The Importance of doing Research for your story

When we were in school and we had to write a paper or an essay about something, we had to do our research. We had to go to the library (eek!) and get books on the subject. Why? Because if we wouldn’t, we’d get a bad grade and the teacher would tell us that we’re idiots who just strung a few words together in the hope it made sense.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve bullshitted my way through high school and college and wished I had done things differently. Hell, I wish I had done everything differently but hey, can’t travel back in time and fix it so. Let’s move on.

Here’s a question; if you’re used to doing research for papers and essays, why won’t you do it for writing stories?

(If you’ve answered that with that you’re too old to remember what it was like in high school and college… come on. You remember. You just don’t want to admit it.)

More often than not, when I’m writing stories I have at least ten tabs open with information that I need to write stories. Sure, a few of those tabs are wikipedia pages for the fandom I write in at that point, as they serve as my memory, but most of them are research based. Or google maps, to see where something is.

Research is for everyone.

Even if you have to research the tiniest thing such as the make and model of your character’s car, or how to describe architecture or body language. Or for the bigger things like mental health issues (because you’ve decided it’s cool to write about it), domestic violence, abuse, etc. Especially do research when writing about different cultures or a character having mental health issues in case you accidentally offend someone!

Because if you do your research, you’ll also have more to work with in your stories and make them better. That’s right. Better. You can draw readers in with the tiniest details. If you can show, through writing, that you know what you’re writing about, readers will know it too.

You need to know facts about certain things to make it work. I mean, if you’re writing something that’s set during Victorian times and you start writing about the internet… come on. [insert eye rolling here]

Oh, I may sound like a complete twat right now, but I don’t care. It’s okay if you get something wrong when writing stuff, only if it happens sporadically and not that your story is a consistent failure in describing something with the wrong details.

The problem with me is that I know a little about a lot (and if I want to know more, I look it up, but that’s beside the point). So if I read something that I just know isn’t right and I tell you that it’s not right with the information to back up my claim, I usually get the response;  “It’s my story, my readers love it so FUCK YOU.”

I’m sorry, I know it’s your story and that your readers love it but that’s not an excuse to come across as a dumb person. And if no one has bothered to speak up about your inaccuracies, then I doubt their observation skills.

Just because you’re out of high school, doesn’t mean you can’t learn new things. It doesn’t mean you can’t put in the hours to research something.

The fun part about doing research is that you don’t even have to be writing a story, you can research for future stories! For example, I have a bookmark folder called ‘writing’ and I have various links on ‘how to’. How to do stuff. Such as writing traumatic injuries, or write about drug abuse or abuse in general.

Yes, I know, writing is a lot of work and you mostly do it for fun, so why bother doing the research? It fits in the story so who cares, right? RIGHT?!

Wrong. Do you care about the quality of your story or what? Do you care about the realism of your fanfiction? (Yes, I know fanfiction isn’t real.) Research doesn’t only benefit you, but it also benefits your reader. With tiny details, or big details, you can make the words come to life. It’s a great feeling when you get complimented on something you’ve worked into the story that others didn’t pick up, the details of your Irish pub or the way you’re handling your character’s demons or even the description of what it feels like to get shot/stabbed/bitten/scratched/etc or you know, details about your character’s hobby.

By knowing what you’re writing about (no matter the subject matter) you own your story and your readers will love it even more.

I’m here to help. Should you have something you want me to post about or want help in general, leave a message or chat me up on facebook! (I mean it, seduce me!)

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