Falling Down the Research Hole
APR 22, 2024
With all historical fiction and really most writing, you have to research. On my current manuscript, I’ve researched extensively. I had to find out much about World War II, life in the 1940’s, when transistor radios were invented and what ‘revenuers’ drove. It’s a good thing, because I want my reader to drop into that story and feel like they are living it.
My short story in the upcoming anthology, Feisty Deeds: Historical Fictions of Daring Women, came about due to an article in my local paper about a military base on Topsail Island. I grew up in North Carolina and I’d never heard of Camp Davis. There are plenty of military bases in our state, but how could I have never heard of a base of over 100k+ and how could it disappear in 70 years? One of these days, I will drive out to Topsail and see if I can find the remnants of the runways, all that’s left of the base today.
Thanks to John Moseley, the manager of The North Carolina Maritime Museum, at Southport an article1 gave me lots of the facts and I further researched for more information. Once I found out 52 WASP pilots were stationed there, a story started growing in my head. One woman in particular had the loudest voice, a recent college graduate named June. ‘Junebug’ grew from that article and the research hole I fell into. June is fictional of course. She’s part of my imagination. but she stands for all the brave women who loved to fly and fought to join the WASP program, (Women Airforce Service Pilots’.) The WASP have a museum and wonderful site online at Texas Women’s University, (https://twu.edu/library/womans-collection/collections/women-airforce-service-pilots-official-archive/). You should check it out, it’s fascinating.
That kind of research inspired me to write the short story and perhaps make June’s story into a novel one day. Somedays, I can stop to research one small thing and end up spending hours lost in the infinite amount of information online and in books that’s available to us all. Other days, I make a note and keep writing. It all depends on the flow of the words.
Do you like history? Do you find yourself lost in research when your curiosity is tweaked? What are some of your favorite research sites?
I’d love to hear from you! Send me a comment.
Tenenoff, Savanna. ”Women pilots remembered at museum.” The Brunswick Beacon, March 30, 2023, p. A5.
