People ask me all the time how I prepare and, to tell you the truth, I think if what's on the page is rich and compelling, as far as I'm concerned, if it's beautifully presented on the page, all you have to do is put yourself there and pretend, and the rest takes care of itself. That is, unless it's a real stretch with an accent or if history matters where research has to be done.
The fact that we are all trained to be mothers from infancy on means that we are all trained to devote our lives to men, whether they are our sons or not; that we are all trained to force other women to exemplify the lack of qualities which characterizes the cultural construct of femininity.