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Category: Research Notes

  • Family, Genus, Species

    Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Kevin Allardice writes about Family, Genus, Species from Outpost 19. + Research — to search — sounds glamorous, romantic, even adventurous. Indiana Jones does research. That dimly mulleted man Tom Hanks…

  • Fingerprints of Previous Owners

    Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Rebecca Entel writes about Fingerprints of Previous Owners from Unnamed Press. + + I started taking notes when I visited the Bahamas — to develop an off-campus course for the college…

  • Some Of Us Glow More Than Others

    Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Tania Hershman writes about Some Of Us Glow More Than Others from Unthank Books. + 1. I show up. I wake up. I pitch up. I lift up. I look up.…

  • Meditations on the Mother Tongue

    Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, An Tran writes about Meditations on the Mother Tongue from C&R Press. + Methodology The methodology is simple, but requires technical finesse: Firmly staple an object to the mind, such that…

  • The Last Wave

    Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Gillian Best writes about The Last Wave from Freight Books. + There were two key bits of research I did for The Last Wave: the first, speaking to accomplished Channel swimmer…

  • The Whole World at Once

    Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Erin Pringle writes about The Whole World at Once from Vandalia Press. + Notes on Grief while Writing Fiction I wrote and revised most of the stories in The Whole World…

  • Hooper’s Revolution

    Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Dennie Wendt writes about Hooper’s Revolution from Unnamed Press. + Kicked Off, How Hooper’s Revolution Came To Be This book is the direct result of rejection. I had written an absurdist…

  • The Widow’s Guide to Edible Mushrooms

    Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Chauna Craig writes about The Widow’s Guide to Edible Mushrooms from Press 53. + Ah, Correction: The Fiction of Real Places I woke in the middle of the night after my…

  • The Hour of Daydreams

    Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Renee Macalino Rutledge writes about The Hour of Daydreams from Forest Avenue Press. + A Bedrock of Ghost Stories I often tell people that a Filipino folktale, The Star Maidens, inspired…

  • Dog Years

    Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Melissa Yancy writes about Dog Years, winner of the 2016 Drue Heinz Literature Prize from University of Pittsburgh Press. + During the ten years that most of the stories in Dog…

  • A Field Guide to Murder & Fly Fishing

    Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Tim Weed writes about A Field Guide to Murder & Fly Fishing from Green Writers Press. + Some fiction writers start with concept or character. I start with place. Not place…

  • When He Sprang From His Bed…

    Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Christopher Kang writes about When He Sprang From His Bed, Staggered Backward, And Fell Dead, We Clung Together With Faint Hearts, And Mutely Questioned Each Other from Green Mountains Review Books.…