Resurrection Post: Research!
I'm not dead! I'm still here. Still alive. Mostly. The kids' and wife's school year just went crazy and taking care of the baby just got the better of me for a while. A long while.
But I'm back and not dead! I'm now a member of the ignoble 5 a.m. writing club, and... not sure if I like it, but I'm sure I'll sort of get used to it eventually. I've been doing it for about a week now, and only overslept a couple of times. And I don't fall asleep at the desk because I have Darth Vader looking at me, threatening to kill me if I'm not on task. So I've got to keep going. He's a cruel task master.
Anyway, I wanted to talk about research for a bit this morning. Or afternoon. Well, whenever you're reading (time travel...).
Research is one of those things that can get a writer or a reader into trouble. We can just skim the surface and we come off as not knowing enough, or we can go too far down the rabbit hole and do so much reading on a topic that we never actually get to our writing. So how much is the right amount? The short answer: it depends.
When I was writing technical documents or translating things from Japanese, I had to research a lot of things. I didn't know about heavy manufacturing in Australia. Or tires on massive mining dump trucks. Or productivity software. Or printing shops in Nashville. There was a certain amount of learning to do on the subject, and I had to learn pretty fast so I could get the piece turned around by the deadline (read: well before the deadline, because that's how it is in the private sector).
So, how does that translate to fiction? I'm glad you asked. In my WiP, I'm looking at things related to neurology, computer technology, transhumanism, etc. These are not small topics. And rather than having a laser-like focus (printing stores in Nashville, Tennessee), all three of these topics are huge, and are getting bigger every day. Also—since I'm writing sci-fi—I need to take what's possible and speculated now and project it into the future so that it's taken for granted. That's no mean feat.
In general, I like to follow the "iceberg rule." Know enough that you can put about ten percent of your worldbuilding into your book. Your worldbuilding consists of the knowledge you've gathered, plus the speculation you've been able to make. So, if you find yourself falling in the rabbit-hole, it's probably best to stop and switch to a different topic for a while so you can take a breath. Odds are that you've learned enough. If not, you can come back to it. I found myself reading scholarly journals, which I probably didn't need to do. I just need to go talk to a doctor and ask a few questions.
Anyway, I hope this was helpful.
Thanks for wreading!
Jeff
But I'm back and not dead! I'm now a member of the ignoble 5 a.m. writing club, and... not sure if I like it, but I'm sure I'll sort of get used to it eventually. I've been doing it for about a week now, and only overslept a couple of times. And I don't fall asleep at the desk because I have Darth Vader looking at me, threatening to kill me if I'm not on task. So I've got to keep going. He's a cruel task master.
Anyway, I wanted to talk about research for a bit this morning. Or afternoon. Well, whenever you're reading (time travel...).
Research is one of those things that can get a writer or a reader into trouble. We can just skim the surface and we come off as not knowing enough, or we can go too far down the rabbit hole and do so much reading on a topic that we never actually get to our writing. So how much is the right amount? The short answer: it depends.
When I was writing technical documents or translating things from Japanese, I had to research a lot of things. I didn't know about heavy manufacturing in Australia. Or tires on massive mining dump trucks. Or productivity software. Or printing shops in Nashville. There was a certain amount of learning to do on the subject, and I had to learn pretty fast so I could get the piece turned around by the deadline (read: well before the deadline, because that's how it is in the private sector).
So, how does that translate to fiction? I'm glad you asked. In my WiP, I'm looking at things related to neurology, computer technology, transhumanism, etc. These are not small topics. And rather than having a laser-like focus (printing stores in Nashville, Tennessee), all three of these topics are huge, and are getting bigger every day. Also—since I'm writing sci-fi—I need to take what's possible and speculated now and project it into the future so that it's taken for granted. That's no mean feat.
In general, I like to follow the "iceberg rule." Know enough that you can put about ten percent of your worldbuilding into your book. Your worldbuilding consists of the knowledge you've gathered, plus the speculation you've been able to make. So, if you find yourself falling in the rabbit-hole, it's probably best to stop and switch to a different topic for a while so you can take a breath. Odds are that you've learned enough. If not, you can come back to it. I found myself reading scholarly journals, which I probably didn't need to do. I just need to go talk to a doctor and ask a few questions.
Anyway, I hope this was helpful.
Thanks for wreading!
Jeff
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