Hi friends. I’m writing a novel that starts in 1970, which puts it at fifty plus years away from now (making it a historical novel according to the Historical Novel Society), although I was alive during the era, which might mean it’s contemporary fiction. I am not here to argue that point one way or another, I just wanted to start this letter off by saying thinking about this shit this morning made me feel kind of old.
I'm really late on getting to my emails. I love research, but it overwhelms me. There are so many nuances, I go down the rabbit hole and exit the wormhole. I lose my sense of direction in the story because I'm so concerned with authenticity. I've started and stopped a story set in Paris in the early days of German occupation for 20 years because every time I start up again I discover a new detail and boom - right down that rabbit/worm hole again. I've cut the main characters down to 3 but nothing seems to get me past a few pages. Actually, I have so many different scenes written, you think I'd have a novel by now. I was watching "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" the other day - the scene between the two boys talking through the fence. The clothing was accurate, but the what struck me was the realness of the dialog and the connection between the two kids - they could have been anywhere having a conversation like this. Score one for focusing on the characters.
"I’ve also interviewed a few people, including a husband and wife I found on the internet.... He agreed to speak to me..."
What does the conversation look like that gets you from "I found you on the internet because I think you know something I need for a story" to actually talking? How do you frame the query? How often do people in that situation run away/not reply?
Jami, I've been working on a book that takes place, in part, in that same time period. We're a similar age, so I do remember some of the details of the early 70s, but when I really try to dig into that era I realize that I can only see if from a young kid's perspective. I've been enjoying the research on this part of the book, especially since one of the characters is a gay man, whose experiences during that time would differ enormously from a similar man's today. Also the women - language around describing women and regarding women has changed so much.
Later in the book one of the characters is in high school in the early 80s, which I remember better, but the slang of that time period is my challenge! I've come up with a list, but when I look at it, I wonder - was that early 80s? Late 70s? Late 80s? These details are so important, but so difficult to pin down.
can’t wait for this one! Am currently writing a memoir set in the seventies during my teens and twenties, but I was a hippie, no puffy sleeves. I don’t like research much but picked up a book by a reporter in Austin set in 70’s to stir my then pot leaden memories.
I loved this post. My novel-in-progress is contemporary but the two main characters came of age in the 70s. They more or less track my age and the damndest thing is discovering all the things I can’t remember. I have to keep a chart of key events that affect my characters’s lives because the years mush together. I struggle sometimes to get out of the “now” mindset for all things.
I am with you: the characters drive the story but the research leads to unexpected insights. I especially love interviewing and was lucky to have some-in person opportunities for this novel. I shadowed and interviewed vets - one in a private clinic and one in the county animal shelter system. A more minor character emerged from these experiences as well as an outline for the next novel.
My novel is set firmly in the 70's, in a rural wooded town. The main character has been a girl about 14 since forever, but something crazy happened recently. I was doing homework for a class in how to show up authentically on social media of all things, and one of the exercises was to create a bullet pointed list of your life, whatever came to mind. So I went at it, and after finishing, went to write some. Magically, the time period and character which have been unwavering had changed. She had grown into a 30-something woman, in that same town, but coming back to visit. Doing some work on a seemingly unrelated topic completely changed my novel, and I can't explain it, but it appears I had some sh*t to work through and came out the other side to a more mature, seasoned version of the character. Mind blow...
The research wormhole is real! Endless hours spent looking at dress patterns from 1944 to yield one line in a scene. But I agree the live interviews, and sometimes slogging through letters and journals from the period are where the precious gems fall out. My new book is out and the backstory was so fascinating I have a "nerd appendix" on my website where I stashed sidelights. I also wrote it all up in the current issue of 64 Parishes magazine, which helped me feel like I honored stories that didn't quite fit the narrative of the novel. Thanks for your guidance and inspiration along the way!
Gawd, my childhood falls in the historical novel realm. I've been relying on memory and the interwebs to help with my WIP, will have to muster the gumption to ask people my age about less google-able things like afterschool snacks and favorite toys. The whole era smells, to me, like my mother's awful Charlie perfume and my Herbal Essence shampoo.
