Research Stage of Writing

Having carried out my own little definitions of the Procrastination Stage, the Preparation Stage, and the 

Character Development Stage of writing; I am now truly in a stage I love. It’s the happy stage of research.

I had one of those fathers who constantly reminded us kids to use the word “ love” carefully. “You love people not things etc.,” I still have a need to say I love this stage as I just love research, and it is particularly qualitative research that I love.

I would go as far as saying the methodology of narrative research is all about people. It’s listening to them. It’s asking questions and listening and noting their answers with the intent of using what they say in my writing. 
Quantitative may be all about crunching numbers, but qualitative is more focused on what questions I want to ask (keeping them few as possible or you’ll be there for a year writing up the responses), and treating responses with respect.

My first novel is going to be set in Jamaica in the 1970’s, where I lived and when I worked in that beautiful island in the Caribbean. It’s going to be a recent-history fiction.

Now here’s my big problem, I can’t travel back in time and I can’t even get on a plane and travel to Jamaica to soak up the current atmosphere. While I realise I am not going to solve this problem I do want to figure out what would I do if I could travel in aid of researching my novel.

Number One: I would visit the old locations, such as the school where I taught up in the mountains above Kingston (the capitol). I would take time to sit in the scenes of my youth and picture how it was when I was young. I realise the old Junction Road that led up into the hills has had a make-over, which includes smooth pavement but I am sure it would jog memories just to look out the car window.

Number two: I would look up people I used to know and see if they were available to reminisce. We could share stories. Stories that would end up in my novel, and I would promise to change names.

Number three: I would visit people my age and older. As a central focus of my novel is a group of grandmothers, I would ask questions about Jamaican grandparenting which so influenced me as I became a grandmother. 

It really is a shame I can’t just hop on an Air Jamaican plane out of Heathrow and head down to Montego Bay or Kingston Airrport. Covid has a lot to answer for, including the fact that travel money might be better spent in donating vaccines to teachers in the West Indies. 

So what can I do?
1. Research is often defined by beginning with a question, but I don’t want to start with a question in which I think I know the answer. I want to start with just spending some time jogging my memory and see what comes up that might be useful in my novel. I will play Bob Marley, of course; but also Jimmy Clif and see what the YouTube brings up in the way of music of the era. I have a sense that ideas will start to flow.

2. Connect with old friends from my three years in Jamaica. We’re all on Zoom now any way so we might as well do what most older people do and that is reminisce. Maybe we’ll cook some Jamaican food and remember school dinners at Highgate High School in St Mary’s.

3. Watch films (find them first) and perhaps read a little of Ian Flemmings time on the island. His experience was before my time and certainly we ran with different crowds but it would be a start as I find my way to Jamaican authors who have influenced a generation. 

While in many ways I do long to head to see the banana boxing plant where I set up a home style theatre with my Jamaican Girl Guides (wouldn’t it be wonderful to see how they’ve grown?), I need to especially remember I am writing a novel and not a history. I know I will enjoy the contacts I make along the way, and will try remember to listen for the story what emerges, rather than it just being about my memory lane.

All suggestions for setting a scene in the past is greatly appreciated. 

 

Kathleen Smith

Kathleen is a former US Peace Corps Volunteer who lived in Jamaica for three years. 

Having two non-fiction books published (Beyond Broken Families is available on Amazon), she is now writing her first novel. 

She arrived in the UK on a banana boat. 

Photo by Amarnath Tade on Unsplash