories.
  • The plot will change no matter how much time I spend on it.
  • I’ll narrow down my research needs as I write.
  • If I do too much planning, I’m putting handcuffs and chains on my muse.

Yep. So I’m going to write.

Soon. I’m still learning from Maass, but I’m giving myself permission to go a bit more quickly through his worksheets. I’m putting a few more tags on pages that need to wait until I have a draft to revise. And I’m letting myself relax away from the research a bit, so I can keep my actual characters at the forefront of my brain, instead of too many historical details/facts. And, since I still will have revisions to do on the critique book, I’m telling myself that any plotting I do has to be fit in between those changes. I’m not allowed to put the writing off, just because the whole outline isn’t complete and comprehensible.

When? I’m thinking June. A few other writing friends have first drafts looming, and we may all hit the keyboards together.

I’ll be MORE than ready.

So when do you start? What’s your comfort zone between knowing any/all of your story and needing to get those people on the page and moving? I’d love to hear how you do the balancing act?

Posts may be a bit thin on the ground the next few days–we’re in the middle of spring break over here. I’ll be back in force next week, though, and I’d love to start doing a little more talk about critiquing and critique groups. So if there’s a topic you’re “itching” to dig into, let me know that, too!

Posted in Books, Research

Research: What You Look For and What You Find

Posted on by beckylevine

My current WIP is a YA historical novel, about a young girl in 1913 Chicago. This is the first time I’ve written a historical story, and I was very intimidated, when I started, at the idea of all the research I’d be doing.

Okay, I’m still a bit intimidated.

I cleared off an entire bookshelf for the history books, and I’m working my way through them. Yes, the Internet is out there, and it’s full of fascinating and incredible information. What I’m really loving, though, is burying myself in a book with the depth and layers of a specific subject or theme. 

When I started on this path, I expected I’d be reading for facts, specific details I would need to flesh out the world I’m writing about–to make that world real for my readers (and me). And I’m finding those–although the ones I know I need are making me dig and the ones I had no idea I’d want are jumping out at me!

What I hadn’t thought about was how full a picture I’d get of a place and time, of the people who were moving along the streets and stopping to talk and making changes, small and big.

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been reading Twenty Years at Hull-House by Jane Addams. Addams was one of the founders of one of the biggest, if not the biggest, settlement houses in the country–in Chicago. My MC will get involved with the settlement movement in the city, so I’ve been reading up on it a lot. Addams’ book has been on my shelf for several months–for the same reason, pretty much, that I hadn’t read Donald Maass’ book for so long. Someday, I’ll learn.

I read Hull-Houseyears ago in college and remembered only that it was the most boring book of the year. Now I just shake my head at the things “They” expect 18-year-olds to read and connect with. Yes, the book is very densely written, and Addams has a seriously convoluted style. This is why it’s taking me so long to read–I have to back up frequently and restart a sentence or a paragraph. Even then, depending on how much she’s referring to politics or events I don’t know about, I don’t always get the point she’s making.

But, oh, I’m learning. I’m finding out the goals of the settlement houses, and the dreams of their founders and residents. I’m getting solid, concrete visions of the people around Hull-House, the families and the children and, oh, the women! I’ve found a couple of wonderful facts that either fill in a gap or are sending me down a new path I needed to find.

The best, though, is what I didn’t expect. I’m getting to know Jane Addams. At 18, in college, if I’d been able to understand this book, I’d have respected the woman who wrote it, even admired her. Now I get to like her. Yes, she was incredible, amazing, even awe-inspiring in dedication to the things she believed in. She was also, though, warm, generous, and funny–in a way that smiles with us as we chase our own ideals.  The energy of trying something new, the passion of commitment, the sometimes head-pounding dead-ends–she sees them all. She can laugh at her young self and still respect that woman she was–even as she made mistakes. She’d rather have had regrets than never have tried.

I would have liked to invite Jane Addams over for tea.

Do you do research for your stories? What magic have you discovered?