Research.....

Um, I'm a research junkie. I can lose myself in it for hours as one thing leads to another.

Perihelion said:

Can anyone offer tips for making research more palatable - "fun" even?
I find this to be one of my largest writing challenges, but I'm highly detail oriented so I don't want to fudge on any facts in my writing.

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One of my profs told me to start out with a preconceived notion, and then dig to either prove or disprove it. This gives you a focus to your research—a "mission", as it were, but it doesn't keep you from learning other (possibly important) details along the way.

Whenever possible, you should use some form of primary source, which may include traveling to the area/place in question. In the absence of this, you should seek corroborative information from multiple non-primary sources.

I'm detailed-oriented, too, and here's what I've learned as I worked on my book (a thriller with a historical setting): Don't pay so much attention to the details. Do make sure you get what details you use reasonably right, but don't spend a lot of time making sure every nitnoid item is 100% accurate. To start with, it'll make you nuts and isn't really a good use of time. But the second reason is that it's too easy to focus on the little things in the story and not the overall story. The overall story is what the agent is looking for, not the little details.

Try these ideas and see if they work:

1. Write the story and when you run across a place where you need to know more, mark it and move on. Then you can group all your research together and go find out the information at a later date.
2. Weigh in exactly how important that detail is to the story. For example, if your hero surives because his gun fires seven bullets instead of six, that's an important detail that should be emphasized in the story. On the other hand, it make no difference whatsoever in the outcome of the story, it's not worth mentioning.
3. Ask how important this detail is to the intended audience. For example, since my thriller is for women readers, it was important to spend a little time on the clothes of the time. That audience would have expected a little bit of that.

Visiting locales: Obviously it depends on the location (especially since some may be inaccessible or cost prohibitive), but it's best where possible to get an idea of the place by looking around. There are simply going to be things that books and DVDs aren't going to cover.

I agree with Linda, write the story first. If you need to go back to a specific detail you can flesh it out with research later, but the important thing is to get the plot out while your creativity is alive and well. If you get bogged down every third paragraph with a specific detail, then you are doing yourself a disservice. My technique is to keep a notepad by my computer and make notes on places that I will need to research, often inserting into the text {Research Here} type of notes, then using the notepad to help me find the place again. For instance I will write on the notepad "pg 45, para 4- research on anatomy of a frog." It is not necessary, but it helps me keep my writing goals in place and not forget where in the WIP I needed that specific information.

In terms of locale, it may not be necessary to have visited the place, but it sure doesn't hurt. I find most of my stories to be based in cities, NYC and Boston and such, places I have been though do not live. I know enough about them so as to get through the rough spots but I will still look things up when needed. If you know nothing of South Africa you can find a general picture without jumping on a plane tomarrow.

In my last novel I was writing about two brothers, one of which was in the Maine State Penitentiary. I found the MSP website and got directions, floor plan information along with visiting hours and the such. It proved very useful when it came to certain scenes in which the free brother visited the jailed one. (I also grew up in Maine)

Any hoo, good luck and keep at it.

Birol said:

Um, I'm a research junkie. I can lose myself in it for hours as one thing leads to another.

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I know what you mean, Birol. A few years ago I went to the library to get a few facts on the birth of stars for a scene I was writing about the development of life on planets. One thing led to another and I ended up spending several hours a day at the library for over three months! I kept going off on glorious tangents.

Nailed that scene, though.

What do you mean make research more palatable? It's fun. If you love the subject you're writing about, learning more about that subject and fashioning your new knowledge into a workable manuscript is more enjoyable than a barrel full of monkey books. (Nothing against Tarzan and Edgar Rice...) OO OO EE EE !!

Start off in the children's room, reading recent books about your subject area. From there, move to the general books in the adult library, then the specialist books.

By that time you, personally, will be enough of an expert to write your own book. Don't forget to have a genuine expert among your beta readers.

