3 Ways To Research

AKA Plug Those Holes

Even if you are writing about a galaxy far, far, away or a high fantasy about unicorns, you don’t want to have something so wrong in your writing that it throws the reader out of your story.

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This means doing research – finding out the details about a time, a place, an activity. You don’t need to have elaborate footnotes or an intense bibliography, but you do have to get the details right.

If your villain travels back to the height of the Roman Empire, make sure he dresses correctly to blend in. Use a map of downtown London for your urban fantasy trilogy so streets that don’t cross each other, don’t. Know the length of a rapier if that’s your heroine’s choice of weapon and make sure her target is in range when she hits it.

Whatever it is you are researching, once you know the details, you can warp them to your will. But the underlying reality is still there, and so is your reader because they won’t be jarred out of your story.

The top three ways to research something are:

• Hands on experience – go to firing range and feel what it’s like to shoot .22 compared to a .45
• Ask someone who knows – visit a museum and talk to the guide in the Egyptian collection
• Look it up – the Internet is a great place to start, but don’t forget your local library and inter-library loans

You can also mix and match research methods; there’s no reason to limit yourself to just one. Keep reading and acting and asking questions until you feel comfortable that you know what you are writing about.

Whatever method of research you use, your writing will be better for it.

Trent: You know, I thought I recognized you. You tried out for the football team last year, right?
Sam Witwicky: Oh, no, no, that… No. That, that wasn’t like a real try-out. I was researching a book I was writing.
- Transformers

Feb 23, 2010

Tags: research

Categories: writing