Research – Bane or Boon?
For most authors the need to research is either a love or
hate relationship, at least in my experience. There are those writers, and I am
one of them, who feel that research is an integral part of telling a good
story. The old adage about writing what you know isn’t as cut and dried as it
can sometimes appear, but in the end, the more you know about your setting,
customs, political atmosphere, and simple geography can make your story go from
pop to fizz the moment someone spots the errors.
Realistically, we are none of us perfect storytellers, we
make allowances, take liberties with locale and language and a myriad of other
things. If you acknowledge those devices your readers will understand you are
taking creative license to tell your story, and if the story is one they like,
it’ll be forgiven. If you come across as simply too lazy or indifferent to
learn the layout of your world, those same readers will roast your artistic ass
until you cry. They will see it as an insult to their intelligence if you think
you can fool them, or worse, talk down to them by pretending it doesn’t matter.
It does. A lot!
The other side of this argument is that sometimes to make
the story work, to serve it best, you have to allow the imagination freedom.
Nothing in this world is etched in stone, except perhaps monuments. A creative
liberty that makes your story flow and thereby come to life with a bit of magic
and mystique, is certainly acceptable to readers and other authors. Research
will help you shape the mythos you need for your creation. That doesn’t mean
you get to reorganize the known world, but if you rearrange a distance in a
city to make your plot flow more smoothly, and you acknowledge that, you’re not
likely to get the citizens of that city ragging on your book telling you you’re
an idiot who can’t read.
Apart from making your story more authentic in tone,
research can often lead you to ideas you might never have entertained
otherwise. Often, it is in the small details of research that you find gems to
mine for your tale. Use them! Readers love the little details that flesh out a
story and make it zing. I’ve written a couple of novels in which the backdrop
was Victorian London of Jack the Ripper era. The murders are fascinating to
read about, even though they are of course gruesome in detail. However, if you
look at some of the facts, and marry it to the myth, you can find a wealth of
unrelated material upon which to base stories. That’s a reality for most
notorious events in history if you’re using them as a backdrop of any kind.
I’ve seen a lot of argument and discussion about “pantsters
vs. plotters” but nothing makes a stronger case for plotting than the research
you need for some stories. Historical books require realistic background, and
social rules of the day. Fantasy worlds need to be built from the ground up,
and that means you have to create religious cultures, political situations and
climates, if there are intrigues driving your storyline, they have to been
carefully presented and understood by your audience. ALL of this goes back to
research.
So, is the research a bane to your creative muse, or the
boon? That is as varied as the authors we read, but in my opinion only–you
can’t have a story that lives and breathes for people if you don’t do the
homework before you begin the writing process. The words flow better, like a
river, if they know what direction to go. Meandering might be fun for a while,
but too much of it gets you–and your readers–lost in a sea of confusion. And, that
gets both annoying and betraying to the audience that’s invested their time and
money into your ability to entertain them for a time. I think that’s a thing
worth consideration, and a bit of invested time on the part of writers who care
about their stories, and their readers. It’s a bit like a sacred trust to the
readers who return over and over to buy our books.
PIRATES
* Best-seller *
Three stories,
one kind of hero, pirates anyone? Includes the short stories:
Angel-Fire: A short intro to the world of Captain Jack
Stanton, an honourable man with a tarnished reputation. Stranded in Nassau,
caught up in a pleasant interlude with a barmaid, Jack has a vision that will
lead him to his past and his future, if he can survive to get back Tortuga to
discover what it all means…
Storm-Singer: The Isle of Nyx has become the dread of all
sailors who must dare the waters surrounding the mythical island. Local legends
say a vampire prince resides in the ancient castle that can be seen from the
harbor of the island. At his side is a powerful sorceress whose song can
control and summon storms.
In a desperate
attempt to end the eternal threat looming over them, the people of the Aurora
Islands sacrifice their greatest treasure, the princess Sarita, entrusting her
with the task of seducing and destroying the dark prince who has been
plundering their wealth and their people for centuries?
The Phantom’s
Lair: Upon her arrival in the pirate port of
Tortuga where her father is acting as Governor, Katheryn Hollinsworth is
determined to choose her own path, and follow her heart wherever it may take
her. On the streets of Puerta de la Plata, she encounters the mythical
buccaneer known as The Phantom, and very quickly loses her heart to the
handsome rogue.
Jack Stanton is a
man who has never fully come to terms with his past, and in the Governor's
pretty daughter he finds a most unlikely champion. But when his past threatens
her life, and any chance of a respectable future, The Phantom must face the
demons of his past, and accept the dictates of his own reawakened heart...
