Anyone else loves research?

SLThomas · Aug 14, 2008

I just love to do the research for my WIP! :snoopy:

I can spend hours on it. Actually it might be because I'm used to do tons of research for my schoolwork, and I like doing that too.

I really have to split my schedule adequately for writing and research.

So, anyone else love doing the research for their WIP? And who hates it? Why?

S-L

Clair Dickson · Aug 14, 2008

I get carried away sometimes, linking through articles on Wiki or something. I love learning new things. Sometimes I get so into researching, I forget what I actually started researching for, and what I was doing, and that I have to get up in the morning. =)

regdog · Aug 14, 2008

Me. I'll spend hours, days, weeks researching and reading everything I can find no matter how loosely related to my writings. I've actually spent more time researching then writing some of my stories. I love to learn. I know I'm a geek.

WordlyVision · Aug 14, 2008

No matter what the subject matter is -- no matter how much you think you know about something in particular -- no matter if the story is pure fiction -- most if not all of the elements of a story require some amount of research, one of the many reasons being that it will help create a more "credible" setting, more believable characters, and so forth. There is always something to learn and it's a very involved process, and that's part of the reason why I love researching my WIPs so much... it allows you to immerse yourself in a lot of information and travel through a mini-world where you learn all about the interesting facts, myths, and history surrounding parts of your story.

I usually do research after I have the basic notes down: The general setting, who and what the characters are, etc. Once I have all that minimal stuff, I'll look through them to see if I have any "questions" about something, and then research it all the while researching everything else. I spend as much time as I need to researching, which usually takes weeks for me. I research absolutely every single element of a story as much as I can... this helps make my story a little more credible in certain cases, and also provides some good sparks of inspiration.

gypsyscarlett · Aug 15, 2008

Are you kidding me? I love it!!!! My current WIP gave me even more reason to dive into the fascinating Victorian era.

Shamisen · Aug 15, 2008

Oh yes, researching is fantastic. I love buying shiny new books, the feeling of triumph when you find that wonderful, elusive source! Getting a 'notes' system going with all the sticky labels that you can eat! I think everyone, writer or not, should have a research project going on some of the time.

Ugawa · Aug 15, 2008

That and editing are my favourite part of writing

XX

Liosse de Velishaf · Aug 15, 2008

Unfortunately, I'll have to mirror Clair Dickson's feelings on the subject.

jenngreenleaf · Aug 15, 2008

I love doing research for my WIP's!!! I just blogged about this the other day - it's one of my very favorite things.

RJK · Aug 15, 2008

I'm afraid I'm just the opposite. I research enough to be able to put something in the WIP so that the reader will sit in wonder at how smart I must be, like naming the vein that runs down the length of your arm from shoulder to wrist.

Now, I know all you researchers are turning to your Googles and Wikipedias to find the name of that vein.

tehuti88 · Aug 15, 2008

I answered this question in another post just a few days ago!

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2645599&postcount=27

Don't mind repeating it though.

I bought a few more books on the subject I'm interested in yesterday!

jennontheisland · Aug 15, 2008

Love it.

My husband is in school at the moment and I regularly use his library account to access papers and articles. I love finding tiny nuggets of detail in the oddest places. I was recently reading a paper on holocene (sp?) sediments in northern wales to research my erotic romance.

History is so sexy. LOL

ishtar'sgate · Aug 15, 2008

My favorite part of research is finding loopholes in history; those points at which historians don't agree. This leaves the 'what if' gap wide open and am I ever taking advantage of it in my current WIP.

Linnea

SLThomas · Aug 15, 2008

I just finished eating dinner and clearing up the dishes. It's a quiet friday night...I just opened one of the books borrowed from the library and it's research time.

With a nice cup of decaf, good tunes, my research notebook and a pen, it's really cool!

MumblingSage · Aug 15, 2008

I love doing research, that is, reading up on stuff I might one day use for my novels. The only problem is that I don't often use what I learn (or perhaps I do, but I don't realize it), and I think sometimes I use research as an excuse not to do 'real' work.

But it's fun just to learn things, whether or not I write about them.

