When I research my books for nonfiction picture book biographies and young adult narrative nonfiction books, I, of course, start off at the library. I do my primary research. I look up any books that were published about the same topic that I’m researching or books about the same person I’m researching. I then go to the archives of newspapers. I go and I try to find out as much information as I can. Now, as a journalist, I also know you don’t want to just stick with the New York Times, you know, the big papers.
For Sammy Lee, started looking up articles in the local Pasadena Weekly papers, you know, was there anything written there, was there anything in the local historical societies, you know, that kind of thing. So, you know, you have to think outside the box even with primary resources, you know, what are other, you know, this person grew up in, you know, where I grew up in Connecticut, let’s look up the Hartford Courant, let’s look up maybe there are local articles because you would be surprised how much – and actually, you shouldn’t be surprised by how much amazing reporting and investigative journalism is done by smaller local newspapers because they have access to certain things other people didn’t.
I then try to interview as many people as I can who are alive. You know, for example, with Muhammad Yunus, I found him. I found his website. I cold emailed the people there, and they said coincidence, he’s going to be in L.A. next month, and I said great, I want to interview him. So, I had the honor of meeting and interviewing him.
In terms of Anna May Wong because she passed away a very long time ago, other research that I did, I watched as many movies of hers as I could. I read movie reviews, I did historical research on how silent movies were made, the transition to talkies, you know, what her life was like in Europe, you know, just looking at press conferences and, you know, any images that I could see of her so I could hear her voice, you know, and what it was like to hear her speak, to get her cadence, to understand how she talked.
And one of the things as a writer is the one thing that keeps me from getting lost in the weeds of my research is always thinking about story and character and heart. So, anything that I highlight, it either has to provide new information that pushes the story forward, that gets you to the next chapter or the next page or provides insight to the main historical subject’s emotional state.
Where were they feeling at this point? You know, how did that get them to the next stage? When Sammy Lee was told you can’t use the swimming pool ’cause you’re not white, what was the information that I found in my research that led to him saying I’m still going to learn how to dive even though I can’t use this swimming pool, you know. And I think that keeps you from falling down the rabbit hole of research ’cause, you know, we can get distracted, you know, where it’s like oh, that’s interesting, and then you’re off.
And you always have to remind yourself no, I am here researching for something very specific. And again, it’s like being a detective. I can’t be distracted. I’m in a room. You know, I’m at the crime site. You know, I can’t be distracted by everything. I’m looking for one thing. I’m looking for a fingerprint that will lead me to the criminal, and that’s what I’m doing with my research. What are the fingerprints that push the story forward that show you the emotional arc of where the character is at the beginning?
