A few questions

Here are a few questions for you:

1) Where is the craziest location that you've been to where you had story ideas plowing through your mind? Thursday night my hubby and I went to a Dierks Bentley concert. While it was really good, I couldn't shut off the writer brain. I had all kinds of suspense plot-lines running through my head. Craziness!

2) What makes a setting or character jump out for you? What was your favorite of each from a book you've read? What do you think the author did to make that element come to life on the page?

3) What triggers the idea for a character in your mind? Is it something you see? Something you read? A quirk in someone you know? Often my heroines have a trace of me in them. So far they're all fairly independent but feel trapped by something -- usually having to do with family. But when left to their own devices lean toward Type A, don't box me in gals. My first hero Willard, from Canteen Dreams, is always playing with a baseball. I got this idea from my grandfather Willard's background. He played a lot of baseball growing up and as a young man, so it made sense that he would be most comfortable with a baseball in his hand.

Let's hear your thoughts!

April 2008 ACFW On-line Class Lesson Three B

Research Your Way to a Book Readers Can’t Put Down
Historical Research – Let’s Talk Setting

In the last post, I shared some of my experiences and recommendations on researching setting. Now let’s hear from the others starting with a note from Jamie Carie:

They say research is like the volcanic mountain under the sea and the story is the island. I agree with that. You might not use eighty of what you learn, but if you don’t do the homework you won’t have the capability to form that beautiful island that someone wants to visit.

So now that we’re ready to build the foundation for our island, one of the first questions I asked these fabulous authors is how they picked their setting. For me, I’ve picked settings I knew, and then settings that would work with the story elements I wanted. Here’s what the others said:

I’m not sure if I pick them or they pick me. I start with a small idea of where I want the story to occur and then, as it progresses and I research the location, I often end up expanding. Vincennes though, my hometown setting in my third novel, was both easy and hard. I had to imagine this place I knew so well over two hundred years ago. It was like rediscovering the ground where I had grown up and added depth and meaning to some of my childhood memories.
Jamie Carie

I love Julie Lessman’s response:
I actually picked Boston when I started writing A Passion Most Pure at the age of 12, so I’m not sure I remember exactly why except that I loved that city and its rich history when I was in school. Ironically, when I started research for A Passion Most Pure, I discovered that Boston was considered the home of Irish America because of its great influx of Irish immigrants after the Potato Famine. But I DO know why I picked Ireland as the 2nd setting in the book! After reading Gone With the Wind at the age of 12, I fell in love with Scarlett O’Hara’s story and thereby, anything Irish. J

Thank goodness the novel I wrote when I was 12 is buried somewhere on one of Dad’s computers. Yikes! But if you haven’t read A Passion Most Pure, do. Even though Julie’s never been, she captures the essence much like Jamie Carie. There’s no doubt when you read these ladies books that the books could only be set where they are.

I was home schooling my four children and teaching them Nebraska history. My own fascination with the lives of the women who settled my state grew and I began to discover stories I wanted to tell. Since I live within a ten minute drive of the Nebraska State Archives, I can browse and research easily and there are enough stories in this state to keep several writers busy for several lifetimes.
Steph Whitson

Steph brings up a great point. Don’t forget State Archives. Those can be a wealth of information. I just (in the last week or so) got back a request for information I had sent to a historical society while writing Captive Dreams. It contains a map and photo of an Air Base in Kearney. Yes, my book has been turned in and even been through one revision, but when I get the content edit you can be sure I’ll check what I wrote against the photos.

DiAnn Mills takes a different approach to setting that works very well for her books. She picks the least likely place her hero or heroine would want to be. That’s a sure way to add some twists to your books. Kim Sawyer likes her setting to almost become another character in the story, so she tries to chose a setting that "fits" and will enhance the story.

One you’ve picked the setting you have to research it. Especially if you’ve never been. So what do these authors do?

I read everything I can find about it. Books, internet articles, Google Maps (have you discovered Google Earth and Google Maps? It’s awesome!) If I can visit the place personally, I do. There is nothing like seeing it for yourself, walking the streets, visiting the historical sites and taking lots of pictures.
Jamie Carie

And Nancy Moser has this warning about one popular website:
A warning about Wikipedia. Since it’s an online encyclopedia that gets its information from submissions from whoever wants to send in information, I always read the content with the knowledge of the possibly-questionable source in mind. Yet I’ve only found the information faulty a few times.

