Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Lindsay Merbaum writes about The Gold Persimmon from Creature Publishing. + The plan was a one-night writing retreat in an upscale hotel, one night being all I could afford. The lobby…

Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Robert Tomaino writes about New Madrid from Woodhall Press. + I never planned on writing an alternate history novel. When I started, I had written mostly short stories. The idea arose…

Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Beth Gilstrap writes about Deadheading and Other Stories from Red Hen Press. + + Deadheading is a book of fiction; however, it is also intensely personal. Its scaffolding comes from my…

Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Grace Agnew writes about Sanctuary from Woodhall Press. + Do you know how dangerous it is to invite me to write about my “research?” I’m not just an author, I’m a…

Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Joseph Holt writes about Golden Heart Parade from Santa Fe Writers Project. + We all want to write novels. Novels, we think, are the greatest form of literary achievement. They’re ambitious,…

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 McIlvoy writes about One Kind Favor from WTAW Press. + Looking For MOM: Some thoughts on a fiction writer’s research methods “There is no beauty without some strangeness in the…

Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, A. Natasha Joukovsky writes about The Portrait of a Mirror from Overlook Press. + Influenced by Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, where he tracks allusions to whales and cetology, I kept a running…

Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Alice Kaltman writes about Dawg Towne from Word West. + Gaps: A Reflection on Research Back in the 1970’s when “dancing to the beat of a different drum” was applauded by…

Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Andy Abramowitz writes about Darling at the Campsite from Lake Union Publishing. + Research for Darling at the Campsite, or Why would anyone have to do research for Darling at the…

Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Shannon McLeod writes about Whimsy from Long Day Press. We’re also honored to have shared the first published excerpt from Whimsy in 2016. + Writing Through My Driving Phobia “Just merge,…

Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Gian Sardar writes about Take What You Can Carry from Lake Union Publishing. + He hid in a tank. He saved his family during a raid. Once, he even arrived at…

Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Claire Cox writes about Silver Beach from University of Massachusetts Press. + Stoner Mom My mother was a pothead, not a drunk: this was important. She started smoking pot in tenth…