Those following this series had to know I would reach this topic eventually. Researching for a novel is one of what I call the half-truth myths. Yet I have known writer after writer that have had entire careers stopped cold by this myth. It takes a writer a certain time and distance to find the right half-way-point with research in novels.
So let me see if I can make some sense out of this.
Fact: Nonfiction writing requires you get it right, that you have your research done correctly in all ways and even documented correctly. No discussion on that at all. If you are writing nonfiction, research is not only a part of the process, it might be the most important part.
But this chapter, and all the chapters in this book, talk about fiction writing, and that’s where research jumps into the problem area. In fact, I was teaching a workshop with young professionals just this last week and this topic came up as a pretty solid roadblock for one of the writers. Of course, that writer was a full-time nonfiction writer and was carrying over the belief system into the fiction.
So let me repeat here clearly what I told that writer. If you have this myth issue, print this out as a big sign and put it over your computer.
IT’S FICTION!!
Yup, I shouted that. Fiction, by its very definition is made up. Duh.
So now comes the really ugly word that I had to look up to spell right: Verisimilitude: An appearance of being true.
That’s the exact definition from my dear old Oxford American Dictionary.
So, in fiction, we writers make stuff up. I give my job description as a person who sits alone in a room and makes stuff up. But what I make up needs to have the appearance of being true, if not in detail, in character action and emotions. There is where the myth is true and not true.
In every story we need enough detail to make it feel right. That does not mean it has to be right, it just has to feel right.
Now details are easy when dealing with alien cultures in a science fiction novel, really hard when writing a period historical. No reader cares that you make up some gun or some uniform in space, as long as you make it seem logical to the society you are writing about. But historical readers who love certain historical time periods will care when you bring matches in a few decades too soon. Or heaven forbid have the wrong gun.
So why am I calling this a myth? For the simple reason that I have heard over and over and over young writers use this research myth as an excuse to not write. The statement goes something like this: “I can’t get to that story. I just have too much research to do.”
Of course, that writer never writes because every story that writer picks has too much research to do. That writer clearly isn’t a writer, but a researcher, and should realize that and go get a job doing what they love: researching.
Or, more likely, the person is afraid for one of many reasons to actually write, practice writing, and fail a number of times by finishing a story. And doing research sounds like such a noble excuse to tell your family and workshop. It’s safer than actually writing.
But if your dream is to be a fiction writer, sit down and make stuff up. Follow Heinlein’s Rules. It really is that simple.
Or, let it put it as bluntly as I can: Writers with the problem of never writing because of research have chosen to not write.
HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU RESEARCH?
As with many things in writing, the answer is “It depends on the story you are writing.”
But I can safely say this after listening to other writers for decades on this topic and knowing my own patterns with research: You will almost always do too much.
Again, you just have to do enough to make it feel right to the large majority of your readers. And trust me, putting in all your research is mostly just dull. In fact, if you are getting feedback on stories that go “You have too many information dumps,” then you might want to try writing a story without any research. It might not be the problem, but often it is. We are all human. Once we do all that work on research and spend all that time, we want it in the book.
Truth: Most research you do does not belong in your story.
A general rule is to do just enough research to feel comfortable writing about the topic in a fiction story.
SOME HINTS AND THOUGHTS TO GET YOU PAST THIS MYTH:
1…Write for the majority or readers, not a small faction. For example, when using a medical procedure, make it feel right, but don’t try to write for a MD who does the practice. That way lies madness, and you won’t get it right anyway. Write just enough so that it feels correct.
Another example is the CSI programs on television. Anyone who knows anything about lab techs in crime labs know they are not front-line detectives, but for the sake of fiction, the authors combined crime lab techs and detectives into one person to make interesting FICTION. They use cool machines that no city can afford in real life, and everything is done in minutes instead of months. But again, IT’S FICTION! And pretty good fiction, as far as story goes.
So stop writing for the minority and write for the majority of us who just like a good story told well.
2…If you need to do research to get it to feel right, do that while writing another story. I am often researching a project ahead of writing it, as I should if the story needs it. But does that mean I don’t write? Nope. I research one project while finishing up another. Therefore, research never gets in the way of writing.
3…You run across a detail you don’t know when writing. And say you can’t find it quickly, just leave a white space where the detail is needed and make a note to add it in when you run through with your detail draft. Then research it after you are done with the story.
4…Make it up and move on. Yup, I said that. It’s fiction, so if you don’t know something, pretend like you do, pretend like your character knows exactly what they are talking about, write it so it feels real (verisimilitude), and move on. 99% of your readers won’t notice and those that do notice aren’t really your readers.
5…Pick story ideas that don’t need research. Let me simply say, “Duh.” I am a master at this art. My wife has a degree in history. I have a degree in Architecture. Which one of us loves research would you assume? She is always doing research and often helps me when I need something quickly. She loves it. I try to pick stories that need no research for the most part. She likes doing research to feel comfortable in writing. I don’t need that comfort factor to the same degree as an historian would.
Back to what I have said in every chapter: Every writer is different.
I just recently finished a wonderful project set in Milwaukee, WI and the city and areas in the city were critical to the book. The editor on board lived there and offered to help with anything I needed about the city and I was constantly back and forth with him getting details on his wonderful city. In fact, a couple of times he had to go look at a neighborhood for me. So getting help is another clue, but I was writing and working on the book at the same time.