I'm working on a long short story set in 1994 based in an intense relationship I had then. Right now I'm not straying too far from my own story, in a way doing research on myself, and oh the details that are coming forward! There is the matter of phones, including a pay phone when I was at an artist's colony. But also, a character's roommate had been a Riot Grrrl before moving to Chicago, wearing babydoll dresses, combat boots, and carrying around a doll with her everywhere. Wow. I forgot that! So I can ruminate on the characters, particularly the narrator's arc (since she's basically me right now, but who could she be in the story version?) and have access to all these details. The two novels I've written had nothing to do with me really, so I did much more research talking to people in those professions, online, driving around North Dakota, interviewing local small-town police officers, etc. I always came away from every conversation, including the former beet farmer edging/mowing at the cemetery in North Dakota, with gold.
I just completed a middle grade novel set in 1971 and it was a treat to immerse myself in a world before computers and cell phones. Looking forward to reading your finished book, Jami!
Mar 3, 2022·edited Mar 3, 2022Liked by Jami Attenberg
This is long but hang on--it's a good one if I do say so myself. I interviewed Richard Wesley, screenwriter of "Uptown Saturday Night" (which starred the late, great Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte) for my novel "Third Girl From The Left." At the time I interviewed him, I had a protagonist, Angela, who was a 70s' blaxploitation actress. I spoke to him because I wanted to learn more about the texture of a predominantly black movie set in the 1970's. We had a pleasant conversation and then, because he was a writer, he asked about my character. I had decided that she was from Tulsa under the (I later found out, mistaken) impression that it wouldn't have been too far of a bus ride to Los Angeles; this was pre-internet omnipotence. I didn't look it up. I guessed.) But it turned out to be a mighty fortuitous guess because when I told Richard this he said , "Interesting. Isn't that where that riot was?" (yes, everyone called it a riot back then in 2003 if they knew about it at all). I was like, "oh, yeah. I've HEARD of that." Which I had. It was not still a "secret" but had in no way reached the public consciousness to the degree it has now (which is why I've been vaguely annoyed on behalf of all the historians whose work I used back then who have been treated like nobody ever heard of the Tulsa massacre until Damon Lindelof used it in "Watchmen"). The main thing of this anecdote is is that I chose Tulsa as Angela's hometown without that fact in mind AT ALL and Richard's curiosity and knowledge sparked a whole new, crucial section of the novel that I KNOW made it a richer, deeper and more interesting text than if I had kept it in the 1970's alone. So you never know what an interview will bring. Also, that you always have to keep your eyes and ears open for new layers. You'll never know where they might come from.
Right now, I'm working on something where the character's job is very important and it's a field I know almost nothing about. Also its set in the recent past. So I need to do a lot of interviewing, etc, more than I ever have. I'm doing sort of a "treatment" now to shape a story but am then planning to do research while the initial draft/treatment is set aside. I hope to make it targeted. Having a shape of the story I think will make it more productive research. Wish me luck.
I've done a lot of research for my WIP on the internet but also have a file for specific questions/issues/ideas I want to talk to an actual person about. I envision asking a lot of questions and hope for a conversation like the ones you described wherein I get some surprising and delightful or devastating details that I wouldn't have known to ask about. I'm wondering though, if you ever just read a passage to the person you're interviewing and ask them to comment on it -- did it sound accurate to them? Does it 'ring true'? If not, why not? Having written a draft I'm tempted to do this, to see if how I imagined it is the way it was. This is especially tempting when the questions aren't so much about specifics as they are about how a situation would have been handled or how a certain class of professionals did their jobs -- it's more about process and mindset than the wallpaper. Anyway, loved the post and just wondering about research strategies to get beyond the 'set design' so to speak.
This sounds a bit like reporting for non-fiction as well. You never know when you’re going to get something small that adds to the picture. I graduated from high school in 1972, and I remember going back to a reunion, maybe 10th, and the DJ was playing Grand Funk Railroad, and I thought: NO! That music was AFTER our time! I suspect the young guy had looked up the hit parade in Billboard and took his playlist from 1972 or 73 and it was just a tick behind! He’d have been better off asking real people. I realized from this, you may be better off with no detail rather than a wrong one, if your reader was actually “there.” I look forward to this book.
I loved this. My WIP takes place in 1976, and I'm kind of amazed at how much I've forgotten, and how frequently my research causes me to remember. Thank you for your thoughts!
