Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Research for the Third Novel in a Series by Gail Kittleson






Research for the Third Novel in a Series

            How many adjectives can I find to describe the research required for A Purpose True? A whole list comes to mind. The other books in this series called for a great deal of reading and searching. But then came this sequel: search, then search again = re-search.

            I found myself going back over familiar territory more than once, because what happens here has to match the historical record, but also must coincide with the way I interpreted the historical record in books one and two. Yes indeed. So quite a few times, I had to backtrack. (Could I have aged so much from 2014-15, when I was working on the first two books, that I can’t remember what I did back then? ):

Anyway, the research for this novel proved harder than I’d expected. Some of the foreign language usages varied from books or reports written right after World War II, also, as languages are forever changing. So a couple of times, I had to decide whether to be “right” or be consistent.

            Ahh...consistency.  A couple of new characters came into play in A Purpose True, so that was exciting—I love to meet new people, both in fiction and in real-life.
But the challenge with my characters was to maintain their integrity between what occurred in the first two books and this one.

            We all change as we grow, right? But how much dare I allow a heroine or hero to evolve? Could shy Addie from In Times Like These do something a bit risqué, now that she’s come so far and established her independence? How about Kate, who’s never had trouble being independent...how much of her shadow-self could I bring out, now that she’s in such incredible danger from the Nazis?

            I still love this story, but to be honest, writing it has worn me out! I hope, though, that readers will resonate to the changes in Kate and Addie, and that they’ll enter into the life-and-death situations Kate and Domingo face. Perhaps they’ll even sense comradeship with some of their deep faith questions.  No easy answers, that’s for sure!

Here is the  mock-up, or temporary cover of Gail's new book coming soon!




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2 comments:

Marilyn R. said...

Interesting post about reasearch and characters changing throughout a series that show their humanity.

Gail Kittleson said...

Show their humanity...yes, Marilyn. the longer I live, the more I see CHANGE is what it's all about. Everyone fights it, but we actually NEED it!! It's actually freeing to see change as a positive human quality, don't you think?

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