But again, try to find projects that don’t need research if research stops you from writing. It really is that simple.
IN SUMMARY:
Just to be clear, I am saying that some projects in fiction require some research and it needs to be done, but not all projects require research, so you should never, ever, let research stop your writing.
If you hear yourself say, “I can’t write this book until I do the research.” And you are not writing something, anything else, then this belief system of needing to do research is slowing you down or stopping you. And that’s when research in fiction turns into an ugly sacred cow. And why this chapter needed to be in this book.
When all else fails, just remember, IT’S FICTION!
————————————————
Copyright 2010 Dean Wesley Smith
————————————————–
This is part of my inventory in my bakery now. (Confused on that, read the Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing post about making money with writing.) I’m giving you this small slice as a sample. I’m giving you a taste, but not selling any of the pie.
If you feel this helped you in any way, toss a tip into the tip jar on the way out of the Magic Bakery.
And I would like to thank all the fine folks who have donated. Once this book is done, I will send you a copy. The donations and the comments both after the posts and privately are really keeping me going on this. Thanks!
If you can’t afford to donate, please feel free to pass this chapter along to others who might get some help from it. Every week or so I will be adding a new chapter on the myths and sacred cows of publishing. Stay tuned. Upcoming are chapters on bestsellers, rejections, more on agents, and so much more. This business has a lot of myths. An entire book full.
Thanks, Dean
First! (just kidding)
This is a biggie for me. I come from an academic background and research is like a giant security blanket. I try to keep it under control, but I definitely waste many hours reading about stuff that never makes it even close to my stories. This is fun, but it can bog down the actual getting stuff done.
I decided to tackle this issue recently, actually. I’m writing a fantasy middle grade novel and am making myself do NO research at all for it. None. This so far is scary as hell, but also sort of fun. It is definitely lending a far more whimsical tone to the writing than I usually have.
Thanks, Dean, for once again pointing out that *story* should be king
Yes, story is king, and all the kingdom, actually. Early on we all start calling ourselves “writers” which puts a focus on writing sentence-by-sentence when in reality what we are trying to learn is how to tell stories. Sentences and research just work in service of the story and nothing more.
Understand in my background I have three years of law school as well, a research-heavy place, and I came to both love doing it and hating it at the same moment. So I brought that attitude to writing and in my first published novel, I got into researching the Titanic (pre-movie days) and had fun, but spent far, far too much time at it for what I needed.
I recently published a Christian thriller out of Waterbrook Press set in a country I would never go to, let along to the northern region of and go rafting. All the reviews said I made the setting vivid and it came alive. I was happy about that since the setting had to be a character. How did I do that? Fodor Travel Guides. And a map. And a great imagination from the pictures. Biggest problem I had on the rafting river was trying to figure out which way the river flowed. I finally gave up when I realized two hundred people in this entire country would know the answer to that, so it didn’t matter in the book.
Research is sometimes needed. Just never let it stop you from putting words on a page. That’s the myth, that you can’t write until you research. Nope, pure hogwash.
Ran into this one almost immediately as a writer doing the series thrillers I did. I’d been in the military and hated when action writers got details wrong–so I overcompensated by trying to out Clancy Clancy which ended with exactly what you said: information dumps that read like cut-and-paste sections of nonfiction texts.
You’re right: once I had done all that research I felt like it HAD to all go in. Finally I just had to keep applying that old writing rule of “Kill Your Darlings.”
On the flip side I always love reading books where I learn stuff about stuff in the course of a story–but the best writers doing this never forget (as you said) that it’s a story first and not a Popular Mechanics article.
Once I’d weaned myself away from it I found a handy short-cut that works for me–children’s non-fiction books.
The information written for kid gives good, succinct overviews in that never bogs down in mineutia. You can hit ‘n git on brushing up and plow forward. As a general rule: if it’s succinct enough for a 6th grade book report it’ll serve your needs 9 times outta 10.
I’m speaking in broad terms to illustrate the point, of course but I spent hours and hours of wasted research time trying to figure out the metal alloy composition on a part in a nuclear centerfuge–and it was just a MacGuffin! Duh!
I should have been banging out the chase scene not trying to be a metallurgist. Who cared?
Good post.
Nathan, thanks for the great comments. Yup, I agree about children’s books helping with research. Also, for those who are into time period stuff, things like Life Magazine for times between 1938 and 1970 are great for pictures. Or go into thrift shops and buy the “yearbooks” from encyclopedia sets. Great stuff for getting just enough details to make seem real.
Yah! Do just enough research. I set a lot of my four novels in Burbank, CA, since I’d lived there several years. Google/Yahoo maps got me exact locations and distances.
You can do a lot of research after the fact — when doing the actual writing and you run into something you don’t quite know, just put in a marker like *** or ~~~ then come back to it later in an edit pass.
When I was doing the first couple novels, I’d research as I was writing or before. That was a time waster; I’d loose the “zone” and spend a couple hours researching or doing some spreadsheet calculations.
Maybe a couple quick Googles or so if you know you’re going to get into an area which you’re not familiar — but that’s a design phase task, not during writing.
A quick research during design and marking unknowns (or “forgots”) while writing will let you do just the optimal amount.
Oh thank god I don’t actually need to go ride in an ice road truck to finish my novel.
Thank you for this, Dean.
As we say in the news business, “Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.”