Steph Whitson loves to haul back dozens of books from libraries and immerse herself in the location before visiting.

Usually I visit the university library and haul home a couple of dozen books. The bibliographies in those books often suggest other sources. I also spend a lot of time at the State Historical Society Archives reading unpublished materials that relate to a setting, as well as newspapers on microfilm. Whenever possible I try to visit the locale, but not until after I've done a fair amount of research from the other sources so I can see more intelligently.

What a great reminder to use those bibliographies to lead us to more sources. I also love reviewing newspapers from the time to get the details right. Nothing helps me jump back in time and place more than an ad for groceries from the 40s….after “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” that is.

Kim Sawyer also likes trips to the library to confirm the details from a website.

Visiting a local library and checking out books on the history of the area helps a lot. If there is a college close by, see if you can visit their research section. I've found most librarians are extremely helpful. The Internet can be a good resource, too, but I double check anything I glean from the Web--anyone can create a website, but that doesn't necessarily mean the information is accurate. :o)

And DiAnn has a tip that will help us keep the characters grounded in what mattered at that time:
I also like to see what was going on in the world, DC, and on a state and local level. Those issues would be important to my characters.

Nancy Moser makes it a point to travel to her locations. With the exotic locales she has, it must be a great trip!

Since I’m writing about a real person of history, I try to travel to their home, or the area in which they lived. For instance, I’ve been to Salzburg and Vienna for Mozart’s Sister, England for Just Jane (about Jane Austen), and Mt. Vernon and Williamsburg for Washington’s Lady. Luckily, there are also websites for these areas and homes. I would think even if you’re writing about strictly fictional characters of a certain time, going to, or looking at real-people websites would help you get the feel of the setting.

Trips to the location are so helpful. But what if you can’t make the trip for whatever reason? Here are some suggestions:

Find people who are locals and/or experts on the location. Don’t be shy. Ask people questions. You will be surprised how delighted people are to help you.
Jamie Carie

I would specifically research ALL details as I needed them. For instance, I wanted to accurately convey the type of neighborhood and house that the O’Connors lived in, so I did a LOT of research on housing styles, park names, street names, etc. in the Southie neighborhood, including pictures from my time era.
Julie Lessman

My forthcoming novel ended up requiring that I set many scenes on Staten Island New York in 1886. I wasn't able to go off to New York (although I've heard the city library is a wonderful place). I did end up finding some excellent photos and other first hand accounts on the internet that were dated in the late 1800's.
Steph Whitson

Read, read, and read – everything from the clothing they wore, to vocabulary, to culture, medical, religious, farmer’s almanac. Anything that portrays the time and setting in an accurate manner.
I like the setting to take on a character. In other words, I want the setting to be an antagonist at times. Let the setting force the character to struggle that much more.
DiAnn Mills

www.victorianamagazine.com is a recent favorite...I wish I had found it years ago! I also go to Chamber of Commerce sites and click on the "history" button for the area. I've gleaned great details from community-sponsored websites.
When establishing setting, the little details make such a difference. What kinds of flowers grow wild in May? Is there a favorite fishing hole? If you look toward the eastern horizon, what kind of landscape will you see? By drizzling in details, you make the setting alive for the reader.
Kim Sawyer

Next time we’ll talk about getting the details like clothing right.

April 2008 ACFW On-line Class Lesson Three A

Research Your Way to a Book Readers Can’t Put Down
Historical Research – Let’s Talk Setting

Setting is key to any story. Listen to authors like Colleen Coble long enough, and you’ll know they build the story – some more, some less – from the setting. Not everyone writes this way, but setting should still play a strong role in your book.

My four books that are out or releasing this year are all set in Nebraska. There’s a reason for that…I grew up in Nebraska, still visit at least twice a year, and I knew it would be easy to get back for a research specific visit. While I lived in North Platte and Lincoln, I still needed to spend time soaking in the atmosphere and checking my memories. And since I didn’t live in North Platte in the 40s, I needed to do some research to see what North Platte looked like at that time.

