Research: Help or Hindrance?
This is a 763 page book on the history of Great Britain in the 1930s.
That's a thick book.
I bought it years ago in preparation for writing a novel. I felt I needed this background information in order to write an accurate story.
Did I mention I was writing historical fantasy for 10 year olds?
When it comes to research, our brains can convince us we must know All. The. Things. We have to be prepared. We must be experts on our topic, or else risk being called out as a fraud.
Or course this leads to research overwhelm, paralysis, and thoughts of ‘who am I to write this book?’. If you’re not careful you’ll find yourself awake at 1:00am researching advanced degrees in obscure histories.
But there’s a solution to research overkill: wait until you’ve written your first draft.
Here’s another revelation about my book. I thought it was going to include lots of electricity. As in, the villain was going to harness electricity to carry out his evil plan. I spent time researching electricity and municipal electrical systems, thinking about how it might be used, and ultimately… not using electricity at all.
I finished the first draft of my novel two weeks ago, and instead of 1930s history and electricity, it turns out I need to research canals and locks instead. Who knew?!
And that’s the point. There was no way I could have known that at the beginning of the writing process.
Most of the research I did beforehand turned out to be unhelpful for writing my novel. But now that I have a completed draft, and I understand where the gaps in my knowledge are, I can strategically research only what will be useful.
I understand the urge to do loads of research before you begin writing. It feels like necessary preparation, like due diligence. But until you know specifically what information will be useful to you, it is easy to get lost down the rabbit hole of knowledge.
Rather than compile pages of notes and then try to craft a story around that information, we need to create a story that works and then fit our research to match.
If you feel you absolutely must research before you begin writing your novel, here are some ways to keep it from getting out of hand:
Acknowledge that you know more about your subject than you realize. Because you do. You’ve read a book or article, learned a tidbit on Jeopardy, picked up information here and there because you are a curious person.
Do some ‘soft’ research. Watch a movie, such as a period drama set in the time and place you’ll be writing about. Don’t take a lot of notes, just observe. Let it confirm what you already know, and plant some curiosity seeds to look into later. (Like, later later.)
Trust your ability to pivot. If you make a few assumptions and they turn out to be wrong, trust that you can massage your manuscript during revision so that the story still works.
Okay, I’ve shared my research missteps, now it’s your turn! What’s the strangest thing you’ve done in the name of researching for a novel, and was it worth it? Let me know in the comments!