{"id":654,"date":"2011-05-31T18:48:34","date_gmt":"2011-06-01T01:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/?p=654"},"modified":"2011-05-31T18:49:42","modified_gmt":"2011-06-01T01:49:42","slug":"what-goes-into-writing-a-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/2011\/05\/31\/what-goes-into-writing-a-book\/","title":{"rendered":"What Goes Into Writing a Book?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the 29th of May 2011, C-Span<\/em> featured an interview with David McCullough.\u00a0 One of the questions that particularly sparked my thinking was:\u00a0 “What goes into writing a book?”\u00a0 McCullough has written 8 books, and all of them are still available–check Amazon.com or your favorite bookseller for copies.<\/p>\n

My personal favorites are his detailed and through study of\u00a0 The Great <\/strong>Bridge <\/strong><\/em>(Brooklyn Bridge). \u00a0 1776<\/strong><\/em> a critical examination of a single, striking year in American History.\u00a0 And his masterpiece biography of\u00a0 Truman<\/strong><\/em> for which he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1993.\u00a0\u00a0 These books adorn my own shelves and give me a historical sense of well-being.<\/p>\n

I listened intently to his answer and took notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is David McCullough’s formula for research to write a book–<\/p>\n

Read.\u00a0 And re-read.<\/p>\n

Search.\u00a0 And re-search.<\/p>\n

Draft and ask questions of librarians, of archivists, of sources.\u00a0 And listen<\/span> to the answers.\u00a0 Draft new questions based on the first answers.<\/p>\n

Careful and thorough study of the setting in which the story takes place–seeing and feeling and walking and smelling the “where.”\u00a0 Getting closer to the time and place.\u00a0 “If the man walked along the river to his work, I walked along the river, morning and night too,” McCullough said.<\/p>\n

How is it done:\u00a0 “How did he do his work?\u00a0 What materials did he use?\u00a0 Who did he consult with?\u00a0 Did he make his own designs?” How do things happen?\u00a0 Experiencing the past, to whatever degree it is possible to experience the past.<\/p>\n

Getting closer to the people:\u00a0 Who are they?\u00a0 Where do they come from?\u00a0 How do they relate to each other and the world which they inhabit?<\/p>\n

The most essential element, and perhaps the glue that holds everything together, is the thinking.\u00a0 Every writer must spend time thinking–that is what brings greatness to a work.\u00a0 The amount of thinking the writer engages with his evidence and his experience.<\/p>\n

And the works McCullough creates, he types himself, on a manual typewriter–an old Royal.\u00a0 This essential<\/em> tool is part of his creative process.\u00a0 It keeps up with his thoughts and fingers.\u00a0 And his recognition and book awards, as well as the reception by his readers stand testament that his process works.\u00a0 For him.\u00a0 And for us.<\/p>\n

Creative minds and hearts are like that.\u00a0 The environment in which the work is created is, often, as much a part of the process as the research which underlies it.\u00a0\u00a0 Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle http:\/\/arleneeakle.com<\/p>\n

PS\u00a0 And I spent Memorial Day at the cemetery with a family organization dedicating a new tombstone.\u00a0 To their Pioneer Ancestor who was heading to Zion to fulfill her dream of a new life and died along the Nebraska trail.\u00a0 She lies buried alone there “near a lone pine tree.”\u00a0 The day became beautiful as the sun penetrated the clouds and the rain finally stopped for a pace.\u00a0 Hope your Memorial Day was memorable too.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the 29th of May 2011, C-Span featured an interview with David McCullough.\u00a0 One of the questions that particularly sparked my thinking was:\u00a0 “What goes into writing a book?”\u00a0 McCullough has written 8 books, and all of them are still … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":656,"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654\/revisions\/656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}