My first three novels were all historic fantasy. I did a ton of research. I loved it, loved reading all those books and learning all those details. Ellen Klages once said that it the ratio for historic fiction was 300 pages of reading to 1 sentence of writing, and I agree with that. Which is why the trilogy I just finished isn’t historic, but all fantasy, completely made up. It was one of the things I was practicing with these novels, world building, where the myths didn’t come automatically pre-loaded.
Dean wrote, “Early on we all start calling ourselves ‘writers’ which puts a focus on writing sentence-by-sentence when in reality what we are trying to learn is how to tell stories.”
That’s a very interesting point, Dean. I suppose it’s more accurate to say we are storytellers. Storytellers who happen to tell our stories by writing and distributing them.
Other storytellers sing songs, recite oral histories, paint, take pictures, and so on.
But we are all storytellers nonetheless.
Perhaps if we considered ourselves storytellers first, by telling people that’s what we are, we’d focus more on story and less on sentences and research and the perfect words. And then our stories would jump off the page and the world would be a better place.
Of course, I could be wrong about that. But I don’t think so. Most people, when asked why they want to be a writer, will say something like “because I love inventing stories and telling them to anyone who will listen.”
So there we go.
That said, if you go tell your parents or spouse you want to be a storyteller, I’m sure it will be even worse than the conversation you had when you told them you wanted to be a writer. “At least a writer can make SOME money,” they’ll say.
Just saying.
LOL, Jeremy. And when does anyone think a writer can make money? That’s one of the myths I beat on a few chapters back. Writers of fiction do make a ton of money when they do it right, it’s just that no one thinks they do. Where does “Writer in the garret?” come from? Actually, from a time in the early 1900s in New York, but that’s another story. (And note, I first spelled garret as garrote. Not sure what that means. (grin)
I’ve actually used the opposite excuse for not writing – I hate research so have avoided writing because of that “need to research but I won’t because I don’t like it.”
Instead I’ve learned to write the same way I used to do my essays in university – write and then go research what I’m missing.
I’ve taken it away that excuse and now I write a lot more often.
The corollary to this is that you should never defend something in a work of fiction by saying, “But that really happened!” Life doesn’t have to make sense, that’s why people read fiction. It also means, if the writer wants that happening in the story, they’d better go back and figure out how to make it believable.
Also, though, exactly how much research is just enough depends on the target readership of the story you’re writing. Readers of procedural mystery will tear you apart and burn your books in effigy if you get procedures wrong, but readers of cozies couldn’t care less (understanding that the generalization “readers” here is for the average reader, not everyone who’s ever read a mystery).
This research thing has stopped me from writing a book I really want to write. Much of it is set in China, and I’ve never been there.
I’ve made a file with articles regarding China and have at least 1 National Geographic to refer to. My goal is to start the book next month and plow through it doing the best I can with setting.
Thanks for the reminder, Dean. I’ll try to stop worrying about it so much.
“And when does anyone think a writer can make money?”
LOL, never. But I suspect we could trick people into admitting it’s possible by saying that we want to be storytellers.
Hmmm, very interesting. I agree with some of the others here who have had problems with research. It can be interesting and fun therefore distracting. For one story I looked for a certain medieval weapon to make sure I was using the right weapon. I read more than I needed to, not only about the weapon but about other weapons.
And you’re right about making things up too…that can fun too. I am reading a novel where the writer has made up all kinds of research. The research deals with a field that has no counterpart in real life. So everything is made up with all kinds of tech babble and gobbledygook. (What worries me is that it seems to make sense.) It’s a light heart story so the made up stuff adds to that.
I like your definition of writing, I might put that on a business card if I ever get to that point. Of course I kinda like Storysmith also.
The key to effective research is to know what it is that you need to know!
It is essential to recognise that there are two types of research: General and Specific.
General Research
This is all about gathering a wider knowledge of the subject of your novel or book.
Read general books: Start with outlines and histories of the period (topic) under study. Get a feel for the key events of the time. Read books at all levels. Children’s history books are often a good place to start since they will give you a nice overview.
Read ‘real’ history books: The next stage is to read some serious history books. Find out who the key historians are in the area of your research and read a couple of their books. Good history books will have loads of references to the sources that the historians used in their research. You can use these references to find more history books.
Beware of the Internet: At this stage you are still probably gathering a deeper knowledge of the subject area. You may find that the Internet is not the most helpful tool at this stage. This said, I often found Wikipedia a great place to clarify details.
Make notes: This is very important. As you read, make notes of the key points and, most importantly, write down questions.
Specific Research is all about looking at what you know and then defining and answering specific questions. There are a number of resources that help, and this is where the internet comes into its own. The key is to tighter define your question.
BubbleCow, all fine advice when researching nonfiction. For fiction, it might be fine advice as well if you want to spend all your time researching, and thus, the reason for my post.
It’s Fiction. Either make it up, or find a kid’s book that explains it just enough, or ask a friend who might give you a detail.
The key in fiction is a couple of details. Remember the rule of three. In fiction, no reader can remember more than three things at a time. Mystery writers use this rule a lot to bury information they need to put in but don’t want the reader to remember. They bury the detail at the number five or six spot in a list of ten. Beginning writers who do what you suggest would so over research and then have the desire to put it all in because they spent the time to do it. So great advice in general for researching. No argument there. Just horrid advice for fiction writers who have the job of Making Stuff Up. All we have to do is make it “sound or feel” right. Nothing more.