I had also visited Fort Robinson, but that was probably 15-20 years earlier. I vaguely remembered seeing something about the K-9 training, but quickly learned as I visited the site, just how faulty my memory had been.

And I’d never been to Camp Atlanta – though there’s nothing to see there. And even though my family opened a restaurant there when I was 12, and I worked there again for a couple months while in college, my memory wasn’t any more detailed than to remember that it was a basic small town in Nebraska.

So what did I do?

As a history minor, I am a stickler for getting as much right in the details as possible. I even talk about getting a Masters in History – sometimes, just to goad my husband, but often because there’s so much more I’d like to learn. For me, the research is fun…especially since I picked a time period that fascinates me.

The first thing I did:
1) Research on the internet. There are tons of websites out there – many from small historical societies – that can give you the flavor of the times. One site I used was on farming in Nebraska through the decades. It is published by a Living History Farm in York, Nebraska. Trust me, it’s not a town you’d expect to have an organization that would host a site with the depth and breadth of information this site has. But it saved my bacon on many occasions. I wanted to know if farms in rural Nebraska had electricity in the early 1940s. My research showed many did not. And I confirmed that with conversations with my grandparents (the stars of Canteen Dreams by the way). They both grew up on farms outside Seward, Nebraska, and yep, no electricity.

2) I also love hopping on Amazon. Do a book search. Sometimes it helps to have one title to start with. For Fort Robinson, the curator of the Museum has written two books on the history of the Museum. One details the early days of the Fort, basically the pioneer and Indian days. The second volume deals with 1900-1948. He had separate chapters on World War Two’s impact on the Fort, the War Dog training, and the prisoner of war camp there. Everything was heavily cited and it served as a great resource for details. For example, in Sandhill Dreams, I was able to have the heroine notice the unusual uniforms for the soldiers stationed there: dungarees and cowboy boots. Makes perfect sense when you realize most of them were there to work with horses and pack mules. But my common sense would have told me they wore the standard uniform. And my common sense would have been very wrong. Instead, I was able to add a tiny bit of local color – that doesn’t stop the story, yet helps keep it true and accurate.

3) Visit the site. If at all possible, I highly recommend making the time and spending the money to visit the setting. Even though I spend time in North Platte each year, the Christmas before I turned in the final draft I spent an hour or two driving around, gawking at the buildings. I wanted to see what the buildings had been before the stores I knew moved in. North Platte still has the brick streets, so that feel is very much true to the time. There’s a memorial flag that marks where the Canteen used to be, so I could use that to check the location I used and make sure I was right.

4) If you can’t visit the site, go online to find photos and use Google maps. Tom Bueckner, the curator at Fort Robinson, delighted in showing me what we can make out from satellite photos of World War Two airstrips and camps that are long gone. I got an aerial view to complete the photos I found on a historical website.

5) Pick up books that are loaded with photos. For Captive Dreams, I bought a book published by the Phelps County Historical Society on the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the German POWs. While the book was filled with helpful information from interviews and newspaper articles, some of the most helpful information for me was the photos. That let me see what the camp looked like, where the prisoners lived contrasted with the soldiers (not much difference at all). It also gave me great information on the reaction of the residents to this sudden influx of the enemy and how the prisoners were utilized as farm workers. I already knew some of this from my online research and talking to Tom Bueckner. But the detail came from this expensive book (49.95) that was worth every penny.

In the next part of this lesson, I’ll let the others share some of their experience.

Lesson Two: Historical Research & Time Periods

April 2008 ACFW On-line Class

Research Your Way to a Book Readers Can’t Put Down

Historical Research – Let’s Talk Characterization in Time

As I started thinking about research, I decided that setting is a great place to start. Since we’re looking at historical research this week, I’m going to pull in the wisdom of many of our ACFW authors who write incredible historicals. One reason I love their books is the rich sense of characters set in time that you get. Some of these authors are debut. Others are multi-published, award-winning.

I know when I pick up a book, if I find anything that doesn’t fit the time – and I’m a history minor – did I mention that? I’m liable to throw the book against a wall or let it die a slow death of neglect.

