Research
Research -- and its counterpart, worldbuilding -- used to be my greatest joy in writing. Recently, I often feel so pressured to add beans to the wordcount, I don't feel I can afford to luxuriate in research as I used to.
The project I'm working on now is research-intensive. I thought I'd done most of the research already, working on a non-fiction piece.
However, as I've started working on a detailed outline, I've realized the needs of non-fiction and fiction diverge greatly. For non-fiction, I mostly needed to know when, where and who. With those facts, I can speculate on why. For fiction I need to answer much more about how. How did it smell? How did it look? How did it taste? Only then can I speculate on how it felt.
My outline/draft so far is peppered with notes to myself: [NEED: description of a fishing ship] All of these notes are promises to myself to do research.
Characters require research too. Names must fit the culture and period. Every character, even minor ones, needs a rough biography, and the major characters need a study with all their likes, dislikes, habits, childhood friends, mannerisms and so on. These character quirks cannot be simply drawn from my own circle of friends or my own imagination. Neither my personal experience nor my imagination is adequate to the task. I need to read real biographies, and draw inspiration from those. More research.
My husband points out I could research forever and never be satisfied. He may be right. But I've also found research to be the best antedote to writer's block. Sometimes, after deep reading of some fascinating culture, historical event or real person, I find myself so inspired I have to write down my own response, transformed into fiction.
How much research do you do in order to write your stories?
Comments
I haven't heard of Patricia Wrede, but I will look into her questionaire.
Although, I do enjoy it...
Research is a great way to combat writer's block -- especially when that research involves watching Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Mmmm
Even though I'm still revising that novel, I've already begun gathering research materials for my next two books. For one of them, there's a source I really want to read, but it's an out-of-print university press text that I can buy for something like $250. I'm sore tempted despite the price, because it looks like a goldmine and I can't find a copy of it in any library.
And you are right. Research can really be a great tool for fighting writer's block.
You can read my post here: Experience That Novel!
It sounds like you and I research in much the same way. For this book, I have read about 80 nonfiction books and several notebooks worth of newspaper articles, eyewitness testimonies, even Congressional hearings.
How long did you research before you felt confident enough to write? Or did you start writing first and research as you went along?
My advice is to buy the rare book. Speaking as a complete and unrepentant book addict, these rare books are often a trove of priceless information. I have a few. If you can't really afford it, buy the book, scan / photocopy it (very carefully, if it is old) and then sell it again. You should recoup much of the cost. Or find the book in a library and scan / photocopy it.
If it's old, you might also look to see if it's available through Project Gutenburg.
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
Lady Glamis,
MMMmmm. For this kind of research do you look up the recipe while you are in the midst of writing the scene, or do you collect recipes and other useful tidbits first and then work them into your novel only after the fact if you need them?
I think I did about a year of research, though research and writing overlapped for about six months, and after the first draft was done, I read a couple of books and incorporated my notes from them into the second draft.
I'm lucky that I work at a university so I have access to a lot of diverse sources. J-Stor is the best, if you know it. I was able to read through hundreds of articles from the back issues of literary and historical journals, all for free and all from my desk at home.
The rare book is only about 20 years old, and the truth is, I'll probably just buy it and keep it. For my current book, I bought a couple of out-of-print books from a shop in Germany and had them shipped to me. One of the books I bought for my next novel's research came in the post today. I can't wait to start work on that novel.
http://www.sfwa.org/writing/worldbuilding1.htm
It's a great resource for things I'd never thought of before, but can add great detail to the story.
JSTOR is the best. I love it because I always know I'll get the full text of whatever article they offer. Too many other online libraries, even when offered through the university library system, will only give an summery or charge an outrageous fee to view the full article.
Windsong, thanks for the link!
I research as I go. :)