Researching Like a Writer
A writing journal about researching for Project Vampire Western
As I spoke about in my previous update post, my protagonist began as a Vampire: The Masquerade character. For whatever reason, I felt compelled to give her a Hispanic name and put her in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I did as much research as I could, but because I had zero idea what I was doing, it was scattered and misguided. So while her initial backstory didn’t make much historical sense, the bones for her story were there.
I would later come to find out after taking the ancestryDNA test that my mom’s side of the family has deep roots in this exact place.
Was this why I had felt so drawn to it? Did some part of me know that there were stories I needed to learn and then tell?
I had never known much about this side of my family. Although my mom was fully American, there was still some ambiguity about her background. I’ve since learned that both of my maternal grandparents spoke Spanish. In fact, my grandmother had to learn how to speak English.
Unfortunately, though, it was never passed down to me because my mother didn’t learn it. (She says she could never figure out how to roll her r’s, so I’m guessing she must have tried and subsequently gave up)
Unraveling my family history opened up a door of self-discovery that was previously hidden to me, and the more I uncovered, the more connected to it I felt. I sensed that there was a strange magic to this place that had been my maternal family’s home for generations. Now it was my character’s home too.
This all happened before I had declared myself a writer and started to take the development of my skills seriously. So, I put her in the backburner.
Later, while I was on my short story training arc, I felt compelled to bring Dolores to life again and she immediately surprised me. Even before I knew it and was ready to admit it, there was a seed of a novel in my hands.
But it would require research. So…much…research…
And it was because of this that I thought it might be better to return to it when I had more years of experience under my belt. Maybe by that point, I would have moved on from short stories with a book or two already out. Maybe I would have also found my perfect writing process, making it much easier for me to write this book.
Welp, past self, I hate to break it to you, but while I do have some experience under my belt, I certainly do not have any books out nor do I have my writing process at all completely figured out.
But you know what? Maybe that’s okay.
Maybe it’s okay if I need to learn as I go, if I make mistakes, backtrack, redo, fuck things up only to unfuck them later, and take my time sweet, sweet time with it. I’ve already practiced writing for over a year with short stories, so maybe this is just the next natural step for me. Maybe the time is now. Although…I heard my cowardly voice say…does it really have to be historically grounded? Wouldn’t it just be easier to base it on New Mexico history and not have to worry about getting it right?
As I started to brainstorm that possibility thinking it was the answer to my crippling anxieties, I had the feeling that my ancestors would be upset. That they would think it was a damn shame that I was not pulling from the stories that were part of their world and that it would be a disservice to all The Land of Enchantment had to offer me.
The rich history was already right there. The folktales, the legends, the superstitions…all things my family would have been intimately familiar with. How could I rob myself—and them—of that opportunity?
Sigh…
Fine. Okay, then.
I guess it’s time for me to get my shit together and figure this out. I can’t just go off of ✨v i b e s✨ anymore. I need to do my due diligence and give any potential future readers an immersive experience. I have to do my best to get it right, even if I end up taking creative liberties and don’t plan on being 100% accurate. The essence of history has to be there.
By this point I already had a working draft of my first chapter, so at least I had a general direction in that regard. But I knew that I would need a lot more information before I could properly delve into the actual writing.
Luckily, as a University student, I have access to a great library with a plethora of resources. The first time I went there and knew what I was looking for, it felt like finding multiple hidden treasures. Over the next few weeks, I grabbed every book that felt immediately relevant to me.
Which has…accumulated…to say the least…
In retrospect, I think that I may have gotten a little bit too excited, delving into my primary topics too early. I read about New Mexico and Santa Fe history, witchcraft, curanderismo, and folklore. Although it was fascinating and I still got plenty of useful notes (about 13k words of them to be precise, much of which ended up being cut down) it was not how I would have started the research process knowing what I know now.
As writers, research is not something we can avoid, especially if you are drawn to historical fiction. It will require some kind of organization and game plan, even if you are not naturally a Type A person. I looked everywhere for some good advice to get me an actionable plan.
I saw some helpful YouTube videos, but none of them gave me what I really needed. That was when I found this article with a great flow chart:
It took me a lot of going back and forth, organizing and reorganizing, to finally set up my Scrivener in a way that made sense for me. I also learned the hard way that the notes you take should be succinct and relevant. Try to pull only the information you actually need in that specific research stage rather than just copying down every single detail you read.
I won’t lie, this process has been a ball ache and a half. I can’t tell you how many times I arranged and rearranged, second guessed and even third guessed. Because I started taking notes before organizing, they were all a dumping ground with book names and chapter titles that I had to sort out.
Ultimately, the way you choose to take and store notes is entirely an individual process, but on the off chance this will be helpful to someone else out there, here is my current setup in Scrivener for my research notes:
After having done this, I refocused on the foundations rather than jumping around my primary topics. I’ve been taking notes on general information with only some details I will need in order to get my bearings. It will be difficult to do even a rough outline or a draft without knowing the basics: History, Geography, Society, Religion, Culture, and Technology.
I started taking notes on Scrivener’s scratchpad, allowing them to be messy and only organizing them into their proper place after I finished a significant portion. Coming to this process has already made it so much easier to get what I need from my research. What I have been learning is incredibly fascinating, and while I am tempted to return to my primary topics, I know it will be worth it to get a solid foundation first.
(Check out this super cool illustration from a book I was reading!!)
To ensure that I am not stuck in the research rabbit hole, I’ve also given myself until the end of the quarter to focus on the basics before moving on. I’ve already written a list of research questions for Chapter 1, so the next stage will focus on answering those so I can write another draft before moving on to the next chapter. This feels much more manageable.
Doing research for historical fiction is really, really fucking hard, but I am genuinely excited to delve deeper into these topics. So if I want to get the most out of it for my writing, then I need to work harder and smarter.
In my next Project Vampire Western update post, I will be talking more about what Story Engineering by Larry Brooks taught me so far and how I have been applying it to my writing process. Reading this will give me a good understanding of story structure before I decide to either write a rough outline or start my zero draft. I’m not sure which I will end up doing.
As always, thank you so very much for your support. Seeing all the interest and excitement in this book has given me more encouragement than you will ever know. That being said, I want to make sure that I focus on the craft in order to deliver the best end product I can.
I have no idea if this will be any good or if it will be my debut novel, but I am going to work my damn hardest to craft the best story that I can.
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Pro tip from a history doctoral student: Most history books are written in such a way that you should be able to read the first paragraph in each chapter, the first line of each paragraph, and the closing paragraph and still be able to follow what's going on... if you need to skim in a time crunch.
This was very helpful Coral. Thank you!