Fiction is fiction, folks. If you find yourself as a reader who has a story ruined by some detail wrong that only you and a few thousand others would know, you might want to find a new job, such as researching or writing nonfiction which needs completely accurate detail and research procedures.
On half-way-major area I forgot in the main chapter and more than likely will put in for the final chapter in tricks on getting past this research problem and continuing to write. PICK STORIES THAT FIT IN YOUR AREA OF EXPERTISE. That way your research is already done. For example, I wrote and sold a ton of stories set in bars. Duh, seventeen years of bartending, so I knew it and could get the details right without research. I also wrote and sold a bunch of stories set in nursing homes, where my second wife worked and I spent a lot of time in waiting around for her. So I knew that as well. I also use gambling and golf in books, since no research needed on those either considering that I did both professionally at one point or another.
Just another shortcut to making a story feel right without spending the time to research and not write.
In case you haven’t noticed the trend in these chapters, I am trying to take all your made-up excuses to not write away from you. And your made-up excuses to not mail your work to editors and sell it.
As Robert says above, it can depend on your target audience — although even there it’s too easy to over-research. I had a lab scene once where, in the background, someone is pouring liquid helium into a cryogenic instrument. Stan Schmidt at Analog remarked that the last time he worked with liquid helium, it was considerably more complicated than just “pouring”. I did a couple hours googling the actual procedures involved (yeah, it is complicated) and ended up just changing “pouring” to “transferring”. (And Stan is probably the only editor on the planet who has actually worked with liquid helium.)
Oh, and the direction of that river, Dean? Downhill.
But… *sniffle* Dean! I like my excuses.
Hmm… does this mean there will be a chapter on “Myth: Writers have to do all the house chores”?
(I don’t actually do all the chores, but somehow vacuuming and baking and wiping down the counters and alphabetizing my shelves and and and… yeah. It is amazingly easy to find reasons not to write.)
Back on topic: I just caught myself stalling a story with this myth this morning. I was poking around on the internet trying to figure out exactly where in the Mid West I was setting the story I’m working on. Really, it doesn’t fucking matter and I need to just make stuff up.
Yup, Annie, taking them away. (grin). And you know, some great person (can’t remember who) once said that no one on their death bed said they wished they had done more housework.
Thank you for saying “an historian.” You made my day.
–Pati (who hates the new American rules that call for constructions like “a ewer.”)
It gets a little scary when your story falls in with other hardcore genre work like Fantasy. I went to Borders to do some genre research, because, I frankly don’t know two-bits about traditional fantasy. I saw druids and all sorts of things that are not in my story and will never be in my story, but I got intimidated. I began doing research, reading fantasy stories, and it felt even more hopeless until my boyfriend gave me a book he read as a teen called “The Lost Years of Merlin” by T.A. Barron. This book, with the exception to really interesting conjectures about Merlin’s life, did little to no research about fantasy tropes; it did not describe the rivets in anyone’s armor or the difference between dark elves and light elves, etc., and yet, it was such a fun read. Even now, I still feel uncomfortable writing this fantasy piece because I’m afraid of it lacking legitimacy as a “true” fantasy piece.
I felt much more comfortable reading this post. It eases my conscience. Along with this page, I had several tabs of research open. I think I’m just going to close them and write. Thanks for this, Dean.
Thanks, J.D. Glad it helped a little. Fear of not doing enough research comes from fear of doing something “wrong” but in fiction, it just isn’t possible to do something wrong other than insult editors. Missing something researched in a story isn’t a problem. Worst that can happen is that the editor notices and either fixes it in page proofs after they buy it or rejects the story.
And I removed the link you included to that “rejection” site, since the garbage that writer is spouting is just flat scary to that writer’s career and also does not help anyone who is coming here for constructive directions. Getting mad at an editor or agent is just silly. And if there is something really wrong a writer can do in this modern world, it’s what that writer did on their own site. Wow, head-shaking stupid. Stay away from there.
Thanks again for the comments.
Heh. I saw that site. The link must be making the rounds.
Talk about shooting yourself in the foot, then pouring gasoline over yourself and lighting a match.
The lesson to take from this: agents and editors surf the Web, so watch what you say in public.
Hmmm, not sure if I really need to say this and I hope I’m not stepping on Dean’s toes but just in case it might help J. D. Or another writer who has the same problem
J.D. you probably know this by now but Fantasy is so wide open that almost anything goes. Markets like Fantasy Magazine and Realm of Fantasy lists a ton of sub-genres, including a couple I’ve never heard of before and still am not sure what they are. Don’t let fear of getting it right stop you. Its the story that counts not what sub-genre it’s in. Unless you get a request to do one for a certain market.
The same goes for Science Fiction. I’ve heard of a couple sub-genres that just sound strange even though I have no idea what they are. There’s one I’ve read about I think would be fun to write in some day, steampunk. It has an interesting twist to what I usually write.
Again I’m probably repeating something you know but the important thing is to write, you can figure out what you wrote afterwards if need be. And if by some huge chance you invent a new sub-genre maybe they will name it after you .
I remember hearing George Lucas describe the difference between Sci-Fi and Fantasy a while back.
