The Origin Story of Marie Laveaux
These are the research articles and musing of my discoveries writing Laveaux: Dancer. Along the way, I learned a few things about the early 19th century in old New Orleans. I list them from newest to oldest.
In the Flow of Time – the Making of Laveaux: Dancer
- Lay This Body Down – In which we come to the end of the tale, October 5, 2025
- Sometimes It’s Hairy – Hairdressing, Aug 21, 2025
- Writer’s Block Not – Barriers to getting it done, Aug 15, 2025
- We’re on Fire – Firefighting, Aug 14, 2025
- Flexible Facts – Fudging history, June 28, 2025
- Algorithms – What does opium smell like? June 18, 2025
- Steamboats – Circa 1820, May 19, 2025
- Writers’ Critique – What about René? May 14, 2025
- Oppression – Black and White, May 10, 2025
- Who Is Noemi’s Lover? My luck with A.F. Burt, April 27, 2025
- Daily Oppression – The antebellum years, March 24, 2025
- The Juba Dance – The origins of tap, March 23, 2025
- A Break – Plotting a gap in the narrative, March 17, 2025
- Backup! – Computer logistics save my butt, March 11, 2025
- Proper Forms of Address – What people called each other, March 6, 2025
- Punkah Fans – The slave-powered ceiling fan, February 19, 2025
- Latrobe’s Tower – The New Orleans cathedral over time, February 17, 2025
- Mosquitoes – A plague of bugs, February 14, 2025
- Escaping Slavery – Robinette, Lafon, and Mexico, February 8, 2025
- Joseph Savary – A Black man commands in battle, February 7, 2025
- Pruning – A possibility that went nowhere, February 1, 2025
- Twelve Years a Slave and Synchronicity – January 26, 2025
- A Slave Pen by Any Name – Using period words, January 24, 2025
- Quills and Counjaille – Music and dance at a cemetery, January 21, 2025
- Languages – Creating a sense of the multi-lingual, January 13, 2025
- Tell Me! – In which Marie develops a mind of her own, December 21, 2024
- Pirates – A character takes over the story, December 20, 2024
- Tweaks – How a chapter develops, December 11, 2024
- Following – Marie commits a ballroom dance faux pas, December 1, 2024
- They Come To Life – The characters start writing the story, November 11, 2024
- My Protagonist – The essence of Marie Laveaux, September 14, 2024
- The End(ing) – Who is the story teller? September 12, 2024
- Savages – African religious beliefs and the real savages, September 9, 2024
- Serendipity – Awesome coincidence, looking good, but… September 8, 2024
- Michié Bainjo – A Creole folk song with a message, September 1, 2024
- Directions – It’s all relative to the river, August 29, 2028
- River Topography – The counterintuitive profile of the river, August 28, 2024
- Pew Pew – What did the church look like? August 27, 2024
- The Human Heart – Pierre Crocker’s suicide, August 26, 2024
- Battle of New Orleans – Fitting an historic event into the story, August 24, 2024
- Jazz in the Family – Economy Hall and the birth of jazz, August 21, 2024
- The Plot Thickens – How Robinette works into the story, August 16, 2024
- I Know Nothing! – Nativism in 1850s New Orleans, August 13, 2024
- Saint Maroon – Runaway slave communities, August 10, 2024
- Gambling – New Orleans was famous for it, August 10, 2024
- Networks – Everyone knows everyone, August 9, 2024
- Research Accuracy – Trying to get the facts right, August 8, 2024
- Slavery Part 3 – Charles “Don Carlos” Trudeau, August 7, 2024
- She’s a Witch! – An 1844 report of witchcraft, August 4, 2024
- Charivari – A public display of disapproval, July 29, 2024
- Dixie – The $10 bank note, July 27, 2024
- Slavery Part 2 – Robinette’s legal oppression, July 24, 2024
- House Architecture – The home on Rue Ste. Ann, July 22, 2024
- Creole – A word with many meanings, July 20, 2024
- Journalism – Or not, but it’s a resource, July 18, 2024
- So It Begins – the first scene in the novel appears, July 16, 2024
- Families – The family home as organizing principle, July 14, 2024
- New Orleans Riverside – A view of the docks May 1828, posted July 10, 2024
- Slavery Part 1 – The slave rebellion in 1811 July 9, 2024
- Hurricanes – Yet another rabbit hole for research, July 9, 2024
- Jazz Funerals – The idea came from somewhere, July 7, 2024
- Marie’s House – Long gone, not forgotten, July 6, 2024
- Where to Start – We’re gonna write a story, July 5, 2024
- Brutality – From the journal of Benjamin Latrobe, July 2, 2024
- Quadroon Balls – Dance hall girls, or courtesans on parade? June 30, 2024
- Owning Slaves – The gestalt of the times, June 29, 2024
- The Yellow Rose – What it really means, June 24, 2024
- Doctor Kerr – The possible story gets richer, June 20, 2024
- Voudou – The author considers a different novel, June 16, 2024