Joycecwilliams · Aug 15, 2008

I do.... I do....

tehuti88 · Aug 16, 2008

ishtar'sgate said:
My favorite part of research is finding loopholes in history; those points at which historians don't agree. This leaves the 'what if' gap wide open and am I ever taking advantage of it in my current WIP.
Linnea

I love this, and also when certain aspects/beliefs/histories/etc. of widely different cultures or time periods coincide in a way. For example, since most of my work is based on mythology, I adore when I come across myths from such vastly different cultures which are basically the same. A good one that comes to mind is the flood myth, or variations on the good twin and the bad twin. It's so interesting to see how many different people believed in similar things no matter what the place or time. Not long ago I came across a snippet of an American Indian myth that sounded almost exactly like an Egyptian myth I long ago read. It's not the first time that's happened either.

This also happens with history. I was reading several days ago and came across mention of American Indian revolts against Europeans up around Alaska in 1763. That stuck with me, because that's the same year of Pontiac's rebellion in the Great Lakes region. I'm pretty sure the two incidents weren't related but it was something to think about!

Hummingbird · Aug 16, 2008

A couple of years ago I would have said that I did not enjoy doing much research for my writing... Now is a totally different story! XD (Heh heh.. story...)
I am finding that I love researching to bits. If I'm not careful I may really like researching. *Shiver* What is this world coming to??

Heh, my mom teases me so much now for that. I used to hate researching.

jessicaorr · Aug 16, 2008

Love it. Research is definitely one of my favorite parts of writing. So easy to get carried away though.

DeusExMachina770 · Aug 16, 2008

I actually am one of the few that dislike research. The whole time I'm doing it I feel like I'm wasting time that could be spent writing

jenniedee · Aug 16, 2008

Hi, my name is Jennie, and I'm a research addict. Wikipedia is a terrible thing; even if not all the information on there is accurate, they sure do make it easy to go off on a tangent. Before I realize it I'm reading about Persian agriculture when what I meant to do was look up a city in Arizona. The world is full of fascinating information, and I have a compulsion to, you know, collect 'em all!

Quiet Melody · Aug 16, 2008

It usually depends on what I'm writing.

Most of the time, I love researching! I have no idea how I survived before Google! And usually I'm really excited about what I'm writing, so researching is fun, not like a school project where you have to research something you hate.

But there was this one time when I wrote a story about a couple who got married and bought a house. Although I loved the story, I hated researching for it. Let's just say that I've ruled out wedding planner and real estate agent as possible career choices.

Good research definitely pays off though. One time I researched Hawaii for a story because my characters were going on vacation there. Well I must have pulled it off because one of my readers asked if I had actually been there before! lol Yes, thanks to google!

SLThomas · Aug 17, 2008

jenniedee said:
Hi, my name is Jennie, and I'm a research addict. Wikipedia is a terrible thing; even if not all the information on there is accurate, they sure do make it easy to go off on a tangent. Before I realize it I'm reading about Persian agriculture when what I meant to do was look up a city in Arizona. The world is full of fascinating information, and I have a compulsion to, you know, collect 'em all!

Oh I totally understand regarding Wikipedia! I can easily lose hours there, thanks to the hyperlinks!

When I do my research I need to cross-check the sources on it though, you know w/all the editing biases and stuff. But I disgress, as I don't want this thread to divert into the goods and bads of Wikipedia!

Travis J. Smith · Aug 17, 2008

Of course I research things here and there for my WIPs, but in those instances I take the less is more approach, during the first draft at least. I physically can't let myself wing it entirely on subjects I know I should research, but it's just a necessity and I don't enjoy it.

Plain, random research, on the other hand, I love. Clicking "random article" on Wikipedia again and again, seeing what interesting pops up, is very enjoyable for me. And sometimes, when I'm looking at something in particular that could possibly lend itself to a story I haven't started writing yet, I get lost in all the related articles the Wikipedia topic has.

Needless to say, Wikipedia is my best friend when it comes to the sort of research I do. Heavy research can wait until later.

Sam Stephens · Aug 17, 2008

I can get lost for hours in research...in a good way!

Though when I was researching some details about special forces, I remember feeling like a psycho walking into a newsagent and buying a stack of magazines on weapons and defence forces

cheers
Sam

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