For what it's worth, I heard Samuel Delaney on a panel at a con once, talking about having visited Greece, and how after being there about three months, he looked at a story by Robert Silverberg set in Greece, and figured that Silverberg had been in Greece about that long when he wrote it, that they had about the same depth of knowledge of the locale.
Later, he asked Silverberg about it, and Silverberg said that in fact he'd never been to Greece, and had it all from guidebooks.
This is from memory, so I could be wrong on the details.
I can't help on the research side, as my difficulty is usually forcing myself to stop researching and start writing. It's probably a form of work avoidance.
-Barbara

I personally happen to love research. I can get lost in it for hours. I use Google and Dogpile search engines a lot, as well as my local library and reference books on the subject I'm researching.

As for visiting the locales in your writing, some writers are real sticklers about that. Elizabeth George comes to mind... I believe she's based all of her novels on actual places that she's been to. I guess it's a matter of preference. Of course, when you make the kind of money Ms. George does, it's a lot easier to go trotting around the globe in the name of research.

In my first novel, most of the story takes place in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, which is a place I've visited numerous times over the years, so I felt I was able to adequately capture the essence of that area. But in a major flashback involving my central character, I needed to go back to South Korea circa the Korean War - rather hard to do since the events happened over 50 years ago. LOL For those parts I utilized a lot of reference and history books.

The important thing is to find what works for you and stick with it.

I've often wondered, if you travel to a place and then use descriptions of that place in your novel, can you write off your travel expenses?

What if you write the scene but it gets nixed by the editor/publisher?

I'm in the midst of the most daunting and involved research I've yet done...and I'm loving it. One of my characters is a historical figure, and I'm working on getting a very thorough feel for the character before I start writing about them. It's been quite a few years since I've done this sort of research (my previous books were fantasy novels) and I'm finding it very rewarding. Very soon I'll start writing, but right now I'm researching and outlining.

I plan on doing some traveling in the spring to visit some of the places I'm writing about. Luckily the farthest locale is just a couple of hundred miles away from where I live.

I hate research simply because I DO get lost in it. I have this part in my WIP where my character visits the Royal Library of Alexandria and I'd like to describe it somewhat accurately (even though there are no records of what it looks like), so my research has taken me many hours over the course of several days trying to figure out if they used Doric or Ionic columns in Alexandria at the time the library was built, who the most important librarian was, how he created a catalog for storing the scrolls, and on and on.

All for a piece in my novel that will only encompass maybe 2 pages at the most.

For my previous WIP I spent months researching Vikings.

Perihelion said:

Can anyone offer tips for making research more palatable - "fun" even?
I find this to be one of my largest writing challenges, but I'm highly detail oriented so I don't want to fudge on any facts in my writing.

On a side note: How many of you think that traveling to the actual locale in which a story takes place is absolutely necessary to the integrity of a novel? Lonely Planet guides and DVD's about said place don't suffice?

I'm also curious about how you find and employ fact checkers.

Thank you.

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Research can be fun for you if one or more of your characters is involved in something you enjoy or maybe in a locale you've enjoyed reading about in the past.

In my prior WIP, I had fun researching San Francisco and a bit of research on the old-time Hollywood movie studios; San Francisco is a fascinating city with a fascinating history and I spent a lot of my teenage years going through movie books (wherein there was usually a clip from the movie with a short synopsis of the movie). So there are 2 things in that story which I liked very much, so doing any sort of research I found fun.

Interestingly, as part of my research into San Francisco, I won a bid on Ebay for a San Francisco map from 1938 or 1939 (important to the story that I know some of the streets, the relation of the Golden Gate Bridge, that sort of thing). My hubby saw it, and decided, hey why don't we go to San Francisco next year? And we did, last year. Didn't tie in completely with my story, but I got a feel for the energy of the place, fixed several landmarks in my mind, that sort of thing, so I think it helped me somewhat.

Is it necessary to go to a locale? I don't think so. But it's a good idea to get detailed maps of the place you're going to set your characters in, just so you have an idea of which direction you're going to send your characters in.

Fact checkers - what's that? No, I'm serious; I have no idea what those are. That sounds to me like more of a non-fiction thing.

Oh, and don't forget something I learned - you have to stop at some point with your research and write the story.

Good luck!

