Researching for Your Next Story

 

Ahhh, the rabbit hole that is researching your next story. But it's fun, isn't it?

I'm currently working on two very different stories and with them comes a whole bucket full of research, so for this month's post, I'll talk a little bit about how I go about gathering the information I use in my stories.  

World Building

The world that your story takes place in is worth the time it takes to build it up. Your environment will depend a lot on the genre/story problem you're working with, so keep that in mind as you research. 

If you're writing a story set in the 15th Century, make sure you don't accidentally give them a cellphone. Google searches are a great tool to get familiar with clothing, technology, food, and so much more depending on what kind of world you're writing. 

Personally, I am a total sucker for mythology. This means that I spend a lot of time reading about strange things happening in regular places. So when I sit down to write a new story, I tend to mix pieces of mythology into a real-world setting. 

Character Building

Once I have the general world idea, I work on my main character. I usually figure out the physical details once I have a basic motivation because it's easier for my brain to fill in the person that belongs to the motivation instead of the other way around.

I love name generators for character names. Sometimes if I'm feeling stuck, I'll look at names and think of faces that I think would match them. Other times, I'll look through google image searches for physical description ideas. 

Once I have the basic description and the motivation, I usually grab my writer's thesaurus and research emotions and their manifestations so that I can get right into drafting. 

Don't Go Too Far With Research

As much fun as researching in, try to only research what you need to write. 

What this means, is that I break my researching time into chunks so that I don't get too distracted and forget to actually write the story. 

There are definitely times when I'm in a writing mood, so rather than stopping to research a name for something or specific detail, I'll add in a placeholder and keep going. 

On the flip side, sometimes I have no motivation to write so I'll spend some time researching to get myself excited about the story again. Writing is a balancing game.

Until next time, happy writing!