The process was having literally hundreds of tabs open from targeted research to things that branched off from the results of the targeted research. Oh, I came knowing what I wanted to explore! The history tour is based on history I’ve been reading for years as I researched my historical romances, though I did do a lot of specific Brooklyn and New York City historical research. What was your research process like? Did you come to the project with the history you wanted to explore in mind already, or did it change as you researched?

You’ve written historical fiction before, and this book weaves the history of colonialism and gentrification into the present-day problems Sydney is facing in her neighborhood and her attempt to create a neighborhood tour. I do read in the genre, because I don’t write things that I don’t also love reading, but I generally read things in a different genre from what I’m writing when I’m in the actual nitty-gritty writing phase of the project. It helps me to have many different info piles to mentally pull from as I’m working. My writing process is pretty much the same for whatever kind of book I’m writing: I do a lot of research whether I’m writing historical or contemporary, sci-fi or thriller (sometimes what I might call an unnecessary amount, but it all helps at some point down the line). When you’re tackling a new genre or one you haven’t written in a while, does it change your writing process at all? Do you immerse yourself in books from that genre for research?

Alyssa cole when no one is watching