Lynn Schooler: I always have several ideas for writing projects percolating in the back of my brain on a variety of topics that are largely unrelated to each other but of general interest to me. Over the course of time, I gather up tidbits of information and experiences that sometimes coalesce in a way that gives the original idea a focus and theme. Fortunately, I have no formal training in research, so my methods are fairly haphazard and undisciplined, which sometimes has the effect of leading to unexpected connections. For example, a general interest in marine mammals led me to do a lot of research on sea otters, which unexpectedly overlapped with some other general reading I was doing and led to an idea for a piece on how that animal was saved from extinction by the nuclear arms race. So my idea of research is a sort of ongoing connect-the-dots kind of process that relies heavily on serendipity.
Maria Rosa Menocal: The book I wrote was on a subject I've been doing research on for about 25 years and on which I had written many things --- but all of them academic rather than for the general interest public. Before I began writing I thought I knew everything I needed to know but in fact as the writing progressed I would often find myself doing all sorts of new research, either to round out stories I knew or to triple-check dates, or for other reasons. Until the very end, even when I was working with the copy editor, there were always things that needed to be looked at one more time in the library or in my own books. If you believe God is in the details then research never stops. Alas.
Tony Perrottet: My imagination is captured by topics that have a mythic level --- like Rome under the early Caesars, for example, or pre-Revolutionary Cuba. This is often bound up with powerful images from literature or the movies. I like to dig up the facts behind the mythology. I also choose subjects I'd like to teach myself about; I'm learning while I write, and hopefully convey some of the excitement of discovery.
The genesis of my book Route 66 AD follows this convoluted process. I'd always loved ancient history, having grown up with all the old "sword and sandal" films and wonderful BBC soft-porn classics like I, Claudius; I'd studied Latin for years at school, but I'd never been to Rome or Greece. (As a travel writer, I'd always gone to remote places like Zanzibar and Tierra del Fuego --- the Mediterranean always seemed so overrun, it would be impossible to write about.) When I heard a little about ancient Roman tourists, it occurred to me that (1) very little had been published on the subject, and (2) following in their footsteps might allow me to travel the Mediterranean with a fresh viewpoint. Circumstances were also auspicious. My girlfriend became pregnant, which pushed me to make the trip now rather than later: We used to travel a lot together, and this was our last chance for a journey in the "old style." So all these factors converged to convince me to take a four month trip as a basis for the book. I should mention that I hadn't actually sold it when we set off from New York, but was optimistic that I could.
As for research --- I did a fair bit of general reading before the trip, but much of it felt quite abstract to me before I actually arrived in Rome. So I carried a huge pile of books with me around the Mediterranean --- a 30-pound bag full of original classical texts (things like Pausanias' 2nd century AD guidebook to Greece) and photocopied secondary articles, so that I could refer to things en route. The words came alive when I was reading them in situ. I committed to the book project when I was back in New York. I thought I'd done a lot of research already, but as soon as I really started writing, it became obvious to me that I'd only scratched the surface. I ended up doing much, much more digging around. It's a vast area, the ancient world --- and a lot has been written about specific aspects of Roman life (I wanted to draw all these disparate sources together to create a synthesis, accreting hundreds of small details). I would research a certain section, then write it (the book is broken up geographically, more or less). But I'd also keep researching on old sections, in case something fresh turned up --- and a lot of material would, by accident.
Emma Sweeney: The topics I've chosen --- gardening and my mother and father --- are close to my heart so I guess writing about them is a way of staying close to things I love. For my gardening books I had to do a lot of research, most of which I did as I wrote the books. For As Always, Jack, I did more research as I wrote the book than I thought I would simply because as I began talking to people who knew my father new facts arose that demanded I look at his life more closely.
Mona Golabek: The book is based on my mother's life; it was a life long dream. The research was ongoing throughout the project.
