Prepared by: Rhéal Nadeau
Posted on: Sun, 28 Oct 2001
Revised and reposted on: Sun, 17 Oct 2004
This is the long-term version of the "Look
it up" exercise
(
http://www.internetwritingworkshop.org/pwarchive/pw43.shtml
)
One of the writing "rules" we writers run
into is "Write what you
know".
Certainly, as a reader, there is nothing more jarring than running into
a
blatant piece of incorrect information in a book - it can weaken, or
even
totally destroy, the suspension of disbelief required by the act of
reading. On
the other hand, good research adds depth and detail to a story, making
it more
interesting and more believable.
Some writers find this rule discouraging -
as if it would limit what
they can
write about. As a male, for example, can I never attempt to write from
the
point of view of a woman, though I have not experienced directly what
it's like
to be a woman?
I like to turn the rule around: Know what
you write. And what is
knowledge? It
is the sum of what we have learned, in various ways: what I have
experienced
directly, what I have heard others tell me, what I have researched (in
books or
in the field).
Dick Francis gives us a good example of
that. Before he started to
write, he
was a jockey (and a highly successful one at that.) So when he began to
write,
he wrote about jockeys and about the horse racing world - he wrote what
he
knew. But he did not stop there. As his writing career progressed, he
started
to write about people in different professions or walks of life: about
a
banker, a wine merchant, an actor, a survivalist, and so on. In each
case, he
did enough research (assisted, we have since learned, by his wife) to
get
enough knowledge: he made sure he knew what he wrote about.
(This example, by the way, demonstrates
that research is just as
important for
fiction as for non-fiction.)
To me, experiencing something other than
my day-to-day life is a
major
attraction of reading - and of writing.
This exercise, then, is about research -
something all writers
should be
familiar with (but many writers, myself included, are weak on). And
because
research on anything of real interest can hardly be completed within
the short
time frame of our exercises, this will be an exercise in two parts.
Do some research on some topic applicable
to a story you are working
on or
would like to write, or just something you feel you could learn more
about.
Make sure to pick a topic with which you're not already familiar. You
can
search the web (all writers should have a favourite search engine and
experience in searching - my favourite search engine is at
http://www.google.com),
go to the library, consult someone more knowledgeable
in that area (most people are happy to share their knowledge when asked
- as
long as they have the time to do so, of course.) Ideally, you should
seek more
than one source of information (if only to make sure the information
you get is
reliable - but also to give a broader base of information.)
Remember that good research is creative.
Think about who might have
knowledge
to share, and how you might ask them to do so. Think of potential
learning
experiences - if your interest is in a building trade, for example,
your local
harware store might have free demonstrations, or be able to point you
to some.
Don't let this take over your life, but
look for more information
(maybe
reading a book or two on the topic, for example), and in particular,
for more
direct experience. For example, if my topic was caves, I might make
arrangements to visit a nearby cave to see what it's really like -
something I
can't really learn from books, or even from talking to experts.
(Be careful, of course - don't blindly
rush into caverns without
assistance;
don't try to interview drug users unless you can find a safe way to do
so, and
so on. Some topics can only be *really* experienced with significant
personal
risk - in those cases, it's best to rely on second-hand sources of
information.)
At any time until the exercise is
terminated, you can post your
methods and
results (no more than 1500 words - we don't need to know everything
you've
learned, just the broad outlines of what you did and found out.)
Clearly label your submission as: Sub:
Long-term research (Your
Name)
Critiques should be labelled: Crit:
Long-term research (Author's
Name)
Would you like to discuss the long-term
research exercise? Use the
subject
header: DISC: Long-term research
(After the exercise is terminated, you can
still post an offer,
briefly
describing what you're offering and labelling it as:
Offer: Long-term research (Your Name)
You can then send the text, and receive
critiques, privately.)
Have fun!
Rhéal Nadeau
Web site created by
Rhéal Nadeau and
the administrators of the Internet Writing Workshop.
Modified by Gayle Surrette.