He stated that Star Wars is not science fiction, though people like to put it there due to the space environment. Rather, he considers it a fantasy genre because it has all the right elements:
farm boy (Luke, of course)
damsel in distress (Leia, of course)
smart-ass sidekick (H. Ford’s words)
comic relief (droids)
Wise sage (Kenobi)
Evil villian (Vader)
bad troops (stormtroopers – reminiscent of Tolkien’s orcs)
He also said he specifically chose that genre due to its appeal, but also because in his words, and I’m paraphrasing, “In Fantasy, you don’t have to explain anything as long as it makes sense. In true Science Fiction, the fans expect things to be somewhat true and explainable. This way, I can tell my story without having to stop and explain how a lightsaber or a laser gun work. They just do.”
I don’t really know how true those statements are, but if I think about the difference between Dune and Star Wars, he couldn’t be more on the money.
An interesting side note is that Lucas actually considers Star Wars to be a “space opera,” in the tradition of Flash Gordon, which he loved as a kid. Hence the scrolling intro and musical leitmotifs (a la Wagner) and such.
And when you think of the whole saga as an opera, it makes perfect sense. It’s very romance-heavy, particularly the latest trilogy, and passion drives everyone to either ruin or success.
I fell into a research pattern very early on in my career, and it’s varied little over the years, though the Internet has helped make it easier.
Like you, I try to research the next story I’m working on, not the current one.
If I know very little about the material, I sit down and read two, think books on the subjects I need, inserting bookmarks at every useful page. This usually takes about a week.
After This, I start writing. Unlike back when I began writing, the Internet often allows me to fill in a blank with a minute’s effort. If not, I type what I need to know directly into the manuscript, numbering them so I can use the find feature later, and keep writing.
When the first draft is finished, I go back and fill in the blanks.
I’ve known beginning writer who took years to do the research on a novel, and the novel, if it ever did get written, was usually so overblown with unnecessary facts and figures that the story was hidden.
Research is good, but research is not writing, and should never be allowed to take the place of getting the writing done.
Dean, another trick is using the same research for several stories. I sold three stories that bascially used the same research I did for the first one.
As for your five research rules, they work.
I wrote a story in one of your workshops (and later sold it to ASIMOVS) set in one of the German colonies in Agerntia in the early 1960s. I know nothing about Argentia in the1960s. My entire research consisted of looking up the Spanish word for “market” and grabbing a German-sounding town name out of an atlas. Everything else about the town I made up using our old friend Verisimilitude.
The only story detail anyone’s ever questioned me on was the German name of the town — the one researched detail I didn’t make up.
Thanks, Lee. Yup, I should have mentioned that trick as well. Good one. Thanks.
Another great post followed by many great comments. Thanks, everyone!
D.
I have been enjoying these posts. I found it interesting that your post and Peter Clines’ post (same day) both tackled the same issue. I include the reference because it has slightly different examples, but largely concurs with the statement.
http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2010/04/but-three-rights-do-make-left.html
Wonderful! Thanks for the great link. I love his comment “Facts are not a story point.” Exactly!
Thanks for sending that.
Um, well, I disagree about part of this. If you don’t know it, don’t say it. If you make something up and hope it will fly, it won’t. Somebody will catch it, and it might be enough to lose more than one reader.
Mistakes are gonna get past, but if you toss out a gun caliber that doesn’t exist and justify it with, Well, most most readers won’t know it, then you are showing disdain for your readers. If I catch it, I will, unless you are somebody I am willing to cut slack, put the book down. And won’t pick up your next one.
Why? Because that kind of stuff is soooo easy to check and if you didn’t, I’ll see you as too lazy to bother.
If you get a piece wrong that I know about, what else are you getting wrong that I don’t know? My trust level goes way down, and rightfully so.
Better to generalize and blur past it than to get too specific and get nailed. Tech-talk is fine, and you can Star Trek your FLT and get away with it, but if you say “Hermes handbag,” you need to know what that looks like.
In fiction, you are allowed certain suspensions of disbelief, but if you get the little stuff wrong leading up to that, that’s just sloppy writing. It’s like leaving typos and depending on the editor to fix them when you know they are there. It’s your job to get this as right as you can.
You don’t have to do so much research that it cripples you, but you have to do enough so that if your hero is supposed to be an expert at something, he better not offer a stupidity regarding that right out of the box. Somebody who knows will surely point it out in a review.
If you don’t know something, you can always ask somebody who does to check your ms. I do this for people in areas in which I know something, and ask folks who know things I don’t to double check my research.
Saying it’s “fiction” is not an excuse. A lot of truth gets told in fiction, and if you want to play, you need to take care of the little stuff.
Steve
Steve, we’re not that far apart on this, but we are a little. My post was aimed at all the newer writers who use research as an excuse to not write, but notice I did tell them how to research so that it wouldn’t get in the way of the writing. Never said not to research.
But where you and I differ slightly is the attitude that we need to write to and for the expert, meaning that an expert in say guns, or medicine, or martial arts, or golf is our primary target when talking about those things, and thus we have to get it completely right. Hell, that standard would cripple me down into a tiny whimpering ball. Mostly because I have sat and listened to so-called experts in an area argue. How in the world am I supposed to get it right if experts can’t agree on some stuff.
So I go back to making it “feel” right. And I don’t think I’m being lazy, although I will admit at times I am lazy. Just not about this stuff.
