This is a screenshot of the first chapter of my current Work in Progress (WIP for writers in the know). As you can see, there’s a lot of details to be filled in. I’m writing a scene where one of my characters, Alouette, comes back from flying her plane to find that the war has began.

The writing process is very different from the research process, so I try to separate them the best I can. Interrupting the flow of words (or as I say, the voices in my head) is one of the worst things you can do, as my husband can now attest to. After a few false starts, he (and my kids- most of the time) now know to wait until my fingers pause in their typing before they come into my office.

I write scenes when inspiration strikes, and when insight is not exactly forthcoming, I use that time to study up- clearly WWI aviation is a weak point. And Alouette, real name Marthe Richer (I had to go with the French version of her spy name as I have another Martha as a main character) is a pilot.

My problem is that I often find myself researching way too in depth- getting lost in history, if you will, which is amazingly interesting but not necessarily productive as far as that WIP goes. However, I’ve decided to share some of these interesting tidbits via this blog (without it interfering too much with that WIP, wink, wink).

Do you have problems with research versus writing or just love learning interesting facts about historical figures? Let me know what you think in the comments below!