History, Real Life, and Faith
When is it research and when is it voyeurism? That’s the question I’ve been asking myself as I’ve read through some of the diaries and letters I obtained during my recent swing through the south. The heroine‘s sister made me question the decision to read other people’s personal accounts when she scrawled a stern warning on the opening page of…
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How literature affects our life–whether we mean it to or not.
Have you ever been house touring? We’ve always enjoyed the scene in A&E’s Pride and Prejudice where Elizabeth Bennett tours Mr. Darcy‘s mansion and shocks both of them by meeting him down by the lake. Apparently even 200 years ago, visiting the large unique homes of the wealthy was a tourist past time. Touring homes, however, is something I don’t…
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Serendipity and research have been one of the most fun aspects of being a writer. One year, I spent two-weeks traveling through Tennessee and Kentucky. I did research in library for six of those days and spent the rest of the time visiting sites related to my historical characters. I wrote about the first surprise–involving a calender of paintings– which…
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The Ipad is an invaluable tool for research. I discovered that for the first time in 2012. It more than paid for itself in ease during a two-week swing through the South researching a novel. Here are three ways it made a great difference in my ease of research: 1. Camera. At the University of Kentucky,, I could handle actual…
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Every time I’m in London, I visit Westminster Abbey. A lovely Anglican cathedral across the street from London’s golden Parliament buildings, it’s been there for nearly a thousand years. Originally built outside the London walls, the Roman Catholic abbey is now in the center of town. Winston Churchill’s World War II Cabinet rooms hide just down the street. Big Ben…
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