Research

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

Recently, I started to research a new novel that I intend to write. Because the topic of the research is interesting, for me, I love doing it. Research shouldn’t be a chore, or a colossal amount of work.

There are several reasons for this. If you hate doing research on the topic you’ve chosen, you will avoid it, or do it as quickly as possible. And things done quickly often have mistakes, or misinterpretations. Obviously, if the research doesn’t get done because you avoided it, it will have glaring things wrong with it.

Another reason is that if your research is a chore, writing the book will be as well. Think of your time in school. As a student, you would’ve had to do some research for essays on topics that weren’t really all that interesting to you. Those essays were a lot harder to write than the ones on topics that interested you.

Writing should be fun, a reward almost. It shouldn’t become a chore, something you have to force yourself to do. If writing is becoming something you try to avoid, evaluate why. It could be that it doesn’t interest you. And what you aren’t interested in writing, your readers aren’t interested in reading. Now, that sounds like a bit of a blanket statement. Yes, there will be someone in the world who wants to read about what doesn’t interest you. That isn’t what I’m saying. If you aren’t interested in writing about something, you won’t put in the same care and effort for something that you are interested in.

Research is something that can benefit your book, if it is done right. For example, a historical fiction novel that doesn’t have any time put into researching it won’t be all that believable. A dystopian novel that has completely unrealistic technology and concepts in it won’t make sense. I think that one of the main things that makes a novel an escape is if it is believable. No one wants to escape somewhere unrealistic. Science fiction with an actual grounding in scientific technologies is, I would say, better than science fiction that is completely made up.

Research done wrong will harm your book. If you only visit sites that have one point of view, your book will display the same, possibly slanted, point of view. Research, and writing, should challenge you to walk in someone else’s shoes, should make your reader look at something from a point of view that they have never considered before. Writing is meant to challenge, to teach. Storytelling holds a lot of power. Too many writers abuse that power, or ignore it.

All writers need to remember that they have the potential to reach thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands (I’d say millions, but I don’t want to scare myself). Would you want to tell thousands of people the wrong thing? Integrity is also an essential part of writing. If you can’t stick to what you’ve written, how can you expect anyone else to take you seriously? Good research will help allow you to stick by your writing, especially if it’s true. No one wants to be connected to false research and obviously biased work.

So. Research should be something that you enjoy, because if it isn’t, you won’t do it to the same level that you have done other research to. If you don’t enjoy the research, you won’t enjoy writing. Research done right can be a huge benefit to you as an author, but if it is done wrong, you will hurt your book, and possibly your standing and integrity. No one wants to damage their own reputation. The importance of good research can’t be stressed enough.