Another Craft Talk that landed in my inbox on the exact right day. I am always worried that there is some other, better way to be doing research, but your method is a lot like mine and I'm thrilled to have this confirmation. Thanks, Jami. Your newsletters are so comforting and helpful.
I'm really late on getting to my emails. I love research, but it overwhelms me. There are so many nuances, I go down the rabbit hole and exit the wormhole. I lose my sense of direction in the story because I'm so concerned with authenticity. I've started and stopped a story set in Paris in the early days of German occupation for 20 years because every time I start up again I discover a new detail and boom - right down that rabbit/worm hole again. I've cut the main characters down to 3 but nothing seems to get me past a few pages. Actually, I have so many different scenes written, you think I'd have a novel by now. I was watching "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" the other day - the scene between the two boys talking through the fence. The clothing was accurate, but the what struck me was the realness of the dialog and the connection between the two kids - they could have been anywhere having a conversation like this. Score one for focusing on the characters.
"I’ve also interviewed a few people, including a husband and wife I found on the internet.... He agreed to speak to me..."
What does the conversation look like that gets you from "I found you on the internet because I think you know something I need for a story" to actually talking? How do you frame the query? How often do people in that situation run away/not reply?
Jami, I've been working on a book that takes place, in part, in that same time period. We're a similar age, so I do remember some of the details of the early 70s, but when I really try to dig into that era I realize that I can only see if from a young kid's perspective. I've been enjoying the research on this part of the book, especially since one of the characters is a gay man, whose experiences during that time would differ enormously from a similar man's today. Also the women - language around describing women and regarding women has changed so much.
Later in the book one of the characters is in high school in the early 80s, which I remember better, but the slang of that time period is my challenge! I've come up with a list, but when I look at it, I wonder - was that early 80s? Late 70s? Late 80s? These details are so important, but so difficult to pin down.
Anyway, glad to know I'm in such good company.
can’t wait for this one! Am currently writing a memoir set in the seventies during my teens and twenties, but I was a hippie, no puffy sleeves. I don’t like research much but picked up a book by a reporter in Austin set in 70’s to stir my then pot leaden memories.
I loved this post. My novel-in-progress is contemporary but the two main characters came of age in the 70s. They more or less track my age and the damndest thing is discovering all the things I can’t remember. I have to keep a chart of key events that affect my characters’s lives because the years mush together. I struggle sometimes to get out of the “now” mindset for all things.
I am with you: the characters drive the story but the research leads to unexpected insights. I especially love interviewing and was lucky to have some-in person opportunities for this novel. I shadowed and interviewed vets - one in a private clinic and one in the county animal shelter system. A more minor character emerged from these experiences as well as an outline for the next novel.
My novel is set firmly in the 70's, in a rural wooded town. The main character has been a girl about 14 since forever, but something crazy happened recently. I was doing homework for a class in how to show up authentically on social media of all things, and one of the exercises was to create a bullet pointed list of your life, whatever came to mind. So I went at it, and after finishing, went to write some. Magically, the time period and character which have been unwavering had changed. She had grown into a 30-something woman, in that same town, but coming back to visit. Doing some work on a seemingly unrelated topic completely changed my novel, and I can't explain it, but it appears I had some sh*t to work through and came out the other side to a more mature, seasoned version of the character. Mind blow...
The research wormhole is real! Endless hours spent looking at dress patterns from 1944 to yield one line in a scene. But I agree the live interviews, and sometimes slogging through letters and journals from the period are where the precious gems fall out. My new book is out and the backstory was so fascinating I have a "nerd appendix" on my website where I stashed sidelights. I also wrote it all up in the current issue of 64 Parishes magazine, which helped me feel like I honored stories that didn't quite fit the narrative of the novel. Thanks for your guidance and inspiration along the way!
Gawd, my childhood falls in the historical novel realm. I've been relying on memory and the interwebs to help with my WIP, will have to muster the gumption to ask people my age about less google-able things like afterschool snacks and favorite toys. The whole era smells, to me, like my mother's awful Charlie perfume and my Herbal Essence shampoo.