~Nancy

What facts?

Once upon a time, a famous (read: well-paid) author was questioned about the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of his historical fiction novels. He replied, "I never let facts get in the way of a good story."

If readers want to know the facts, they can read history books, or science books, or even geography books. Readers want a good story that entertains and enlightens them. Keep the focus on the story. Once you've got a good story down, you can sprinkle a few facts (true facts or untrue facts, depending on which sound better) throughout the story.

good luck,

eskkar

You just have to dive in. Everyone's tastes are different, so some material is fun to research, others not so much, but it has to be done, so just tackle it. I don't think visiting a specific locale is necessary, but if you can swing it I can't see how it would do anything other than benefit the authenticity of the story. Also, anything you can get firsthand is that much more interesting, don't be afraid to ask someone in the know, no matter the situation. I recently got arrested (stupid traffic warrants I should've paid) and while riding in the squad car headed downtown, I asked the arresting officer some questions regarding a story I was working on. He was actually cool about it, and thought it was cool that I was writing a story and asking him questions (though not so cool that he decided to turn around, drop me back off at my car and make those warrants vanish. Oh well...), so you never know.

The library is an excellent source of information, but not all research has to take place there.

Ways to supplement library research:
1) Eat at restaurants that serve cuisine from that country. Try to find a place with a reputation for authenticity. If it's a Chinese restaurant and all the other patrons are speaking Mandarin, you're probably at the right place.

2) Attend religious services that people in the country you are researching would attend. If your book is about Greece, visit a Greek Orthodox Church. (Call ahead of time to make sure that it is okay to attend services. Some religious services are closed to non-believers.)

3) Try to find out if any museums have exhibits pertaining to your country of interest.

4) Watch movies from the country. (This is a lot easier if you are writing about a country with a large movie industry, such as India.) Check the local paper for listings. Sometimes local colleges or ethnic organizations have film festivals focusing on a specific geographic area.

Jackie

(grasshopper) said:

What if you write the scene but it gets nixed by the editor/publisher?

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Perhaps you could recycle the research information and use it in a later novel.

jackie106 said:

Perhaps you could recycle the research information and use it in a later novel.

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Yes, Jackie, I have a folder called "Old Stuff" and I put copies of everything I've ever researched or written in there, hoping to be able to use it someday.

But my question was more concerned with travel expenses. I was wondering what happens if an author actually decides to spend a thousand dollars to fly out to Tibet to get first-hand information on the life of monks, then writes that information into his novel, proving he really did research in Tibet (instead of just vacationing there).
And then what if the editor decides to drop that scene so that his proof never shows up in the published novel. Can he still write off the thousand dollars on his taxes as "research"?

(Sheesh, I just realized that I sound like a kid trying to figure out some little nit-picky detail that might occur in some made up scenario. Please ignore this post.)
I'd delete it, but I'm working on my first 50.

(grasshopper) said:

But my question was more concerned with travel expenses. I was wondering what happens if an author actually decides to spend a thousand dollars to fly out to Tibet to get first-hand information on the life of monks, then writes that information into his novel, proving he really did research in Tibet (instead of just vacationing there).
And then what if the editor decides to drop that scene so that his proof never shows up in the published novel. Can he still write off the thousand dollars on his taxes as "research"?

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I can't imagine that the editing out of the researched material would change the tax status. Especially if you keep all of your notes handy for the audit

Check out the Travel & Meals section of this page:


http://www.artstaxinfo.com/writers.shtml



I think I've figured out how to make my vacations less expensive

Shadow_Ferret said:

I hate research simply because I DO get lost in it. I have this part in my WIP where my character visits the Royal Library of Alexandria and I'd like to describe it somewhat accurately (even though there are no records of what it looks like), so my research has taken me many hours over the course of several days trying to figure out if they used Doric or Ionic columns in Alexandria at the time the library was built, who the most important librarian was, how he created a catalog for storing the scrolls, and on and on.

All for a piece in my novel that will only encompass maybe 2 pages at the most.

For my previous WIP I spent months researching Vikings.

