Resources for Writers | Books, Tools & Guides for Research Travel
This is a curated collection of books, tools, and guides that support writers engaged in research-focused work. These resources have shaped how Early & Away thinks about creative research, field work, and the relationship between writing and place.
Books on Research & Place
The Art of Creative Research: A Field Guide for Writers
Philip Gerard
An essential guide to how research functions differently for creative writers than for journalists or academics. Gerard argues that creative research isn't just preparation for writing—it's part of the creative process itself. Covers interviewing, archival work, and observational research with a focus on how inquiry shapes discovery.
Why it matters: Helps writers understand the difference between fact-gathering and immersive research, and when field work becomes necessary.
Mentioned in: Why Creative Research Can't Always Happen at Your Desk
The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone
Olivia Laing
Part memoir, part cultural criticism, Laing explores loneliness through the lens of artists who lived and worked in New York City. While not explicitly about research methods, this book demonstrates how deep observation of place and sustained attention to a city can generate insight.
Why it matters: Shows how walking, observing, and returning to the same locations repeatedly can become a form of research in itself.
The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot
Robert Macfarlane
Macfarlane walks ancient paths across Britain and beyond, exploring how landscapes hold memory and how movement through place generates understanding. His work exemplifies the kind of attention that transforms travel into research.
Why it matters: For writers working on projects where landscape shapes character, culture, or narrative—this is essential reading on how geography teaches.
On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes
Alexandra Horowitz
Horowitz takes the same city block walk eleven times, each with a different expert—a geologist, a typographer, a doctor, a dog. Each walk reveals an entirely different understanding of the same space based on what you're trained to notice.
Why it matters: Demonstrates that observation is a skill, and that place reveals different layers depending on how you look. Essential for writers learning to observe like researchers.
All Creatures Great and Small
James Herriot
Herriot's veterinary memoirs are set in North Yorkshire in the mid-20th century. While ostensibly about animals, these books are detailed observations of rural English life, class structure, regional character, and how geography shapes community.
Why it matters: A masterclass in observing and recording daily life with affection and precision. Shows how the ordinary becomes extraordinary through sustained attention.
On Writing Place & Setting
The Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing
Richard Hugo
Though focused on poetry, Hugo's essays about writing place are invaluable for any writer. His concept of the "triggering town"—the real place that sparks a poem versus the town that emerges in the work—applies beautifully to fiction and nonfiction.
Why it matters: Helps writers understand the relationship between actual places and imagined ones, and why research doesn't mean reproduction.
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Anne Lamott
Lamott's classic writing guide includes essential advice on observation, detail, and how to render place without over-explaining. Her chapter on "shitty first drafts" is liberating for writers worried about "getting it right" during field research.
Why it matters: Encourages writers to gather material without self-censoring, which is essential during research travel.
Practical Travel Resources
Rome2rio
A transportation search engine that shows you every possible way to get from Point A to Point B—trains, buses, ferries, flights, and combinations. Essential for planning research trips that involve moving between smaller towns and rural areas.
Why it matters: Standard travel planning tools focus on major cities. Rome2rio helps you figure out how to reach the less-obvious places that might be essential to your research.
Seat 61: The Man in Seat Sixty-One
Comprehensive guide to train travel across Europe, Asia, and beyond. Written by a train travel enthusiast who actually takes these routes and provides detailed, practical advice.
Why it matters: Train travel is often the best way to observe landscapes and daily life. Seat 61 makes complex international rail travel manageable.
Atlas Obscura
A database of unusual and overlooked places worldwide. While some entries lean touristy, many highlight archives, museums, historical sites, and cultural oddities that don't appear in standard guidebooks.
Why it matters: Helps writers find the specific, often overlooked locations that serve research better than famous landmarks.
Destination-Specific Guides
These are Early & Away's own guides to researching specific destinations:
North Yorkshire, England
A Writer's Guide to North Yorkshire
Medieval market towns, moorland landscapes, Victorian spa culture, and working farms. How to base yourself in the region and what to research for historical fiction, rural narratives, or any project requiring understanding of Yorkshire character and culture.
Writing & Craft
The Observation Deck: A Tool Kit for Writers
Naomi Epel
A collection of exercises and prompts focused specifically on developing observational skills. Includes techniques for capturing sensory details, recording conversations, and training yourself to notice what you usually overlook.
Why it matters: Observation is a learnable skill. This book provides practical methods for improving how you gather material during research travel.
Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story
Ursula K. Le Guin
Le Guin's craft guide includes essential chapters on point of view, voice, and how to control narrative distance. Understanding these elements helps writers know what kind of research they actually need.
Why it matters: Helps clarify whether you need broad cultural context or specific sensory details—which determines how you approach research travel.
About These Recommendations
This list will grow over time as Early & Away discovers resources that genuinely support writers doing research-focused work.
We prioritize books and tools that:
- Teach observation and attention as skills
- Help writers understand place as more than backdrop
- Support practical planning for research travel
- Demonstrate how inquiry shapes discovery
Have a resource that's shaped your research practice? Let us know—we'd love to hear what's working for other writers.
Related Reading
Explore how these concepts apply to your own work:
- Why Creative Research Can't Always Happen at Your Desk
- Research Doesn't Happen at Speed
- A Writer's Guide to North Yorkshire, England
Planning Your Own Research Travel
If you're working on a project that would benefit from place-based research, Early & Away can help design an itinerary that supports your specific needs—whether individual trip planning or a small-group Field Study.
Learn more about our services or schedule a consultation to discuss your project.