Organzing Research: A few thoughts

Members of the class have shared some great advice on how to organize research. I use a combination approach. I have file folders for each book and series. In that I throw the paper documentation.

But for electronic research (which I do rely on heavily) I use OneNote, a Microsoft program. Tricia Goyer recommended it to me awhile ago, and I find it very handy. Think of it as an electronic filing system. I got my copy for something like $12 on ebay and it's saved my bacon on numerous occasions. Now if I could only remember what I've already researched. Sometimes there's a lag between the idea and the contract LOL

I also heavily underline and flag research books. I love Amazon for tracking down esoteric books on subjects. I'm getting ready to write a book that will involve children evacuated from the UK to the US during WWII. Some of my best resources are books written by kids who experienced that and are now adults. However, the portions about being in the US are usually small -- since that was a very small portion of the whole group of evacuated children. But flags help me keep track. And then my memory usually helps me remember which resource a particular thought came from. You should have seen my books in law school. Some looked like they could be part of a garden with green sprouting up all over the place!

The key to flags, though, is to put some kind of note on it so you can find the right note quickly.

One last thought on organization ... don't hold me to it though...LOL ...

Never lose sight of the story. All these details are to enhance the story...make it more real. Now I can joke that I should have been a teenager in the 40s, but I can write the books I do with the authenticity that I can, because I've loved those movies, music and history for a lifetime. Now when I'm researching, I'm hunting for specific details. What songs would have played in 1943 v. 1939? Which movies were up for Academy awards and would have been seen in most theaters that year? What would a meal have cost? What words were used in a radio broadcast announcing Pearl Harbor was bombed? Etc.

Once I start writing, the research is tailored to very specific details I have to know to make the STORY work. :-)