I put a gun in a recent novel THAT I OWN and had two so-called gun experts write and tell me it didn’t exist and that I should do my research better, even though I just bought ammunition for it a few weeks back. Granted, it is vintage rifle, and a rare type, but from now on out, I’m using my handy-dandy book on guns that everyone has so the idiot experts out there can smile knowingly and pat me on the head that I got it right. Sometimes getting something right causes the same exact problem if my knowledge base doesn’t match perfectly everyone else’s knowledge base.
So back to making it feel right. I agree, get it “right” when you can, but if you can’t It’s Fiction. Make it up. Make it sound like your character knows exactly what he or she is talking about, and move on. Any research that stops you from writing for more than a short time I feel is just not worth it. Better to get something done to have some readers than nothing at all and research your life away.
By the way, the gun I mentioned is a 257 Roberts rifle with scope. With soft point shells, that baby puts very large holes in things. Don’t use it in a novel unless you are ready for letters.
“Wonderful! Thanks for the great link. I love his comment ‘Facts are not a story point.’ Exactly!”
This reminds me of a quote of some very important literary writer, whose name escapes me, by my friend and colleague Jesse Abbot.
“If you introduce a gun in your story, it had better go off by the end of the story. Otherwise, don’t introduce it.”
He then explained that by “go off,” he didn’t mean literally “fire a bullet.” He meant that it had better have some bearing on the plot, in some way, or it was just wasted page space and some people would notice it and think your story sucks.
Seems about like using a very specific fact – nothing on your mention of the rifle, Dean. I think it’s awesome that you introduced a little-known rifle. And I don’t know jack about guns, so it wouldn’t have bothered me one bit, as long as that fact was important. (Well, to be honest, I know some basics from my father and the Navy: .45, 9mm, M16, etc., but that’s it.)
I’m too new at writing stories to include such specific facts in them, which leaves them a little flat as far as detail is concerned. And I could never see explaining the detailed procedure for cleaning a .45 pistol. I don’t see how that could ever be made important, unless maybe the guy made a mistake and it would stop the gun from firing later. But about 90% of readers probably wouldn’t know that unless the narrator told them (because the narrator would have to, or the character would know it), which would make it feel like unnecessary exposition.
As you and Steve have said, there are times for detail, and times for a lack of it. You do have to have a feel for when it’s appropriate, but I think the best way to know is to realize when that element will play a significant part in the plot later.
At least, that seems the right way to go to me.
Sure, scratch ten experts, get ten different opinions, but I’m not talking about writing for the hardcore fan who knows what color the lint in Mara Jade’s pocket was last Thursday. You can’t please folks like that, and you don’t waste your time trying. But if you can easily look something up — and with the net, you surely can and do enough crosscheck so that you can feel comfortable with it, then you should.
if you make up a new guy, that’s legit. Nobody can nail you for pure fiction. If you use an existing one and get it wrong? Unacceptable from where I sit.
Dutch Leonard had a wrong gun in a book some years back. I sent him a note — you know better. He did. He had the right one in. A copy editor fixed it for him. He wrote .380. She assumed the “0″ was a mistake and deleted it. She was wrong.
If the facts in one’s fiction are wrong, it will put people who catch it off. Especially when it is so easy to fix. If you don’t know from guns, say, “He pointed the gun at her and shot her.” Bland, but it works.
If you say, “He pointed the snubnosed Smith & Wesson .38 Special at her, flipped the safety off, and shot her.” the gun nuts are all going to shake their head and put the book down. Because all you had to do was ask somebody who knows to save yourself from making a boneheaded error.
The people who read a lot of fiction wherein shooters are featured are very often knowledgeable about such hardware.
And you made an error with your thirty-eight — meaning “you” in the general sense here — because you are trying to show folks you know stuff about the hardware. Schweitzer’s Rule: If you don’t know it, don’t say it. Somebody will catch it.
Much better to be general and vague than to be specific and wrong.
There are a host of cliches that are perpetuated by lazy writers. Thirty years ago, I wrote a piece called “Heel-Spinner Blues” for Keven O’Donnell’s fanzine, taking to task writers who offer martial arts myths without checking them. Shoot, I am pretty sure I wrote a similar piece for your magazine a few years back.
Fighters don’t spin on their heels. That’s a good way to fall down.
A heel-of-the-hand strike to the nose does not drive the bone into the brain.
Nobody save someone from Krypton can reach into your chest and pull your heart out. And yet I see these in books all the time, by people who should know better.
If your guy is an action hero, he has to know action hero stuff. Sure, you can fudge all the CSI walla, and tech-talk and rubber science your way through a bunch of it, but it’s a house of cards and shaky at best. Don’t make it any easier to knock over than you have to.
(For the record, .38 S&W revolvers don’t have safeties. Nor do they load “clips” into the butt …)
Now Steve, ALL of that second post I agree with. Completely. Great post and very clear. Thanks! I think you just helped a bunch of writers go “Ah, I get it.”
And I agree completely about if it’s needed and easy to look up, do so. If not needed, leave it out or set a way to make it up. A balance which was the point of my overall post.
Guns are a huge area of problems for fiction writers. In that novel I wanted a high-velocity rifle for a plot point, basically a rifle used to knock down larger game like Elk. Since I owned one, I figured “what could it hurt” putting it in.
And thus the lesson I know well comes rushing back in yet again. Too much detail, even when correct, can cause as many problems as the wrong detail.
