Research – Do You Like Doing It?…

i LOVE reading!

i will read almost anything, in English (German takes me too long and Mandarin is too hard now that i’ve left it behind decades ago), with the exception of very theoretical stuff like Chaos Theory.

When i did History, Geography and Literature in school, subjects where research is important, i was in heaven! i also enjoyed reading all of the research i had to do for my thesis when i was at university.

So now that i’m writing a novel, it seems strange that i’m a little reluctant to do some research. It’s not the having to do all the reading that is making me hesitant, it’s the time it takes and how easily distracted i get following one link to the next to the next and beyond BUT…

… research is important!

i have just finished listing my scenes and “interviewing” all of my major characters and think i’m ready to start writing proper. However, there were a few points which came up in the “interviews” which should really be researched on. They are not major plot points but they relate directly to the characters involved and could very well influence things like dialogue.

Then i read Do the Write Thing and now i have decided i should do the research!

Because who knows, it just might be my novel which unexpectedly blows Dan Brown out of the literary waters and (i’m) suddenly swamped with speaking or blogging requests*, i don’t wanna be caught out on a few poorly researched points…

So anyone knows how to put a few more hours into the very short 24 we have been given a day so i can get all these research done? 😉

Do you research details of the story you are writing? Do you like doing research? How do you do your research? Internet? Go old-school – at the library?

syc

*orange text is quoted from Do the Write Thing. i am grateful for the inspiration and encouragement from The Write Practice blog.