Researching Your Story--A Four-Step Method

Research is essential to authentic, believable fiction. However, this isn’t to say that the author who does the most research writes the best book. So how do you know how much research is enough, and when should it be done? Read on to learn my personal four-step method of researching a novel.

This post was originally written for publishingcrawl.com before I wrote the Ivory and Bone duology, which required a ton of research. Updates to the post that are based on my experience writing Ivory and Bone and Obsidian and Stars are set in italics, so you can see what I learned from researching for those books.

Unless you’re writing a book about your own life, chances are you’ll have to do some sort of research before you can say your novel is finished. (Even if your book IS about your own life, you’ll probably have to refer to your family albums, at the very least!) Historical settings, legal proceedings, and medical conditions are just a few examples of story components that would require research. The object of this post is to suggest a strategy for research that will provide the authentic details you need without bogging you down in the process.

Step 1 – Make notes about the factual issues that you will need to research.

What will you need to learn to ensure that your story is authentic and appropriate for its genre? (I mention genre here because some genres have higher standards for accuracy than others. A “police procedural” mystery will require far more exacting details than would a contemporary fiction that includes an arrest in the plot.)

Once you’ve made a list of topics and facts you will need to research, divide it into two categories—“big picture” and “important details.”

“Big picture” knowledge is the information you need as you create the over-arching idea behind your novel and start your first draft. Examples would be:

• In pre-Columbus North America, were horses a part of daily life?

• Would a heart transplant be an option for a pregnant woman?

• How long does DNA evidence last at a crime scene?

What qualifies an issue to be in the “big picture” category is the fact that it is at the heart of your story and essential for your concept to make sense. For instance, if your novel is about a crime that was committed aboard the Titanic, and how it is solved in the present day by the use of DNA evidence, you need to take the time to research these facts at the outset. What you learn about DNA evidence will have a huge impact on the course of your novel.

Update based on research for the Ivory and Bone series: At this stage, my list of “big picture” information I needed to write the book was extensive. I needed to know everything about how people would have lived near the end of the last ice age—what did they eat, how did they hunt, what were their shelters made of, how many people lived together, what did they wear, etc. I needed to learn so much, I decided to read a textbook on the earliest people to reach the North American continent. That reading gave me knowledge, but also opened up more questions and led me to even more reading.

Step 2 – Attack the “big picture” issues and gain knowledge about the facts that will help form the spine of your story.

If you know that there is an area of study that is a major component to your plot, investigate that area as you form the seed of your story. If your story is set in Vietnam during the war, study up on the geography, the politics, and the people. If your story is about an astronaut who makes an error that threatens to kill his entire crew, get an understanding of space missions and how they are structured and staffed.

Update based on the research I did for the Ivory and Bone duology: I can attest that doing research into the underpinnings of your story can spark additional story ideas. To write about prehistory, I had to do enough research to confirm that my story idea made sense in the neolithic world. What I hadn’t realized before I dove into that research was that I would learn things about that time period that would spark plot and character development ideas. I didn’t just find a foundation for the setting of my story, I discovered challenges and obstacles that existed in that setting that ultimately made my story more exciting.

Step 3 – Firm up your concept and dive into your first draft.

This is why you divided that list from Step 1 into two categories. The second category—“important details”—can be put aside for now. I’m not saying that you won’t have to look up those questions and answers eventually.  What I am saying is that you don’t need to know every detail of life in revolutionary France before getting started writing your rough draft. Authentic details will be required before you turn in your final draft, but you shouldn’t let research prevent you from getting started. If one of your characters lights a candle to read by, and you find out later that gas lamps had replaced candles ten years before your story takes place, that detail can be fixed in the revisions stage.

Update based on the research I did for the Ivory and Bone duology: My draft was done before I researched the topics on my “important details” list. This list included things like what greens, fruits, roots, etc, they would have gathered and how those foods would have been incorporated into their diets, what grasses grew in that area that may have been used for baskets, how primitive people would have tanned a hide, what they might have used to waterproof their clothing, etc. Those details were added in during revision.

Step 4 – Firm up the details and make your revisions.

This step is where you need to add accuracy. What kind of gun would a pirate have used? Did matches exist or would the main character light a wick from the fireplace? How long did it take to travel from Glasgow to London by carriage in 1814?  Now that you have your first draft down, you can take the time to get the facts straight without interrupting the flow of your writing.

Update based on researching for Ivory and Bone: As I stated above, this is where I dropped in references to specific species of plants that could have been used for food or household items, what various stones might have been used for spearheads, etc. These details show up a lot in the finished books and are essential to making them richer and more authentic, but weren’t essential to getting the first drafts on paper.

Do you do a lot of research for your writing? What process do you use? Do you have any ideas to add to the above? I look forward to reading your comments.

If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy my post on Creating Characters who Keep Secrets.