I'm working on a long short story set in 1994 based in an intense relationship I had then. Right now I'm not straying too far from my own story, in a way doing research on myself, and oh the details that are coming forward! There is the matter of phones, including a pay phone when I was at an artist's colony. But also, a character's roommate had been a Riot Grrrl before moving to Chicago, wearing babydoll dresses, combat boots, and carrying around a doll with her everywhere. Wow. I forgot that! So I can ruminate on the characters, particularly the narrator's arc (since she's basically me right now, but who could she be in the story version?) and have access to all these details. The two novels I've written had nothing to do with me really, so I did much more research talking to people in those professions, online, driving around North Dakota, interviewing local small-town police officers, etc. I always came away from every conversation, including the former beet farmer edging/mowing at the cemetery in North Dakota, with gold.
I just completed a middle grade novel set in 1971 and it was a treat to immerse myself in a world before computers and cell phones. Looking forward to reading your finished book, Jami!
This is long but hang on--it's a good one if I do say so myself. I interviewed Richard Wesley, screenwriter of "Uptown Saturday Night" (which starred the late, great Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte) for my novel "Third Girl From The Left." At the time I interviewed him, I had a protagonist, Angela, who was a 70s' blaxploitation actress. I spoke to him because I wanted to learn more about the texture of a predominantly black movie set in the 1970's. We had a pleasant conversation and then, because he was a writer, he asked about my character. I had decided that she was from Tulsa under the (I later found out, mistaken) impression that it wouldn't have been too far of a bus ride to Los Angeles; this was pre-internet omnipotence. I didn't look it up. I guessed.) But it turned out to be a mighty fortuitous guess because when I told Richard this he said , "Interesting. Isn't that where that riot was?" (yes, everyone called it a riot back then in 2003 if they knew about it at all). I was like, "oh, yeah. I've HEARD of that." Which I had. It was not still a "secret" but had in no way reached the public consciousness to the degree it has now (which is why I've been vaguely annoyed on behalf of all the historians whose work I used back then who have been treated like nobody ever heard of the Tulsa massacre until Damon Lindelof used it in "Watchmen"). The main thing of this anecdote is is that I chose Tulsa as Angela's hometown without that fact in mind AT ALL and Richard's curiosity and knowledge sparked a whole new, crucial section of the novel that I KNOW made it a richer, deeper and more interesting text than if I had kept it in the 1970's alone. So you never know what an interview will bring. Also, that you always have to keep your eyes and ears open for new layers. You'll never know where they might come from.
Right now, I'm working on something where the character's job is very important and it's a field I know almost nothing about. Also its set in the recent past. So I need to do a lot of interviewing, etc, more than I ever have. I'm doing sort of a "treatment" now to shape a story but am then planning to do research while the initial draft/treatment is set aside. I hope to make it targeted. Having a shape of the story I think will make it more productive research. Wish me luck.
I've done a lot of research for my WIP on the internet but also have a file for specific questions/issues/ideas I want to talk to an actual person about. I envision asking a lot of questions and hope for a conversation like the ones you described wherein I get some surprising and delightful or devastating details that I wouldn't have known to ask about. I'm wondering though, if you ever just read a passage to the person you're interviewing and ask them to comment on it -- did it sound accurate to them? Does it 'ring true'? If not, why not? Having written a draft I'm tempted to do this, to see if how I imagined it is the way it was. This is especially tempting when the questions aren't so much about specifics as they are about how a situation would have been handled or how a certain class of professionals did their jobs -- it's more about process and mindset than the wallpaper. Anyway, loved the post and just wondering about research strategies to get beyond the 'set design' so to speak.
Ha! Call me! I was just starting college in 1971.
This sounds a bit like reporting for non-fiction as well. You never know when you’re going to get something small that adds to the picture. I graduated from high school in 1972, and I remember going back to a reunion, maybe 10th, and the DJ was playing Grand Funk Railroad, and I thought: NO! That music was AFTER our time! I suspect the young guy had looked up the hit parade in Billboard and took his playlist from 1972 or 73 and it was just a tick behind! He’d have been better off asking real people. I realized from this, you may be better off with no detail rather than a wrong one, if your reader was actually “there.” I look forward to this book.
I loved this. My WIP takes place in 1976, and I'm kind of amazed at how much I've forgotten, and how frequently my research causes me to remember. Thank you for your thoughts!
Another Craft Talk that landed in my inbox on the exact right day. I am always worried that there is some other, better way to be doing research, but your method is a lot like mine and I'm thrilled to have this confirmation. Thanks, Jami. Your newsletters are so comforting and helpful.