Doing Your Research

As I sit crying over the article that I just lost. I realize I have been given a unique chance to talk about something that everyone really needs to do when working on their story. And that is research. It is something that noone can get away from. To do the work that we do it requires a certain level information that we have to have to spin the stories that we do. There is so much information out there that it’s almost impossible to tell a convincing story without information. It is a vital key to turning out stories from good to amazing.

There is so much responsiblity that goes into creating soemthing that will be in print. Once it’s out, it’s out. You have no idea how popular your book will be, or how wide spread it will go. It is on you to represent different types of people without presenting sterotypes. It is the responsbility of the writer to not enforce negative sterotypes. There is no one that that is true across the board. So socially writers carry the onus of creating a world where everything is possible.

When writing your story you need to know how things work. As a pantser I am constantly writing on the go. My ideas come fast and annoyingly as I go through this thing called life. As I write I have to make sure that I go back during the rewrite and make sure that everything works. If I have a flying camel, then I need to make sure what wait the camel is before they take flight. If I have a swashbuckeling polar bear then I need to be able to describe sword fighting styles. This makes the improbability of a polar bear holding a sword believeable.

Research also gives you ways to bring your reader into the story. It takes a plain sentence like “A ice cream cart drove into the woods.” Into “It was a beautiful fall morning in Texas as the ice cream truck rambled down unpaved roads. There was a mix of leaves and the horizon was a wash of greens and golds. The air was warm , but much cooler then hundred degree days they had been having.” Fall looks different in Texas then it does in New England. Rural ares often have unpaved streets, and it doesnt stop anyone from going down them. Without out research you would assume that Texas is a vast desert, and that it’s only an hour drive between Houston and Dalls. Research makes your story realistic. It makes your story possible.

While paticipating in the art form that is our it’s important to represent the world realistically no matter how unbelievable that world is. We need to explain it in a way that makes the impossible possible. If your page is the canvas, and the pen is your brush. Then research is the paints that bring your art to life.

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