Do you spend too much time researching instead of writing?
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- vadadagon
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Do you spend too much time researching instead of writing?
Many times I find myself wanting to write and I'm chugging along and then come up on a scene (Horse Husbandry or healing herbs or Falconry) and I realize I know nothing about the subject.
Then I find myself spending about two to three hours on the internet researching (insert subject here) in order to be able to effectively write the story. Does that happen to you and how do you deal with it?
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- moderntimes
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For example, in my newly finished 3rd mystery novel, I created a new character who will become the love interest of my private detective. She's very casually based upon a real British female cardiologist whom I was examined by when I was in the hospital for a checkup a couple years ago. She was a pretty blonde woman who whirled her stethoscope tube around her finger.
So I took this and turned her into a New Zealand gal, a redhead trauma surgeon. And she and my detective hook up. So I emailed a Kiwi pal and he supplied me with a couple of fictional bios for such a woman -- where she went to med school and so on.
And I wanted her to have a hobby of sailing about which I know nothing! So I really researched the net for info on recreational sailing and gave her a new sailboat and I read about how they work and put that into my novel.
I really in fact had about 40 times the info on New Zealand and sailing that went into the book but I really got some great feedback from others who thought the stuff to be very accurate. So I succeeded.
Researching topics is fine.
I review mystery novels for a website and I therefore read many mysteries. I'm also a certified "gun nut" (ha ha) and am very meticulous about getting descriptions of guns and how they work accurately. And I cringe when writers make awful gun mistakes, like putting a safety on a revolver (they don't have them) or "cocking" a Glock pistol (they don't cock -- you pull the trigger and bang).
I mean, you wouldn't have a medical thriller where the doctor didn't know what A+ blood type meant, or you wouldn't have a legal thriller if the lawyer didn't know what habeas corpus meant, right? Likewise you need to get gun stuff straight if your're writing a mystery thriller. Duh.
So yeah, research is necessary. Or ask friends for help. That works great. Either way, better to do the research and not have literary egg on your face with dumb errors in your book, right?
- Skillian
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- milliethom
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- vadadagon
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I agree I just don't know when enough is enough. Obviously if I am writing a novel which takes place in the middle ages setting I should probably know how to take care of horses and what they eat, etc. It just seems like I get lost in the research and gather too much sometimes.moderntimes wrote:So yeah, research is necessary. Or ask friends for help. That works great. Either way, better to do the research and not have literary egg on your face with dumb errors in your book, right?
-- 16 Nov 2014, 17:37 --
I agree my problem is my computer is connected to the internet (in fact I don't think I own one single piece of technology that isn't connected) and when I come an issue I end-up wasting too much time. I have tried switching to analog (which is a great deal slower writing by hand) using pen and a pad but that can get a little frustrating sometimes (I might just get a typewriter).Skillian wrote:How I remedied this... I now have a desktop which isn't hooked up to the internet. That way when I'm typing.. I simply jot down what I want to look up later.. and then keep typing. . You will figure it all out in time.. whatever works for you and whatever works for that particular project.
Thank you for the tip and I'll certainly try to disconnect then jot down what I want to research and set aside a specific time to research that topic. I think that will work.
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- vadadagon
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