How I Write: Research

This is the third installment in the “HOW I WRITE” series I’m participating in every Wednesday with several writers, where we all discuss how we approach writing a book. Every writer has a different process and this project gives us a chance to share and compare ours. Click on the “How I Write” image to find a list of the participating writers and links to their blogs.

Last week we talked about Characters, Plot and World Building. This week’s topic is Research.

Whether you’re writing fiction or non-fiction, chances are you’re going to need to do some kind of research for each book. It could be something as complex as an organ transplant procedure for your medical romance book or as simple as the latest bands that the teens in your YA book would be listening to.

And research isn’t as always as straight-forward as one might think. You may know you need to research the things you don’t know, but what happens when you don’t know what you think you do know? Prime example: I’ve seen it mentioned that “humans only use 10% of their brains” so many times in movies and books, I believed it had to be true. So did countless of writers that used that statement as a scientific “fact”, it seems. Not having any clue that it might be a myth, they didn’t think there was a need to validate it. And there you have why research intimidates me a bit – just when do you know that you’ve researched enough? (I don’t have a good answer to tell you the truth, as I’m still trying to figure that out myself.)

Some may say this is a good reason for the advice given that authors only write about what they know. But I’d find that pretty boring, personally. One of the most exciting aspects of writing is the chance to explore people, places and predicaments that I’m not necessarily intimately familiar with. What I don’t know for certain I look it up in encyclopedias and online academic articles or ask real-life experts.

I imagine historical fiction requiring the most extensive research in order to get language, clothing, science/medicine, transportation, culture and even thought processes right. Which is why I only plan to write it when I have the time to devote the kind of effort to research needed. In the meantime, I like to write fantasy, science fiction and paranormal because there’s somewhat more freedom to make up my own history, cultures and rules to a certain extent, and I can easily look up any specific fact.

Write what you know? Sure, but I say also write what you want to know, and do some research to fill in the gaps. Every story is an opportunity to learn – and share - something new.

Don’t forget to visit other participating blogs to see how other writers handle research. Come back for next week’s topic: Starting a New Book.