Research Like a Writer: Turning Sources into Story

Writers love research almost as much as they fear it. It promises discovery: new voices, hidden details, forgotten histories. But when it comes time to write, the promise can turn heavy. Folders of photocopied articles, transcripts that run to dozens of pages, notebooks filled with half-legible observations—all of it sits on the desk like a weight. Instead of inspiration, you feel paralysis. How can something that seemed so exciting in the gathering feel so inert in the telling? The problem isn’t the research itself. The problem is that raw material isn’t yet story.