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Ok, I don't hate research, but I'm so with you about spending days researching for a 2 page scene.

eskkar said:

Once upon a time, a famous (read: well-paid) author was questioned about the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of his historical fiction novels. He replied, "I never let facts get in the way of a good story."

If readers want to know the facts, they can read history books, or science books, or even geography books. Readers want a good story that entertains and enlightens them. Keep the focus on the story. Once you've got a good story down, you can sprinkle a few facts (true facts or untrue facts, depending on which sound better) throughout the story.

good luck,

eskkar

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Hm, I'm not sure I agree with such a sweeping statement. There are some facts in history you better don't get wrong because they'd change everything. Have Napoléon win the battle of Waterloo and you're writing Alternate History.

Also, it shouldn't be asking to much to take some care about the smaller details, the everydays life that won't influence the plot. Potatoes in the 12th century really piss me off, there's no reason why the characters can't eat grain based products. And the basic documentary for such information isn't difficult to find.

Tampering with less well known historical characters, playing a bit with timelines, merging two battles into one, inventing a first marriage for someone who's recorded to have married late enough for another one to sneak in - that sort of thing is perfectly fine with me, especially if the author explains it in an afterword.

Perihelion said:

Can anyone offer tips for making research more palatable - "fun" even?

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Hmm...drink heavily?

Seriously, your research is an extension of your story, so you should embrace it as much as you do your writing. Personally, I find it helpful to actually go to the places that are involved in my stories. That philosophy has taken me some pretty strange places, but it's also enriched my writing as well. I'm a sensory type of writer. If I can taste it, smell it, see it, touch it, then I can write about it. Research is the catalyst for my writing. You may be able to write just as effectively by hitting the library. But do yourself and your writing the honor of hitting the library hard.

Tossing the fates up to the wind in terms of not doing proper research brands one a hacker. There's nothing more irritating than reading a book, albeit fiction, and seeing glaring errors of fact. This shows a lazy author who exhibits disdain for his readers. Do the homework and reap the benefits.

Gabriele said:

Hm, I'm not sure I agree with such a sweeping statement. There are some facts in history you better don't get wrong because they'd change everything. Have Napoléon win the battle of Waterloo and you're writing Alternate History.

Also, it shouldn't be asking to much to take some care about the smaller details, the everydays life that won't influence the plot. Potatoes in the 12th century really piss me off, there's no reason why the characters can't eat grain based products. And the basic documentary for such information isn't difficult to find.

Tampering with less well known historical characters, playing a bit with timelines, merging two battles into one, inventing a first marriage for someone who's recorded to have married late enough for another one to sneak in - that sort of thing is perfectly fine with me, especially if the author explains it in an afterword.

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Gabrielle,
you're right, of course. I didn't mean that you should get your basic facts wrong. But how many times do writers drown their readers in facts that don't move the story along? I'm sure we've all seen plenty of those stories. What I was trying to say was that the story is more important than the details, and that writers, especially those starting out, shouldn't be spending lots of time and effort on research. Your agent and editor (and before them, your critique group) will be the ones who tell you what to include and exclude.

If a writer's basic facts are wrong, his readers will let him know. And if he's got readers interested enough to finish his book and then complain about his facts, he's got an established readership base.

Do you know how many readers complained when Bernard Cornwell brought his bad guy back to life (after his head had been stomped on by an elephant) so the hero could kill him again in the next book? Thousands! And guess what? We all kept buying his next book.

eskkar

eskkar said:

What I was trying to say was that the story is more important than the details, and that writers, especially those starting out, shouldn't be spending lots of time and effort on research. Your agent and editor (and before them, your critique group) will be the ones who tell you what to include and exclude.

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Please don't take this the wrong way, but...new authors need to spend a lot more time and effort on everything, and that includes research.

I see so many people advising that, as long as the story is good, other things (grammar, punctuation, accuracy) can be dealt with later. The problem with this is that later never happens.

If you get to a point that calls for more research, and the needed information may change the direction of the story, go get it. If the needed information won't change anything, you can do it later, but you still need to do it.

Just my nickel on the subject.