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More on Robert Caro's research & writing methods
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Posted by Dr Andus
Apr 9, 2020 at 10:59 PM
Paul Korm wrote:
Some years ago a topic here discussed the biographer Robert Caro’s
>outline for his “The Years of Lyndon Johnson”.
>
>https://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/3934
>
>Caro recently (April 2019) released a book discussing his experiences
>and methods, including research, interviews, note taking, outlining,
>writing and editing. After engaging in extensive research on a topic
>or event in a subject’s life, Caro proceeds to his writing phase.
>
>CARO: I can’t start writing a book until I’ve thought it
>through and can see it whole in my mind. So before I start writing, I
>boil the book down to three paragraphs, or two, or
>one—that’s when it comes into view. That process might take
>weeks. And then I turn those paragraphs into an outline of the whole
>book. That’s what you see up here on my wall
>now—twenty-seven typewritten pages. That’s the fifth volume.
>Then, with the whole book in mind, I go chapter by chapter. I sit down
>at the typewriter and type an outline of that chapter, let’s say
>if it’s a long chapter, seven pages—it’s really the
>chapter in brief, without any of the supporting evidence. Then, each
>chapter gets a notebook, which I fill with all the materials I want to
>use—quotations and facts pulled from all of the research
>I’ve done.
>
>Caro, Robert A.. Working (p. 197). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
>
>“Working” is an interesting read for anyone looking to understand Caro’s
>methods.
Just came across this Caro quote in my Zettelkasten, and it blew my mind again, this time even more profoundly. What an amazing method! And yet it’s so simple and logical. Thanks for posting it.