Art Garner asked John R. Bruning:

How do you organize your research? Do you write and research at the same time?

John R. Bruning Hi Art!

Thanks for the question. I start with some basic research, then go on research trips to gather more information. With Race of Aces, I came home with thousands of pages of documents that I had copied with a Canon 1DX digital camera. I organized those files back into their original documents by pulling them into .pdf files. That way, I could do key word searches, which proved to be extremely helpful.

All the files for Race of Aces took up about 15 terrabytes on a RAID Array hard drive system--sort of a mini server. That includes the scanned photos and photos I took during my research trips.

It took weeks to sort and read through the material, which revealed some surprising information that changed the original outline for the book. In fact, the research material contradicted my own original view on how the ace race in the SWPA developed, and I had to restructure the book as a result.

From there, as I started to assemble the chapters, I'd go in and delve deeper into the material as needed. At times, I would stop writing for hours as I sought out a specific fact I needed, or was cross checking something. If you go to my Instagram feed, or find me on FB, you'll see some of the photos of that process, and my research assistants, Sylvie and Leilu (they're felines!).

Hope that helps, and thank you for the question!

Regards,

John Bruning

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