And a wonderful detail too true to use again about guns in fiction. I was 17, standing on a ridge line with my father and grandfather one fine late-fall Idaho morning in 1967. I was carrying the Roberts and had the safety on, and luckily had been trained very well by the two men beside me. The rifle just went off. I didn’t even jar it and I had it pointed at the ground under my arm and I didn’t get near the trigger. Scared hell out of all three of us. I handed the gun to my grandfather (it was his gun) and he saw that the safety was actually still on. (Instead of a stupid kid screwing up.) He handed me his rifle and quickly unloaded the Roberts and walked the gun the hour back to the car. A gun expert discovered a small piece had snapped inside the gun and caused the problem. (More than likely from the cold and temperature difference and the jarring walk that ridge line.) Luckily I was well-trained and didn’t trust a safety or one of us might have died or been injured.
Can’t put that in fiction. I can just imagine the letters I would get.
Dean, that’s an interesting anecdote about the rifle. I can well believe it; I’ve seen something similar happen with a Canadian FN-C1A1 7.62mm rifle. The C1 is nominally semi-automatic, but in this case the weapon started firing full-auto and kept going even when the hapless soldier holding it released the trigger. Kept firing until it was out of ammo. Fortunately the guy kept it pointed down-range. It was a broken or dirty safety sear in the firing mechanism. (The C2 model is fully automatic and has a heavier barrel. In the US, the BATF requires FN rifles to be modified to prevent this from happening “accidentally on purpose”.)
And Steve, did he flip the safety off that S&W .38 before or after attaching the silencer?
Nathan, you are funny. (grin).
Mary, all that just makes me shudder. I’d never be able to write a creative word if I was doing that. But great for nonfiction.
Alastair, I actually used the word “sound suppressor” in one novel and the editor and copyeditor both changed it to silencer because of common usage.
Oh, Steve. Steve, Steve, Steve.
You berate writers for not doing easy research and getting simple facts wrong–then you go and do that very thing in your post!
Shame on you.
A simple google search shows us that it is indeed possible to rip a man’s heart out through his chest:
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/season-2-whats-the-deadliest-martial-arts-move-in-the-world/4164753679
On a slightly more historic note there is: “a story of two combatants, neither of whom could worst the other, agreeing to take a blow in turn at each other. One, rising on tip-toe, struck the other full on the top of the head, but did not disable him. The other dug his five fingers into his adversary’s stomach and pulled out his entrails. The dying fighter in this contest was crowned with the victor’s wreath, it being held by the judges that the blow with the five fingers extended was a foul one”
If they could get the guts out through the abs then maybe they could get the heart out through the softer diagphram. It should be noted these were greek *wrestlers* and thus awesome, and not sissy Asian-style martial arts.
Wow. This proved Dean’s point. I just blew 20 minutes for no reason other than that clip of the “dread” “Yin technique” made me laugh out loud.
Research bad.
Ten reasons for using the COMMENTS feature in MSWord for in-line Research cues.
Many, if not most, writers use the evil empire’s MSWord to write their stories. Yet, many (most?) don’t take advantage of the comments feature when postponing research while writing. Sticking in #### or highlighting in Titian red or whatever is so unnecessary, cumbersome and counterproductive when inserting a comment will:
1) Number the suckers consecutively as they appear in the manuscript, even if added after more copy follows the comment, renumbering as appropriate.
2) Provide a list of comments in its own separate window
3) Allow referencing said list without searching for anything in the manuscript itself (Click view comments)
4) Allow accessing the area in the manuscript by clicking on the comment in the list
5) Allow accessing the comment text by clicking the comment icon in the manuscript or rolling over the comment to see a comment bubble appear
6) Allow inserting whatever information you need in the comment, without having it become part of the manuscript
7) Allow printing the manuscript with or without comments
8) Allow printing the comments list alone
9) Allow referencing the source of your information once the research is done (particularly useful when copy editor issues crop up)
10) Allow providing said research reference list to said copy editor
This also applies to any other comment you might like to make while writing, i.e. check heroine’s hair color in chapter three.
To insert a comment:
1) Place the cursor where you want the comment to appear, usually highlighting the affected text
2) Click on the yellow stickie icon on the tool bar or click INSERT > Comment (on a Mac anyway)
3) The appropriate text will be highlighted and the comments window will open with the cursor blinking right after the comment’s number
4) Type your comment
5) Close the comments window (or you can leave it open and click in the text window). The cursor will automatically return to the site of the comment in the text.
Mary
OpenOffice has a similar feature to Word’s comments, called notes. But I agree with Dean — if I’m in a creative flow, I’m not going to want to mouse around and pop up dialogs, I want to keep my fingers on the keyboard. I’ll just type a parenthetical note to myself [[ like this ]] and keep going. The double square brackets are easy to find later.
But whatever works for you.
The Second Amendment Foundation hosts an annual 2-day free seminar for writers called Firearms and Fiction. They don’t talk about it on their website, but email Peggy Tartaro and ask when the next one is. Great way to learn a bit about guns. http://www.saf.org/
I second what Pati said. I’ve heard nothing but good things about that two day event for writers.
I personally just use a notepad and pen to make notes like that. But I don’t do it that often. I usually just work it out on the spot.
Back to my earlier post about being weak on detail. But at this point, given the research trap, I’d rather be weak on detail than strong on research.
I can always work on detail on later stories.
