Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Research
Arguably, for me, one of the most delightful part of writing fiction.
Anyone that has read Bryony can see the vast amounts of research that went into the book...and the citations at the end are only the sources that made the cut! The rest went into folders for Before the Blood, folders that grow larger each weekend.
Visage, completely set in the 1970s, didn't contain quite so much research, although it still had a fair amount, and Staked! veered into another knowledge-seeking direction, unfamiliar to me (at the time) and yet quite delightful, thank you, Ed Calkins.
In the past two weekends, I've learned that Ellis Island was not the first immigration site and that P. T. Barnum actually once managed Jenny Lind (very cool, considering I already have a reference to Barnum in a previous chapter).
I've studied up on Castle Garden, the Steinway family (and found the diary of William Steinway online, very helpful), the history of the Metropolitan Opera House, Spode China, and built on my knowledge of both Delmonico's and McSorley's, both still in existence (getting hungry and want to go there...)
Despite my lack of geographical orientation, from the many maps and city layouts I've found online, I'm fairly certain that, if Kellen Weschler dropped me in the middle of nineteenth century New York, especially around Fifth Avenue or 7th and 11th Streets in lower Manhattan, I could find my way around.
Well, as long as I don't use the Simons mansion as my landmark for the first or Hewes Music Hall for the second.
Because these only exist in my imagination and on my computer screen.
Anyone that has read Bryony can see the vast amounts of research that went into the book...and the citations at the end are only the sources that made the cut! The rest went into folders for Before the Blood, folders that grow larger each weekend.
Visage, completely set in the 1970s, didn't contain quite so much research, although it still had a fair amount, and Staked! veered into another knowledge-seeking direction, unfamiliar to me (at the time) and yet quite delightful, thank you, Ed Calkins.
In the past two weekends, I've learned that Ellis Island was not the first immigration site and that P. T. Barnum actually once managed Jenny Lind (very cool, considering I already have a reference to Barnum in a previous chapter).
I've studied up on Castle Garden, the Steinway family (and found the diary of William Steinway online, very helpful), the history of the Metropolitan Opera House, Spode China, and built on my knowledge of both Delmonico's and McSorley's, both still in existence (getting hungry and want to go there...)
Despite my lack of geographical orientation, from the many maps and city layouts I've found online, I'm fairly certain that, if Kellen Weschler dropped me in the middle of nineteenth century New York, especially around Fifth Avenue or 7th and 11th Streets in lower Manhattan, I could find my way around.
Well, as long as I don't use the Simons mansion as my landmark for the first or Hewes Music Hall for the second.
Because these only exist in my imagination and on my computer screen.
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