People who’ve been reading this blog for years will know the score. Way, WAY back in 2009 (that’s, like, two generations ago in blog years), I started the first draft of my Civil War-era novel set down in Louisiana. And even though the story itself isn’t true, there were so many historical facts and regionalContinue reading “Louisiana research trip: the bibliography”
Tag Archives: Hagridden
Louisiana research trip: the photos
What follows is a series of photos — just some of the photos I took — from my trip to southwest Louisiana to research the final details of my Civil War novel, Hagridden. While my book isn’t strictly, solely historical, it is set in a certain historical and regional reality, and what details echo historyContinue reading “Louisiana research trip: the photos”
Louisiana research trip: the beginning
A couple of weeks ago, during the last ten days of March, I used the funds from my Oregon Literary Fellowship to travel to southwest Louisiana to research the final details of my Civil War novel, Hagridden. I stayed in Cameron and travelled all over the region, visiting libraries and wildlife refuges, touring museums andContinue reading “Louisiana research trip: the beginning”
I’ve just received an Oregon Literary Fellowship
I can hardly believe I’m typing this. Every time I look at the letter, which I received in the mail last Thursday, I have to read the first paragraph two or three times just to make sure it’s real. But it’s true: I’ve been awarded an Oregon Literary Fellowship. This is huge news. This is momentous:Continue reading “I’ve just received an Oregon Literary Fellowship”
Yet another novel playlist
I’ve written so many times now on how music affects my writing that everyone must be getting sick of it. And I’m not the only one doing this — practically every writer with a blog has commented on his or her writing playlist at some point. I think it’s because we all wish we couldContinue reading “Yet another novel playlist”
A Writer’s Notebook: revision (Civil War novel)
As some of you know (or as a lot of you know — for some reason I racked up more then 400 visitors yesterday!), I’ve had the 19th century American South on the brain lately, partly because I was so wrapped up in watching the Hatfields & McCoys miniseries on the History Channel and partlyContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: revision (Civil War novel)”
New publication (this one’s big)
I’ve been sitting on this one for a while, waiting for news of its imminent arrival, but it’s been hard because I’m really excited about this one: issue 3 of Sententia is publishing an excerpt from my Civil War novel Hagridden (which long-time readers might remember from NaNoWriMo 2009). Today I got news that the issueContinue reading “New publication (this one’s big)”
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 #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”
Samuel Snoek-Brown 