The wandering hobo of Perry’s mind:
There is a martial arts death-touch — commotio cordis — which, under just the right circumstances and precise interval during the lubb-dupp cycle can indeed stop the heart. It’s rare, but it happens — usually when a young athlete gets hit square on the sternum with a baseball or lacrosse ball or like that. Since it’s rather hard to time somebody’s heartbeat and spot the upstroke of the T-wave while the punches are flying, it’s not the best technique to train, vis a vis usefulness. There are better places to hit where fight-stop odds are much higher.
When I was writing for Batman: The Animated Show, I did an episode in which old Bats goes up against a Ninja who knew the technique for the Death Touch. BS&P wouldn’t let us use the term. Nope, nope, can’t say “Death Touch.” Sorry.
How about “Hurts Really Bad and You Stop Breathing Forever?”
No.
How about “Touch of Doom?”
Hmm. Okay, sure, that’ll work.
Beware of television …
Steve, LOL! Too funny, and from my experience with television and Hollywood, so true, so true. I look back at some of the insane discussions like that one I had with the fine folks at Paramount over a single word in a story or novel and just shake my head. The people I worked with were great, but in hindsight, the conversations were darned funny.
Hummm. This sounds so familiar — wasn’t it something I heard back at the Character Workshop in April? Great post.
Just so you know, one of the many reasons I jumped into fiction was to avoid having to spend 10-15 years researching before writing… like I did for Homespun. I want to write… and write some more.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t do research — as Dean can tell you, the analytical side of my brain is pretty demanding and wants to get it right — out of respect for my readers and so that I can release the creative side without the restrictions of doubt.
The other wonderful side of fiction, as Dean pointed out so clearly, is that it is fiction. You can make it up. The canvas is bigger, broader, and more open to creative storytelling without the encumbrances that are normal and certain appropriate in nonfiction.
I used about 10% of the total research I did for my last novel. That’s about average for everything I write, if I’m writing it in this world. If for another world, then I usually writes tons of world bible stuff, which I also never use. I try to use it all, but most of it usually gets cut. No one wants to read an encyclopedia.
It always cracks me up when I read about some writer who spent a year in France and Aruba “researching” his newest spy novel set in France and Aruba. I guess it helps your case with the IRS if you can wave a magazine interview in their face and say, see, this was a legitimate research expense!
Re: Mary and comments feature in word. I use this all the time. Note to self – go back and fill this in later.
Also use them when I have a carefully translated phrase in another language (including made-up languages), the exact English meaning of which I will probably forget in a few months. So I put the English translation in a comment.
@Steve – I remember that episode! Quite a clever story, IIRC. I always did like Batman: the Animated Series.
Several points:
1) Firearms & Fiction, fantastic. I’ve used in half my books since I took it.
2) Quick tip for missing factoid while writing. I throw down a pair of square brackets []. I used to throw the question mark between them [?] or even a note [?gun make], but learned those were wasted keystrokes. When I’m done writing, or my brain’s fried and I want to do something else, like research, I just do a search on “[” because I’d never use it anywhere else.
3) As an add on to “write what you know.” Pay attention to your recreational reading, and write what interests you. A major element of many of my books came out of some book I’d picked up for fun. Biosphere II in Arizona became a space habitat. A book on Druid’s became the magic structure for a post-apocalytica. A book on…
Thanks for writing this whole site. I found it…I’m telling this bedtime story to my boys. And- I do research. I didn’t at first. I set the story on the complete other side of the world, and then they went to school and looked up where the action was happening in an atlas. So, now, between plot point days, I read to them from other books, so they know I know what I’m talking about.
What’s scary is I mentioned that I was now having to do this extra work for a bedtime story, and my friend, the very published author, asked “what happened next?” like he cared. And then I mentioned the story to some other people, and now I’m emailing people updates on this shaggy dog bedtime story. Which means I have readers, I guess. Their friends’ mothers are asking, too, what happened each day. I’ve always loved books, and it looks like a story is getting told, and may end up a book if I’m not too scared to write it down. and I do have to do things like point out- it’s a bedtime story. for preteen boys. so it is moralistic, and fairy-tale- ish. And, it’s for boys- beheadings are good, dragons are better, becoming king is best.
it feels like I’m telling a secret, though, which is scary. or someone could read it like a diary, and then make fun of me. or criticize it as wrong backwards and forwards. it’s scary. or, it’s foolish and unworldly and odd and unsuccessful. or has pimples.
Very interesting. I have the opposite problem, so I’ve stopped writing stories that I think should be researched. I tried to write a pirate novel during the actual historical era of pirates, but I didn’t do enough research, so the whole thing was really bland and uninspiring. I hated writing it. I’m thinking of taking the basic idea and writing a pirate fantasy novel instead.
On the other hand, my field of expertise is foreign language, so there aren’t many stories that come out of that, at least not novels. It helps with foreign settings, though, and any kind of culture creation. Although at times I have spent too much time making up languages that I never use because that was before I started writing seriously, so I never got around to writing the novels the languages were for.
But yeah, usually I do too little research and then feel that my story is bland, even if I put in comments to research it later. Oh, and when I do do research ahead of time (not during, which is, if anything, a quick Google), it often gives me new and interesting plot ideas. So, sometimes research can be useful even if it doesn’t make it into the story, at least from my experience.
Raven, As long as you are not making the research and excuse not to write, you’re doing great. Keep firing.
Cheers
Dean