Karen Daggs has helped do research on three of Joyce Faulkner’s books: Garrison Avenue, Julia and Maud, and her upcoming book, The Murder of Paul Rush. Daggs has answered several questions for the Red Engine Press blog.
What got you interested in doing research?
After following my husband around the world as a Navy wife, for over 25 years and retiring from a job I loved due to downsizing, I realized I was at loose ends. About that time Joyce moved back to Fort Smith and in getting to know each other again we discovered that I had a knack for research. We enjoy bouncing things off each other while we talk about the story we are working on as well.
You tried to get into the crime scene of Paul Rush but the doors were locked. What happened?
We have been there several times just to look at the building. The neighboring business was under the mistaken thought that the building they were in was the building that the murder took place in. It was a mistake and as of yet we still haven't been in it to check it out. I haven't been inside it since 1975 when I was pregnant with my second child. I worked there as a seamstress during that time making western shirts.
How do you collect info for Joyce's books? What places do you look?
We are lucky to have a great public library as well as the library at the University of Arkansas, Fort Smith on our college campus that helps a great deal, also our historic society and museum. We are located literally on the border of Arkansas and Oklahoma which gives me access to all their libraries and historical societies as well. We are minutes away from a plethora of information. Since we deal with Historical Fiction it has to be correct so that makes it imperative I can back up what I find.
What do you enjoy doing the most?
Working a story back and forth until Joyce is satisfied with the storyline we come with. It is so satisfying to see my opinions come out in the stories we work on.
Do you use your phone to collect data? If so, how?
Yes I do. It is like carrying a computer, a recorder, and a camera all at the same time. I can do research and use my phone as a scanner/copier so that it can be sent to Joyce for the timeline. I can do an interview with someone and send her the interview also to be put on the working timeline. Or if I have something I want to share with her then I can take a picture and send it for her to use if need be.
What has been your most fun adventure?
Going to Montgomery while working on the book Garrison Avenue. Being able to walk behind the scenes of life at that time and get a different perspective for what life was like. Really I could never know what life was like but it allowed me to peek into history.
What is your process for finding information on the various people and situations in Joyce’s books?
I know this is a cop out but it varies depending on what we are working on at the time.
What did you discover when you went to Alabama to do research for Garrison Avenue?
The heartbreak of seeing that there is so much that hasn't changed and needs to but also how much has changed. The fact that kids still are profiled because of their color or race and that is part of what hasn't changed and also that blows my mind for a parent that has to caution their children on how to approach a police officer. Being married to a retired police officer I see them as the good guys but these children see them as someone to be feared. That blew my mind that I grew up and raised my kids in such a different attitude to the police force.
You went on the Panama Canal cruise. What adventures did you have on it?
It has been on my bucket list to do that for several years and that the opportunity came up was fantastic. The group we traveled with were great and it was so much fun to have dinner with them every night and get to know them as individuals and not just as authors.
How did you get involved in doing research?
By accident actually. I had recently retired and was at loose ends when Joyce and Johnny move back to Ft. Smith Arkansas to finish Garrison Avenue. We started to get to know each other again and I was invited to work with her on some of the research. We found out that no one knew what happened to Sanford Lewis after his father retrieved his body. I made it my mission to try to find out where he was buried. Being that his father was a Freedman I went that route to find him. The rest is history in that I am personally acquainted with a lot of the rural cemeteries in and around the area of his father's land.
How do you organize the information you find for a book?
I don't. Joyce works with a program that is a running timeline. So, as I find things it is sent to her via email, and she takes it and puts it on the timeline, and it pops when she needs it.
Do you write also or concentrate on research?
I prefer to do research.
###
Comments