Carmen T's Papas Calientes--Research

To your right are Alicia Alonso's bloody, toe shoes and her Giselle costume. On my trip I learned that her mother made the dress.






Unlike David I love to research. There are dangers to that. You don't write because you want to keep reseaching and, you show your research in your writing . That's a no-no. I show my research among the action. The rest I put in the back notes.

As David pointed out, research is not just for non-fiction. When I was writing In the Shade of the Nispero Tree, I went back to Ponce, Puerto Rico to eat nisperos, and remember streets and buildings.

I find myself researching twice.

Before and while I write the first draft:

1. I read children's books because they are short and usually have good bibliographies. Then I read the adult books listed in the bibliographies.
   
2. Search the web, but because so many people write there, I make sure the sources are accurate.
3. Read poetry, old newspapers and magazines, and ballet critiques.


4. Watch movies realted to my topic.


5. Listen to the music related to my topic.


6. Eat at restaurants from the culture.


7. Talk to farmworkers to listen to the way they speak.


8. Go to plays and ballets.


9. I go to talks. When Diego's daughter came to Portland, I followed her everywhere.
10. E-mail anybody who can help me.
    

After I have written the first draft I do on-site research because I need to see, smell, touch, and hear the place. (I have already tasted the food and now I am fat!)

1. I have visited cemeteries to verify that Munoz's first wife was buried in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and that she wasn't cremated.


2. I didn't go to California to visit farmworkers but I went to Hood River, Oregon.
3. I visited the Farmworker Union headquarters.


4. I went to Mexico City and visited Frida Kahlo's Blue House, the San Angel studios (this helped firgured out how Diego Rivera's pink studio was separated from Frida's blue studio), and I climbed the Sun Pyramid because she climbed it with Leon Trostky.
5. I have visited many museums and galleries in Mexcio and Cuba.


6. I have watched murals in the making.


7. I went to Guanajuato, Mexico to learn more about Diego's childhood.


8. I went to Havana, Cuba and interviewed ballet dancers, historians, choreographers, costume designers, Alicia Alonso's first husband, Alicia's second husband, and Alicia.


9. I watched ballet rehearsals and have gone to many ballets, here and in Cuba.


10. I made sure that I have the contacts for the historians, and have asked them to check my manuscripts for accuracy.

Now I need to write without showing my research.