Bookwriters And Novelists Forum Researching

I think research is very important. I generally write about the things I know but I never fully completely a story without doing a little research on the subject matter. It also helps in times of writers block. It's definitely a key factor.

I research for projects as I need to. For example, whenever I write a book about a vampire, I wouldn't research how vampire act (because I can make that up myself) whereas I would research what kind of names I would use for a vampire. Instead of naming a 500-year-old Connie, which was popular around the 1950's, I would name them Isabella, Elizabeth, Valentino, or something that originated hundreds of years ago. To do that, I would have to research the names, where they came from, and so on. So I mostly research as I see the need, and of course during editing to make sure none of my facts are wrong.

I could have save myself a lot of time and frustration by researching a lot of things I took for granted when I started writing.  Since I'm currently writing in a fantasy setting, I started out a little lazy with some details, and then found that haunted me as learned more about the subjects of diet, armament, social structure, were sometimes a little different than the stereotypes I'd let myself believe.  Also, it can be pretty fun to research and incorporate that knowledge into a character, setting, or society you've created - I just wish I had more time to do it!

I think researching is VERY important. Otherwise you could really screw something up. I only research if its something I really need and I don't know much about it.

I always research. Depending on what I'm writing depends on what form the research takes. For my latest novel, I'm hitting the history books in my home town and even hassling local historians. But for others, even just going to a gig and observing the way people behave is research. 

I think that not only is research  important to creating a good story and makes we the author sound like we know what we are talking about but I know that for me researching makes me feel smarter and better informed about what ever it is that I am writing about.