The perils of research

MadScientistMatt · Jul 15, 2006

I wanted to make the fight scenes in my fantasy novel more authentic. As luck would have it, I found a copy of Talhoffer's guide to fighting in the Middle Ages in the library shortly before I was to write the big battle scene.

Unfortunately, I found out about a few interesting Western martial arts devices that I never knew about. Now I have an urge to find a way to make some of them like the "throated hooking shield" appear in my book. I've had to fight back that urge, as I can't really see how they would fit in to my story. Maybe I'll write a short story about a trial by combat using them, or some such thing.

Anyone else have problems with wanting to slip fascinating things they find in their research into stories when it doesn't belong there?

SpookyWriter · Jul 15, 2006

Since I write mainly horror, I don't find it difficult to slip interesting tidbits of research into my work. I feel or my characters learn a great deal about agony and dispair by observing life as a research tool.

the1dsquared · Jul 15, 2006

All the time. That coupled with the "research tangents" that I keep flying off on. It might be easier to write about something you don't like! (just kidding)

LeeFlower · Jul 15, 2006

I end up going on wierd research tangeants that I try to drag back towards my writing... sometimes it can be hard to say "this is a cool idea, but it really doesn't belong here. At all."

Weapons and technology are probably the two places where that most applies, but I also get it a lot with language construction. I don't always go all out and make up a fully usuable language for every culture I create, but I like to lay enough of a framework that their language actually sounds like a language instead of like a bunch of nonsense spit up onto the page to make them look foreign. Occasionally though, I find crazy language concepts that I want to stick into a story just because I think they're neat, and I have to go "Chica, no. If you do that, all of your english dialogue will either sound silly or be a terrible mistranslation."

Siddow · Jul 15, 2006

That's why I do a minimum of research before writing. I save most of it for after the first draft, because it is so tempting when you come across cool stuff to try to figure out a way to slip it into the writing, when you know full well that it doesn't belong there. So my first drafts end up like this: "He plunged a syringe filled with (something that will paralyze quickly and leave the victim conscious) into her neck." Or: "Hank headed south on (highway between Omaha and Kansas City), whistling and hoping that the corpse in the trunk would not start to smell in the mid-August heat."

PeeDee · Jul 15, 2006

Usually, I have a pretty fair idea what I'm talking about. If it's integeral to the story, I'll either research it first or alter it into something that I am comfortably familiar with.

Research is fun, though. For my current book, I dug into all of the usual mytholgies, but went at it from the really off-beat, off-color angles. Fortunately, I've been able to slip most of it in, but there are a couple things that just won't work. I think I can plop them in later in the book, where they won't be named and will be left to the reader to go puzzle how where I came up with them.

Honey Nut Loop · Jul 15, 2006

Yes. I just have to cut them out in the second draft

Shadow_Ferret · Jul 15, 2006

If I'm writing a medieval epic, I research things in the middle ages. It's never occured to me to try to slip in something from another era into the time period as that would invalidate the authenticity of my story. OK, that's wrong, it has occured to me. My last WIP was a Viking-esque story and I really had the urge to throw some pirates in. Vikings vs. Pirates really intrigued me, but I won out.

Maybe my next alternate reality historical fantasy will have it.

Vomaxx · Jul 15, 2006

Matt - I would hesitate to insert bizarre or strange things into battle scenes, even though, in a fantasy that isn't historical fiction, you could certainly do so. I think readers would dislike battles won through gimmicks analogous to "flaming pigs" (allegedly used by the Romans), or jars filled with snakes thrown onto the decks of ships.

Soccer Mom · Jul 15, 2006

I'm a kitchen sink kinda writer. I have a tendency to throw everything in and then edit it out later. I always end up with cool but extraneous stuff that doesn't belong. Someday I'll mature enough to stop that.

I hope.

Until then, revision is a major pain.

blacbird · Jul 15, 2006

Shadow_Ferret said:
Vikings vs. Pirates really intrigued me, but I won out.

Vikings were pirates.

caw.

LeeFlower · Jul 15, 2006

Vomaxx said:
[snip] ...or jars filled with snakes thrown onto the decks of ships.

Hey, if they can make a whole movie out of snakes on a plane...

.

I think the trick is to know when to stop. Research should be there to keep inaccuracies at bay, but good research, like good breeding, does not draw attention to itself (except in Hard SF, but that's it's own kettle of fish).

Ordinary_Guy · Jul 16, 2006

blacbird said:
Vikings were pirates.

caw.

You could saw vikings were the first "marines" too. Combat over the beach and all...

Ordinary_Guy · Jul 16, 2006

MadScientistMatt said:
...Unfortunately, I found out about a few interesting Western martial arts devices that I never knew about. Now I have an urge to find a way to make some of them like the "throated hooking shield" appear in my book. I've had to fight back that urge, as I can't really see how they would fit in to my story. Maybe I'll write a short story about a trial by combat using them, or some such thing.

Anyone else have problems with wanting to slip fascinating things they find in their research into stories when it doesn't belong there?

Sure. I go for saturation research while I'm still outlining but I've occasionally run into hiccups that need to be researched mid-write (usually 1 or 2 a chapter, actually). Sometimes the new research actually makes an appearance, sometimes I learn just enough to summarize around it and let it go.

Research is really half the fun but there is a definite danger: you start leaning toward "infodumps". I was awful with it – thinking every nuance could/should be conveyed. It would educate the readers, right...?

Nah, bored them to death.

If it doesn't advance the plot, let it go (use it for the sequel or something). If it does advance the plot... be judicious with the details lest your latest discovery take the spotlight off what the characters are doing.

IMHO, of course.

blackbird · Jul 16, 2006

I spent a great deal of time researching for my first novel in a little town in southern Tennessee. I learned far more interesting, intriguing and sometimes downright quirky facts than I could possibly pack into one novel. In fact, after I had already completed the novel, I learned a most fascinating story about a man named Frank James, rumored to be the real deal (apparently no one could ever prove or disprove it) who is buried near this town. This story ended up being the basis for my second novel.

The perils of research

MadScientistMatt

Empirical Storm Trooper

SpookyWriter

the1dsquared

Dave Diamantes

LeeFlower

Lurker Extraordinaire

Siddow

I'm super! Thanks for asking

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

Honey Nut Loop

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

Vomaxx

Soccer Mom

Crypto-fascist

blacbird

LeeFlower

Lurker Extraordinaire

Ordinary_Guy

Industrial Strength

Ordinary_Guy

Industrial Strength

blackbird