RESEARCH: THE R WORD
Research
for any book is essential. Even if I’m writing a romantic novel, descriptions
for settings need to be accurate and protagonist flaws need to be realistic. Having
the book’s setting in wet Seattle is vastly different from the desert landscape
of Phoenix. Writing about a character with claustrophobia will certainly have
different symptoms from one with a drinking problem.
If
the plot revolves on the use of technology, I’d better know what I’m talking
about or readers will correct me. If a character uses a gun, descriptions and
uses need to be as accurate as I can possibly make them. Writing western
romance makes it important to know a thing or two about horses. My last book
was about a horse trainer who was injured while training a wild horse. Since
horse training is not one of my talents, I needed to understand the process to
describe it as if I’ve been training all my life.
Research
kicks into high gear when I’m writing historical fiction. I’m on book two of my
World War II series about the wartime experiences of a young embassy secretary
in military intelligence. My protagonist began her adventures in London at the
end of the war, so it was mandatory that I understood the events, speech, dress
and food from that time and place. I was lucky to have the diary of a young
woman who was in London at that very time and was able to extrapolate her
experiences to enrich my fictional story.
Now
that my protagonist is in Oslo, Norway, details about life after the German
occupation become paramount. I’ve never been to Norway, but after months of
research, I feel I know the place intimately. That does not necessarily
translate to flowing prose or an interesting story. Combining story with
research is a neat trick to pull it off without the dreaded Information Dump.
There’s so much you, the author, want to include, but it needs to serve the
story, not the other way around.
So
the R word with its close ally L (library) go hand in hand when you’re writing
anything. Sure it’s good to write what you know, but face it—we don’t know
everything.
I do love the research part of writing. I live too far for convenience from a decent library, so over the years, I've built my own collection of reference material. It certainly is easy to get lost in the pages.
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