As some of you may have seen on my author page, I spent a good chunk of time earlier this week researching dresses. That’s right, I got to browse through all of my favorite clothing sites in search of evening gowns all in the name of my story. The result was my characters ended up impeccably well-dressed and in exactly the right clothes for the opera they are now attending. Which opera is it? That’s what I’m researching today…
Let’s glaze over the time lapse between choosing their dresses and choosing the opera and skip right to the point: research can be awesome. We all have those things that we love to search for online: fashion, food, tech, celebrity gossip, you name it. And when you’re browsing these things for a cause, it feels even more rewarding. Instead of pinning a vacation location you want to visit some day, you can pin the actual places your characters have been. I have boards of books my Untold cast have read, actors and actresses I could see portraying them, the places they spent their time, and even the clothes we can find in their closets. Keeping up with visual representations of the world you’re creating definitely helps make the whole thing more 3-dimensional, but it’s important not to get so caught up in the details and prep that you don’t actually end up writing.
And what about the research that you don’t want to do? I’ll admit, it’s hard to look up the things that don’t come naturally to me. While creating the EA I was taken out of my comfort zone time and time again as I searched for details that would bring the environmental group to life. Their missions, attitudes, and even locations around the world changed time and time again. At first, I would resist each change, thinking that what I had was good enough, and not wanting to swim out of my depth into the water of the unknown again. But as time progressed, I found myself becoming more and more interested in the group, and began to get my legs for the kind of work they were doing.
I remember reading a book last year that featured a character who spent his time drawing birds. The details of this man’s work were incredible. I heard about the way that a certain species’ wings would spread, which kind of birds I could find at a specific beach in Wales, and even about what their skeletons looked like. I was impressed with the author’s precision, so when I came to the interview in the back, I looked for the question that I was certain someone would ask: How do you know so much about drawing birds? Her answer: I took a class.
If you want your characters to be convincing, you have to put in the legwork. Do the research on what part of Canada is working to extract minerals in a clean and sustainable way, and pay attention to exactly how it’s done. Take classes on birds, talk to people who work in different industries, browse the internet for blogs that you would have never otherwise read. Do this even if it’s something that your protagonist doesn’t entirely understand. Knowledge is power, and I think every writer hopes that his or her story will make an impact. So go and develop your world, but be sure to include everything, not just the outfits that are the most fun to research. And remember, while it’s excellent to stockpile books and folders full of notes, you do, at some point, have to start writing.
— Amy
Katie’s Halloween Costume. Lots of fun finding this one 🙂