There is a lot we can do as authors to get the details rights. So let’s dive in…

I asked authors how they turn the clock back and get into that timeperiod. Now we all write in different times, but many of the techniques were the same. For example, I was working on a book set at Fort Robinson, Nebraska during 1943 while also working on a book set in Lincoln, Nebraska in current times. I used music to signal to my brain which time period I was in. I’d crank up Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and get into that frame of mind. If I was writing a sad scene, I’d play song like It’s Been a Long, Long Time. Now that I’m getting ready to start a second WWII series, my husband is begging me to get another CD J Here’s what others do:

For Julie Lessman, it’s about climbing into the mind of that time:

In A Passion Most Pure, the time period is 1916, which was the tail end of the Victorian influences on society when women were expected to be more modest and moral. That time period was actually easy for me because I was raised in a pretty strict and moral home where you dare not let your father catch you laying out in a bikini OR ever kissing a boy! But then for book 3 in the Daughters of Boston series, working title A Passion Denied, I had to switch to the Roaring Twenties, an era when the youth went crazy on the heels of WWI. They smoked, drank (even with prohibition), wore tons of makeup and shortened their skirts. They even had petting parties! But, since I was a product of the free-love era of the 60’s and 70’s, I had no difficulty getting into a frame of mind for the wild twenties. I guess for me, as long as you do your research, people are people, and you can relate no matter the era.

Jamie Carie tries to climb into the heads based on the education and experience of that era:

I pray that God will reveal to me the people of that time. That might sound trite, but I know He has given me characters that were like someone who lived when and where I’m writing. On the flip side, I don’t think we as writers should get too involved in the time period as to overwhelm the story. It takes on a bad taste, if you know what I mean. You have to balance the big issues such as women couldn’t work in many professions vs. just how small they might have thought. We can’t relate to a female character of the “old days” who didn’t have thoughts and opinions of her own (the sad truth is, many of them didn’t – they weren’t educated enough and they didn’t have the cultural approval to even attempt it). American women would have a hard time liking such a character . . . unless you could start her out that way and somehow, through some circumstance, have her rise above it.

Tricia Goyer takes a multi-prong approach. She reads general books on the time period; lists the dramatic events she wants to include; narrows down the basic timeframe of the novel; and then weaves her story into the true events. She also notes that well-known events build natural tension.

In Canteen Dreams I use Pearl Harbor as the kick-off of the book. Not necessarily what you expect when the book is set in North Platte, Nebraska. Yet, the opening chapter is the night before when life is still “normal.” Then bam, I hit the readers with the reality of what middle America was hearing and experiencing as a result of the kick-off of American involvement in the war. So look for those dramatic events, but weave them into your story.

Kim Sawyer suggests diving into diaries:

If you can find diaries or memoirs, they are VERY helpful in getting a feel for how people talked and what was common. Old newspapers (again, get to the library!) are also great sources for getting a feel of the time.

Which leads me to our next topic. Are letters and journals/diaries helpful resources? If so, how should we use them to enhance our stories?

Letters and Journals are one resource that is available to us as we research people and a time period. These elements can give us a great sense of what people were thinking at the time. Here’s what Nancy Moser has to say about letters and journals…

I love to find letters and journals. Since I’m writing about a real person, to find their letters—their own words—is a gold mine. Sometimes I’ve used the letters as actual letters within the story, but most of the time, I transpose their written words into dialogue to make them active and in-the-moment. For Washington’s Lady I found out that Martha burned all the personal correspondence between herself and George. It was like a knife to my chest. And Jane Austen’s sister Cassandra burned a great many of Jane’s letters—probably the ones that were the most emotional and candid (the ones I would have loved to see!) Luckily, the father of the Mozart clan had the vision to know that someday the family letters would be important and had the family save them—at least the ones he and Wolfgang sent home. He wasn’t so careful about keeping the ones sent to him by his wife and Nannerl, who were often left behind while the men traveled. It was pretty typical of the times, putting importance on what men vs. women produced, which is one of the main reasons I’m writing books about women-of-history. I want to (finally!) give them a voice.

