Researching your settings and backgrounds?

[moderntimes]

When you're starting a story, whether a short story or novel, what sort of research do you do for the background settings and other details?

Now if your story is a very plain "everyday" tale, such as a comic interlude or maybe a little romance, and it's set in modern times, there isn't a lot of extra background info you might need to prep for.

But if your tale is set in an exotic locale, or if it involves perhaps a person's job in some way, you may need to research the subject. For example, if one character is a lawyer, physician, cop, or electrician, then if you put that person into the job you have to depict the daily activities in a fairly accurate way, so as to create a believable texture and background for the story. Same if there is a specific city, London or New Orleans or wherever, you have to get the locale correct.

Now in my 3rd novel -- I write modern American private detective novels -- I set them into a very realistic city locale, sometimes with real streets and other places. But I wanted a little extra flavor so when my private eye begins a relationship with this surgeon, I wanted to give her a different setting. So I made her a recreational sailing enthusiast. And therefore I had to research the dickens out of modern sailboats, about which I know zero, to establish verisimilitude. I dug around on the internet, went to a couple of sailing forums, and eventually settled her into a spiffy new Beneteau First Twenty sailboat. I studied the boat's layout, deckside and below deck, and was able to put the couple into a nice romantic afternoon with some decent accuracy.

Naturally, since my mysteries involve police and crime and so on, I study criminal procedures, modern police work, and firearms carefully.

And so on.

So what research have you done for your stories and how has it paid off -- or not?

[Loverockers]

Well, once I was writing a book about a medical student. I wanted the student to be poor and ill-tempered. I wanted her to walk miles and ride buses to reach her destination. In order to incorporate that, I researched towns where public transport was good.

I also wanted her to walk through rain and bad weather, that image would be completed if the setting was England. So I combined both things, England and a town where the transport was good.

Another time, I wanted the setting to be near a river, and wanted the weather to be cold. So I researched places and decided on Mississippi. I found the weather charts for the entire year.

So voila, that's how I do my research.

[moderntimes]

Excellent idea, Love. A bit of research always helps establish verisimilitude and therefore makes the story more realistic.

[KatherineEWall]

I have been known to do extensive research for the shortest of stories. This included researching the stress load of roofs with heavy snowfall, kickbacks and faulty materials in construction, looking up real incidents where the combination of these factors impacted buildings. I researched all of this to write a thousand word story which allowed a bully to face himself, his target and redeem himself. If I don't find myself totally immersed in the world, I don't think I could write effectively.

[JudyM5]

I have just had to go to Mantua to visit the Gonzaga palace to look at the Andrea Mantegna frescos there. I found a local history guide, Lorenzo Bonoldi, who was really helpful and still sends me information he thinks might be useful. Mantua has had less tourists because of the recent re-building programe after the earthquake, and everyone I spoke to was very enthusiastic about a novel which might help them publicise their lovely city. I have found in the past that people are invariably kind and willing to share information about their jobs, their lifestyles and backstories etc. The trick is to ask them when they are not under time pressure.

[emthomas1]

As an ancient history devotee, I found writing my historical fiction to be far, far more labor-intensive than my fantasy. The most frustrating part with HF is that you never feel like you've nailed every detail, and you always worry there may be "just one more article" out there that has the information you can't find. This is especially true with ancient history, where the historical record is essentially in tatters, and even professionals in the field base their theories upon assumptions and assumptions upon guesses, etc., etc.

I've been able to visit most of the places where my stories have taken place thus far, which I consider fortunate. As I've mentioned elsewhere, one of my favorite moments since I started writing was drafting a chapter in my book about the great battle of Corinth - while sitting amidst the ruins of ancient Corinth.

[Lady Countryrose]

I usually look at a photo and try to put it into words. Otherwise google is my friend for research.

[Amagine]

Since I write stories for young readers, I do a little research but most of it comes from my own head. The research that I did is a lot of observation and talking to people. I observe children and the things that they like, how they respond to something, etc. I talk to children and adults too about their experiences and ideas they have. A lot of my stories come from my own experiences as well. ?

[katiestardis]

In my first series, there is a disease I created that I had to research to make sure it was working properly. Then I had to make sure the cure actually made sense. Aside from that, it is a story that mainly takes place in the future, so most of the setting and background are invented.

[Rebeccaej]

Mostly, I'm needing to research geography and weather patterns. I need to create a space that's small enough to be traversed in a couple months on foot, but where the land in the north is rough and barely survivable, while the southern side is comfortable.

I'm going with the south being a peninsula that's kept warm by ocean currents, but I'm still not sure what the north is like, except that I want there to be salt marshes.

[Belynda White]

I studied English and Literary Studies and basically, that has to do with reading and research. It was always so challenging reaching out to as many books as possible in a semester but I was lucky I did so well in the end. I tried as much as possible not to bury myself alive with worry so whatever I don't cover for the semester, I try to use Google. Google is definitely everyone's friend. It serves you reviews and also summaries. It was so helpful because I had so much to read in so little time. But on a normal day, I cover so much with little time because reading is actually a hobby.?

[Sushan Ekanayake]

most of the time what I write is pretty straight forward. No background details. I do research when it involves history. but details about places and settings, I skip as much as possible

[Brittany Tatman]

The current world and history are ripe with endless sparks for developing culture. When writing fantasy, you get to pick and choose your sources for developing original cultural norms. Usually, the geographic setting is one of the first visions I have for a story. From there, I research the cultures of people who live in those types of biomes. They always have some pretty unorthodox methods of survival that make sense for their home. The limitations that come from geographic locations often create occasions for conflict. At that point, I'm halfway done with plotting. Developing the setting has always been one of my favorite parts of the writing process.