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| Pre-research research |
And before I set pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) there'll be two or three weeks of head-down, serious research to do. Past experience tells me I'll enjoy every minute of this - and it's often hard to know when to stop because once I start, there are so many rabbit holes to fall into full of jewels and gems and things to make me go "Ooh!" (or in my case: "That's fantastic! I could wrap a whole chapter around that one paragraph/sentence/word!").
But before research proper begins in a couple of weeks' time, I'm doing a lot of reading right now. It's what I'm calling my pre-research research. This means that if you call round to see me and I'm sitting in the garden with my feet up on a lounger, iced lemonade by my side and sun-specs on, I'm not lazing around. I'm pre-research researching. Oh yes.
And in this, er, mode, I'm currently immersed in re-reading a book by Sheri Holman called The Dress Lodger.
It's set in the muck and slums of Sunderland in 1831 and it's a book I've read before. But this time I'm reading it in order to peek into doorways and scamper down alleys. It's too early a book for me to base any of my own research on, as I set my novels after the end of WW1, from 1919 onwards. But it's a great read nonetheless and one I'm enjoying a lot.
I've also ordered a very unusual and out-of-print book to assist in my research of the era and the type of woman I'll be writing about in my third novel. But I won't tell you any more about the book - or the woman - but I'll tell you this much and no more... it's going to be a great few months of researching and writing ahead.
I'm just a bit excited - can you tell?
There's a good article on The Guardian website about researching a novel.
Find out more about me and my books. Click on the image below:
I'm on twitter @flaming_nora
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