Jamie Carie has also found letters and journals to be a helpful way to climb into her characters’ minds:

You can get a feel from someone’s spirit while reading their journal. I read lots of George Rogers Clark’s journals for my third book (yet to be titled). It was a gold mine into his character, thoughts and mind sets.

DiAnn Mills also thinks that journals are a great way to get ….

wonderful tidbits of how people talked, lived, cooked, ate, and what was important to them. A friend of mine gave me a copy of a great, great grandmother who had the distinction of cooking breakfast for Billy the Kid and his gang. She was 12 years old at the time. Wonderful journal entry.

And here are Stephanie Whitson’s thoughts on letters:

I love reading journals and personal letters. Of course the researcher has to take into account that to truly understand an event or a setting, you must read more than one person's point of view because "what really happened" WILL be skewed in the re-telling by the observers life experiences and prejudices or biases. We all know how accounts of an accident or tragedy will vary, even among eyewitnesses. So the committed researcher will try to take into account more than just one person's re-telling of an event. That being said, my writer's imagination is really spurred by reading journals and letters and reminiscences. I find that I connect with the past in a much more visceral way by reading personal accounts.

What a great caution! Make sure you don’t rely on one person’s letters/journals if at all possible, because that will give you a biased perspective. I think that’s one reason I love writing about World War Two. I have a wealth of resources available to me from movies, radio, print, even comic books. Even then I have to be cautious because during war time there is censorship. So you have to look at the whole. What was the military doing? What were the people seeing? While we may know that the Germans acted one way, if the media of the time showed them a different way that may have been how civilians perceived it at that time.

When we’re looking at resources, it’s important to be careful about what we are relying on. Be assured that one of your readers will be like me and will pick up the little fact errors that you’re sure no one will notice. Because of that Stephanie Whitson likes to rely on university presses:

I tend to trust university presses and academic publications more than generic works that do not provide the sources for their material, and I look first for print resources that include an extensive bibliography.

Nancy Moser relies on

biographies extensively—I underline and write all over the margins and then transcribe the notes on my computer. Those notes turn into scenes to illustrate what I’ve discovered. But I have also found a lot of great information with History Channel and A&E (among other) DVDs. They are usually very well researched, and the information concisely stated.

Jamie Carie found great success by asking for help from a historical society:

I asked someone from the George Rogers Clark Memorial to read my full manuscript and check it for historical accuracy. A wonderful man volunteered and emailed me feedback to make the book stronger (he also loved the book and said I had given the story of GRC new life – that was cool!). When I turned in that manuscript I felt confident that it was an accurate description of that time – that was a great feeling.

I found some of my best resources to date from historical societies. Museum curators who have dedicated their lives to the research will often write books. Better yet go spend a day with them and then buy the book. The day I spent at Fort Robinson with the curator has paid huge dividends, not just on the book set at Fort Robinson, but also on Prisoner of War Camps in Nebraska and other details. He delighted in sharing his knowledge with someone who was genuinely interested. And I’m not the only one who’s had the kind of experience.

I’ve also decided I am unafraid to email people and ask them if they have time. I haven’t had a ton of luck yet with university faculty, but I keep trying. Right now I’m getting ready to correspond with some of the British kids (not kids anymore!) who came to the United States. That wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t emailed them and asked if they would be willing to answer some questions. I can’t wait to dig into their memories and experiences.

DiAnn Mills finds people to interview from Chambers of Commerce, pastors, and other references.

Mostly I simply ask them to talk, and I record it all. I find that interviews are more personal when I can show I’m honestly listening to everything the person has to say.

Here’s a parting story from Julie Lessman about just how important it is to triple-check those facts:

When you are dealing with history and especially a war era when things are not normal, you really DO have to read CAREFULLY and get your research right regarding dates and places. For instance, I had a near-catastrophe on A Passion Most Pure after I sold it. My editor loved it, of course, and was telling her husband all about it. Now I ask you, what are the chances of her husband being an Irish historian? Yep, you guessed it. He caught me in a huge historical discrepancy that threatened to derail my entire plot!

