It’s been a long time coming. When I first heard Cormac McCarthy‘s brilliant novel The Road was being developed as a film, I noted the release date on my mental calendar and held my breath. That was back in early 2008. When the movie finally did get released more than a year and a halfContinue reading “The Road”
Category Archives: research
A Writer’s Notebook: The salty but true story of the origins of one Capt. Ted Snoek
I thought I’d try my hand at some non-fiction this week, though I confess this is not my forte. For the reason I’ve engaged this genre–and, as always, for the exercise itself–see below. I come from a line of seamen. My father, and my father’s father, and my father’s father’s father-in-law, all were captains ofContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: The salty but true story of the origins of one Capt. Ted Snoek”
Research wrap-up: More resources than you ever wanted (but not nearly as many as you’ll need)
For more on researching for fiction, go to the main research page. (UPDATED with new links!) As I said in the first post of this series, there’s a lot of advice out there. I’ve just hit some highlights that have intrigued me over the years, but if you want to push further and see whatContinue reading “Research wrap-up: More resources than you ever wanted (but not nearly as many as you’ll need)”
Research tip #6: Marbling
For more on researching for fiction, go to the main research page. So now you have all your research done and you’re ready to get back to the writing. But you’re writing fiction here, not a research paper—so how do you use this research you’ve done? Sometimes the answer is easy: you were looking forContinue reading “Research tip #6: Marbling”
Research tip #5: Shop the catalogue
For more on researching for fiction, go to the main research page. I’ve written about this before, but just to recap: Tom Franklin hates doing research. Yet his first two novels were historical fiction, which stuck Franklin doing the very thing he hates. Still, Franklin prefers to focus on the writing, to let the fictionContinue reading “Research tip #5: Shop the catalogue”
Research tip #4: Shoot the bullet
For more on researching for fiction, go to the main research page. A few years ago, I was at the big national conference of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, and a friend of mine, Tom Franklin, was on a panel discussing research in fiction. Franklin joined the panel by virtue of his historicalContinue reading “Research tip #4: Shoot the bullet”
Research tip #3: Go to the source
For more on researching for fiction, go to the main research page. A lot of great writers started out as journalists, and critics have offered a lot of reasons for that shared background. Journalists know how to work under deadline, they have an instinct for finding a story, they’ve learned how to find an angleContinue reading “Research tip #3: Go to the source”
Research tip #2: Know your limits
For more on researching for fiction, go to the main research page. Sing it with me now: “To everything there is a season . . . A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to research, andContinue reading “Research tip #2: Know your limits”
Research tip #1: Marry a librarian
For more on researching for fiction, go to the main research page. I’ve been hanging out in libraries since I was a kid, and I was a regular at my town’s public library during high school. My first year of college, I was commuting 40 minutes to school and had a huge gap between classesContinue reading “Research tip #1: Marry a librarian”
Re-researching fiction: The new, expanded edition!
For more on researching for fiction, go to the main research page. A while ago I wrote a blog entry on the research I was doing for my NaNoWriMo novel, a twisted little Civil War novel set in southwestern Louisiana during the last of the war years. At the time I was just counting someContinue reading “Re-researching fiction: The new, expanded edition!”
Samuel Snoek-Brown 