Research Plan for NaNoReMo

Well, to prepare for National Novel Researching Month in January, I'm putting together my research plan. I think the trick of research is to get just enough of the right kind...enough to give me confidence that I'm telling an authentic story and to give the story the kind of accurate flavor that transports my readers back in time. But not so much that it bores the reader, or sends me off on endless tangents and delays me from actually sitting down and writing. If all goes well, I will finish my research by January 31, and on February 1, I will begin writing the story, with the intention of penning at least 50,000 words by the end of the month.

As previously mentioned, I'm working on a fictional narrative series covering the history of the Italian mafia in the States during the 20th century. Here's my research plan so far for the first novel.

RESEARCH PLAN: Mafia Series, Volume 1

THE ERA IN GENERAL (1900-1910)
- The national and global politics
- The social issues and debates
- The technologies of the day (established and emerging)
- The luxuries of the day
- The fashion of the day
- The slang and common speech of the day

SPECIFIC TRENDS
- The "Black Hand" phenomenon
- The lifestyle of immigrants in America, esp. those from Italy/Sicily
- The size, nature and character of Italian enclaves in urban areas
- The general strength, makeup, style and maturity of the mob at this time
- The popular scams and methods of the day

PEOPLE

Main Characters
- Don Vito Cascio Ferro (New York, New Orleans, Sicily)
- Salvatore Maranzano (New York?)
- Joseph Petrosino (New York detective)

Setup Characters for Volume 2
- Joe Masseria (New York)
- John Torrio (Chicago)
- Frankie Yale (New York)
- Santo Trafficante (Tampa)
- Jake Guzik (Chicago?)
- Waxey Gordon
- Frank Costello (NY)
- Charles Dion O'Banion (Chicago)
- George Moran (Chicago?)
- Herbert Hoover?

PLACES
- Italy/Sicily
- New York
- New Orleans
- Chicago

EVENTS
- Arrival to States of Don Vito and Lupo the Wolf (1899)
- Don Vito's homicide, flight to New Orleans, then Sicily (1899-1900)
- Joseph Petrosino's campaign against the mafia as detective in NY Police (1905-1909)
- Petrosino's murder in Palermo (1909)
- Lupo the Wolf put away (imprisoned) (1910)

Everyone's welcome to join in the fun of NaNoReMo, as well as FebNoWriMo, the February Novel Writing Month challenge (a totally separate thing from NaNoReMo).

Write on!