In the story, I have the Faith and her family traveling to Ireland on a ship smack dab in the middle of WWI, which I thought was okay because although there was German U-Boat warfare going on, it was limited to merchant ships only, not passenger ships. Problem is, my characters traveled to Ireland in the summer of 1917, and I had overlooked the small fact that unrestricted German U-boat warfare escalated to include passenger ships in early 1917. Heaven help me, I was six months too late to save my plot and couldn’t change the dates!!

After I cried like a baby, I prayed my guts out for God to give me a resolution. Lo and behold, a friend of mine suggested freighter convoys – one of the only forms of ship travel available during that period. I did some fast research and found out that although ship travel was still dangerous enough that Patrick O’Connor might not put his beloved family in harm’s way, by summer of 1917, casualty statistics for freighter convoys were almost nil. BINGO! I gave Patrick a cousin who owned a freighter company and gave Marcy a nervous breakdown so Patrick would be more likely to let her go. And my editor gave me the nod. Whew! Deep breath! J

So how do you climb into your time period? What has worked for you? What didn't and it surprised you? Any questions about these resources?

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. :-)

Introduction to the class

Welcome, one and all, to the April 2008 ACFW online class. This month we are going to focus on research.

I have chosen two areas to focus on:

1. Historical Research
2. Mystery/suspense research

While I write in both genres, I get tired of listening to myself talk, so I have pulled in several authors that you will recognize to help with each genre. In historical, you’ll hear from me and the following authors:

1. Julie Lessman
2. Tricia Goyer
3. Nancy Moser
4. Stephanie Grace Whitson
5. Jamie Carie
6. Kim Sawyer and
7. DiAnn Mills

That’s quite a line up of writers who are willing to share their techniques and experience with you.

Then for suspense, you’ll hear from yours truly again, as well as:

1. Jill Nelson
2. Brandt Dodson
3. Susan May Warren
4. Colleen Coble and
5. Brandilyn Collins.

Brandilyn and Susan also have great blogs filled with writing tips. If you haven't checked them out yet, be sure to do so. I also hope we’ll learn from your experience and questions.

I'll be in and out most of the first week of April. So the class won’t officially kick off until the 7^th. Until then, I’d love to learn a little bit about each of you and what you hope to learn from the class. To get it started.

I’m Cara Putman. I’m a wife, attorney, mother, ministry leader, and author. I graduated with honors from the University of Nebraska Lincoln and George Mason University School of Law. History and law are my loves, which comes in pretty handy for what I write. I have one book out right now: Canteen Dreams, a World War Two historical romance published by Heartsong Presents. In May two more books release: Deadly Exposure, romantic suspense from Love Inspired Suspense, and Sandhill Dreams, another World War Two romance. Then in September, Captive Dreams will release from Heartsong Presents. I am working on a three-book series set in Ohio during World War Two, and a follow-up proposal to Deadly Exposure. I also hope to move into legal suspense at some time. You can learn more about me at my website: www.caraputman.com.

Usually, during this course, I check email multiple times a day. So feel free to fire questions and comments to the group. I’ll respond as quickly as I can.

We will start with three lessons on historical research, and then finish with three lessons on suspense/mystery research. Some of it overlaps. But you’ll find each has unique quirks.

I know not all of you write in these genres, but it’s my hope and prayer that you will still find techniques that can apply to whatever type of research you do.

Last note. I have set up a blog (http://acfwresearch.blogspot.com/) for this course. I will plan to post the lectures or examples there. Usually, I’ll post a note to the class when I do that, but it doesn’t hurt to check it periodically.

So sit back and prepare to explore how to make our novels more compelling as we add the details that suck a reader into the story and make the story come to life. I look forward to this class!

Welcome to the Research Class

This blog will go live in April in conjunction with the ACFW on-line research class I will teach. If you aren't a member of ACFW but want to write, the on-line classes are yet another great reason to join.

So check back in April when we'll spend a couple weeks discussing historical research with award winning authors like Kim Sawyer, Maureen Lang, and DiAnn Mills and debut authors Jamie Carie, Julie Lessman and me! Then we'll spend two weeks looking at suspense research with amazing suspense authors Colleen Coble, Brandilyn Collins, Brandt Dodson, and Susan May Warren.

Finally, I'll share some tips on legal research.

So come back and join the fun!