Lit Bit: When Research Finds the Writer

As novelist E.L. Doctorow will tell you, sometimes the best kind of research is the kind that comes to you without effort.  It comes to you when you least expect it, as long as you’re tuned it.  I experienced that sort of research a few weeks ago. 

I was out for a walk with my son in our neighborhood, pushing the stroller along a sidewalk lined with huge trees.  One of the old oaks had a sign posted to it.  Scheduled for elimination by Division of Forestry.  The reasons checked off were Dying and Diseased.  

I just so happened that a few days before I had pulled out a story I’d written a couple years ago and was applying a bit of spit and polish.  The story, “Leaving,” is about a woman infatuated with her yard.  In the end, the government tends to her diseased tree when she refuses to.

Some readers in my writing circle asked me whether this could really happen.  Would the government actually cut down a tree if it needed to be removed and the owner refused to?

I told them that I knew of a person whose dying tree had been cut down by the government, and the bill sent to them.

Still, these questions planted a seed of doubt.

Seeing the sign nailed to a tree during that leisurely walk with my son was the perfect detail to add to my story.  I copied the sign verbatim and have folded it into my story.

It reminds me of the method of research Doctorow described when I met him at the National Book Festival.  He said he bumped a library shelf, a book fell out, and the open page led him to write Ragtime.

Not to say that “Leaving” is my Ragtime, but at least I seemed to have the “stumble upon research” bit down in this case.

Has your research ever come looking for you?

---------------

Eric D. Goodman, Books Correspondent:

Eric’s column, Lit Bit, is published every Wednesday to Gather Essentials: Books.  Featuring bits on writing, writers, books, and literature, Lit Bit will fulfill your literary longings.

Eric is a full-time, professional, published writer and editor.  His work has appeared in local, national, and international publications, including a story in the current issue of The Baltimore Review. 

You can find all of Eric’s Lit Bit articles at www.gather.com/litbit.

Keep up with Eric’s other postings and Gather activity by joining his Gather network -- just click here www.edgewriter.gather.com and select the orange “Connect” button on the left-hand side of the page.  You’re also invited to join Eric’s group for writers and the readers who love them at www.writeful.gather.com.

You’ll find Eric and other Book Correspondents, plus celebrity author content and plenty of other bibliophiles at Books.gather.com.