I've gone over the downsides of starting from scratch, as well as the advantages of not, but any writer who's worked in speculative fiction within the confines of a real-world frame knows that it has its own dark, looming specter:
Research.
To write in the real world, you first need to know the real world, and that means more than a five-minute Wikipedia search. If you want fiction to be unique and compelling, that requires finding something new and different within the world we all live in every day.
Unfortunately, with the Internet reporting on every compelling story as it breaks, the world of the 'new' is shrinking. That means you have to dig, and digging means dirty hands and aching shoulders.
You get the idea.
But if you find writing to be work enough, it's hard to have the energy left for something as in-depth and action-bereft as research. It instantly conjures up imagery of long nights in the dark corners of a dusty library hoping to beat a deadline for the coming morning's class.
Research is reading but without all the fun. It's the very antithesis of the type of writing you're trying to do: it's uncollated, unorganized, scattered and buried amidst pages upon pages of dry, unentertaining text. Like the Silmarillion.
...Okay, that was low, I admit it.
But there are ways to make research into something less than an exercise in personal torture:
1. Look for stories, not just figures.
That means not just looking at the disease but looking at those who have it, looking at those who've studied it, or where it all began. It means not just looking at the chemical reaction but all the factors that can impact it, imaging the lab around it and the poor, sleep-deprived grad student who made the discovery by accident.
Stretching the story beyond the numbers not only makes it a more interesting read, it can help you arrange what seem like stranded pieces at first into one coherent series of causal events. Even better: the very same scenes you dream up to piece together the facts and figures can easily turn into scenes in your finished work.
2. You're not paid by the citation.
Don't go overboard. Most stories only need one thing to stray off the beaten path to create a new and difference sense of adventure.
A good rule of thumb is to have one true-but-obscure element per major pivot point in the story. In many stories, that means one to two at the most, in others, three or four. Either way, you're not needing to unearth miles upon miles of data. Find two or three zingers and build off of how they react to a hypothetical environment. You'll save yourself a great deal of work, and avoid risking having your reader sit through an accidental dissertation just to get it all in print.
3. If you have to be certain, ask a human being.
People can often answer your questions faster (and more completely) than any Google search. If you're finding a lot of scattered references or aren't sure the pieces fit the way you think, find someone in the field and ask. Even a quick email will suffice (though beware of forums, where wild conjecture abounds).
And remember, if you do find an expert who helps you make a breakthrough with the work in any way, be sure to credit them.
4. Don't stop at "it can't be done."
The trouble with research is that it's much more often responsible for shattered dreams than uplifted ones. The very reason we so often crave fiction is that fact, for many of us, is often secondary to what we can imagine.
What that means is that you should expect your research to nullify and otherwise block many of your original designs. It isn't enough to know that it can't be done: understand why.
Not only will the answer likely lead you to another solution (or at least help you avoid running into a similar dead-end), the very search for that answer can make for compelling dialog inside the work itself.
Have your characters follow the same patterns (possibly in reverse) searching for an explanation; for the source. The resulting red herrings not only provide added suspense and drive for the characters, they also create a more complete perspective on the research you've done to assure more critical readers that you've considered all possibilities.
5. You're never going to please everybody.
The more obscure the data, the better the chance for conjecture and misconception. Somewhere, somehow, someone will disagree no matter how much research you do. In fact, the more facts you bring together, the higher the chance someone will claim you haven't any basis in fact at all.
Aim for your majority audience, and don't sweat the minor details. When you're satisfied that the major pivot points have been verified, it's time to get to writing. If you're not sure that the historical or scientific pieces fit together the way they do in your head, have a friend read over your work once it's done. I reiterate, do this always.
Lastly, remember that you're writing a story, not a doctoral thesis. Fanboys aside, there's only so much work you can put in before it's time to focus on the parts of the story that will make it engaging and entertaining for everybody.
And that's a fact.
No comments:
Post a Comment