Poe, Austen and Swift. Oh! And Hugo, but read the cliff notes because the book (Les Mis) would take ages to read.

Jen- Hubby has the complete works of Poe, so that should easy (to read, at least). I was wondering about Clif notes. Never read any, so I didn’t know if they’re any good. It would definitely save me time. Do you have any experience with them?

This is kinda an aside, but have you ever read some of O. Henry’s short stories? He was a master of the twist ending.

Glad to see you rolling up your sleeves and getting serious about your novel. Keep up the good fight.

CJ- I don’t think I have. In school, we missed a lot of classics because every teacher wasted our time with The Pearl *gag*, 3 years in a row! Hm… I may have to read something else of Steinbeck’s so that Z can have a more balanced opinion of him.

Travis- Thanks! Yanno, last night went pretty well, but my wrist got sore quickly. I am bouncing off the walls wanting to get into my “research”. I also have to research baristas. That could be a pain.

Okay- I could be saying something you’ll think is B.S. here, but I find for myself, and I’ve heard from several prolific and bestselling authors the same advice: Write the story, and then you can collect the supporting research when and where you need it. It’s very easy as an author to get a specific question answered (like what’s on the left side of the road) and professionals (like baristas) are usually happy to answer specifics and then some. If you learn something unexpectedly, fantastically interesting, you can always knit it into the story.

But when the novel’s writing becomes contingent on years’ worth of an educational background you don’t have (yet), it takes too long to be ready to write, and ever-expanding research has gobbled up many, many a promising novelist. Your character and her story as you feel called to write them are far more important to readers than knowing her entire biography or bibliography. Which is not to say YOU don’t have to understand her deeply and that your created background doesn’t inform your writing. But maybe you can also be planning scenes or plotting while you’re constructing your self-made PhD in English Lit?

Below is a link to a huge wiki with lists of books you can pick and choose from, and I bet you’ve read bunches of the ones from the classics already. Not knowing all the erudite titles is more a problem when other people toss them around. Mostly, they haven’t read them all either– James Joyce’s Ulysses being a classic example of one that’s often referenced and rarely read. But if your character’s doing the referencing, she can use whatever you love. If she’s the type to quote from or name-drop literary giants all the time, she’s probably home alone…a lot. Masters Theses, for example, get written on everything from Alice in Wonderland to H.P. Lovecraft, so whatever works most inspire you can easily and legitimately be your character’s specialty.
http://www.bookjive.com The Mental Floss series of books are also a fun way to hit the high points and juiciest tidbits of history and art, and those are what people love to hear about anyway: )

I can’t wait to hear more about the mysterious Z!

Hi Clare2e! Welcome, and thanks for the advice.

I’m definitely working my way through the first draft with or without the classics info at hand, but I figure the reading list would be perfect during my “stick it in a drawer and forget about it for a month or two” period. The possibilities are so vast, that I’m trying to prepare my list now.

I’m looking up bookjive right now and- wow. I’m so bookmarking this. This is exactly why I throw questions out to the community- there’s always at least one person with a good answer, and usually several.

I’ll have to check out this Mental Floss as well- it sounds vaguely familiar, but for the life of me, I can’t remember anything anyone’s said about it. But it does sound exactly like what I’d need.

And, by the way, I love Hamburgler. I think I had a crush on him as a kid.

You are so right. The cooling off period is the perfect time to feed your head. Glad bookjive’s interesting. But of course you have a crush of Hamburgler- me, too! A bad boy who’s a snappy dresser? Irresistible!

Sparknotes.com is a good resource for all things literature. A large majority of the classics are listed by title or by author (your choice which you want to search by).

I frequently use Sparknotes while tutoring online – particularly at the upper high school, early college level when I’m not entirely familiar with a book a student needs help with.

Each book has a plot overview, individual chapter summaries and analysis, character information, major themes and such, plus a context overview of the time period the book was written in. It’s a very reliable source as far as accuracy too.

Now I’m off to check out bookjive!

Kara- Thanks for the tip! I love information to put a book into context. Must be from my love of history.

Clare2e- See what you started with BookJive?

I actually haven’t used Clif Notes, but I know friends that have and they seemed to like them. One reason I mentioned Poe is that he has plenty of short stories, and that would take less time.

I also agree with those above about waiting until after the first draft is done. You could work on getting a few easy references in there now, but I wouldn’t let gobs of research slow you down to a crawl during the first draft.

Jen- Luckily I’ve read 3 or 4 of Poe’s stories, and hubby has a copy of his complete works. Convenience is always a bonus!

I’m definitely holding off doing that extra research until I’m ready for round 2, unless something convenient comes up. I actually have several classics in my TBR pile, so some of my research will probably be done without extra effort. Plus, CJ just posted a link in her blog to a service that emails sections of classics to you in serial form. Again, convenient!

I swear, I had no idea there were so many services out there.