Let's talk about research for fic

[lettered]

I once had a teleplay writing class in which we each had to write a script for Law and Order. You had to research, not only your crime, but odd details dealing with biology or David Bowie or NYC. Up 'til then, I'd never really researched for a story. Right after that class I had a creative writing class in which we had to write a fiction short story based on a subject we researched. I noticed the research stories were significantly better than the stories we wrote first, which were non-researched based.

So, I'd learned my lesson. Research, even when you don't use it, can be felt. The weight of it can be there, making your story feel more real and you as an author more knowledgeable and thus, trustworthy. (The downside of it is research can be over-used, and the paragraphs about how chariots work feel like, "look I did research!". Or misused: spotty research on some stuff - good writing + sensational best seller techniques - making sense = Dan Brown.)

But apparently, I had not yet learned research = good for ALL writing. My first Jossverse fic was set in NYC, and although I did some spot-checking type research, my research wasn't thorough enough to make sense to . . . say, someone who'd actually been to NYC (alleynyc pointed that out and helped, and a2zmom still is). I've found since I've started researching for fic, though, that the research is almost as fun as the writing. Doing the canon research necessary just brings back my love for the shows, and doing other kinds of research makes me feel all smart and know-y. So I figure hey, maybe other people feel the same way. Or not.


I. Canon research. Return to canon, by watching eps, reading transcripts, and looking at various web sites about canon (such as the Buffy Dialogue Database and the Buffy Trivia Guide).
A. Refresher course. If I'm doing something like reworking a scene I always go reread the scene to remember what happened.
B. Dialogue snatching. Sometimes I use dialogue directly from canon. (I try to credit the episode when I do this).
C. Detail scoping. For times when you need a book on demonology or a pair of shoes Buffy owns. (This is when something like a trivia guide comes in handy).
D. Voice research. I almost always read transcripts right before I write dialogue so a character's voice is fresh in my mind. Sometimes I make note of how things are phrased (Faith uses a lot of cliches) or words that often get used (a lot of Willow's insults/ pet names feel out of the fifties) etc.

II. Misc. fact research. All the details you might or might not need to write a good story.
A. Voice research. Sometimes writing a character's voice requires knowing how they talk where they're from (for Faith I researched Boston-talk), their profession/passion (for Fred I'd look up some physics, Xander some comics), their style of speech (for Dru I read both the Bible and nursery rhymes). spiralleds had a cool post about researching pop culture references (for characters in Buffyverse. You can't write a good Buffy or Xander or Cordelia without pop culture references. Which is why Cordy's, "Who's Colin Farrell?" line is the MOST TRAGIC LINE IN THE HISTORY OF TV.)
B. Location research. Everything from where what buildings are (a2zmom continually beats me over the head on this one) to the flora and fauna in a city I don't live in. Then, if anything takes place in buildings I've never been in, like a jail or monastery or NYC's Macy's, I research those too (or get a2zmom to do on-site research ;o)
C. Translations. Latin, German, Spanish, Klignon. I can't speak 'em so I go elsewhere to find 'em.
D. Plot-level research. If a story hinges on something technical or medical, or a specific time period or place, I make sure to read up. This is the most obvious form of research, something that a lot of people do, I think. (Has anyone found out about Angeusl and Spike and the opium and CORSETS? kthx.)
E. Itty bitty detail research. Because sometimes you just need to know the average length of a penis (har har, itty bitty detail) or the tensile strength of a human hair. Once, I spent two hours searching for what restaurant plates are made of--you know those resaurant plates, the kind that feel both ceramic but the really cheap kind of ceramic? I wanted a technical word, a word that would pop! out at you, and "ceramic" wasn't doing it for me. (I never found a poppier word, though.)

III. Style research.
(all of these are mostly the same thing.)
A. Inspiration. For instance, I read this book where all the words felt new and really seemed to stand out, and I wondered how the author did it. I noticed that instead of just saying something like "fabric" or "cotton" he'd use a specific, almost technical word, like "faille". I thought it'd be interesting to try, so I spent hours looking for a more specific word for ceramic.
B. Instruction. If I were to write a piece with a lot of dialogue or meaning beneath the words I'd read Vonnegut's Long Walk to Forever or Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants to see how they did it.
B. Emulation. Sometimes I wonder if this is cheating. It's a more direct stealing then the two above. When I am writing a letter to someone important I want to sound official, but also dry, witty, and fun--so I go read Jane Austen and try to bring as much as her tone as I can into my own writing. To me this isn't any kind of plagarism, as her voice naturally becomes my own when I steal it for myself, as long as I don't take exact words and phrases.

[Poll #700205]

I'd love to hear more from you all. For instance, if you do what I'm calling "style research", what have you read to "get in the mood," and in order to write what? (For instance, in Bodiless Within the Bodies, I wanted the Tibet part to have long sentences, in a flowing style, with something distinctly Eastern in tone, so I picked up Hesse's Siddartha again and read a few pages. I don't think I was successful in capturing the tone I wanted, but I definitely think Hesse helped.) And what sites do you normally go to for canon research, besides Buffyworld and the ones listed above? What about translations, maps, details, pop culture, et al? Furthermore, how do you organize all these links? Do you keep them forever, create temp folders for the stories you're writing, or just flit through the sites and hope you'll never have to see them again?

Any crazy research story about spending hours trying to find what a restaurant plate might be made of? Any stories about how someone in fandom took you aside and said, "look kid, research?" Any stories about how much you love/loathe/fear research, and why?

That's it. Discuss.

Comments

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

I started writing fic for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation which involved me calling my sister (a forensic scientist) after the long distance rates went down on several separate occasions to ask things like "Do identical twins have the same fingerprints?" (they don't) and "If an alligator bled all over a zoo exhibit, is there any way you'd be able to find a human blood sample if there was one there?" (you'd have to get *really* lucky, which of course they did). I bought a map of Las Vegas and spent a lot of time on a CSI message board to make sure my characters sounded right.

From there I moved to Lord of the Rings, which required a different, more fandom based research and then to Angel, which required me to learn some *very* odd things.

Finally, there was Stargate, and a story I wrote called "Harceisis". THe story itself is terrible (I was fairly new to writing at the time), but the research is a work of art. Basically, when writing for CSI you could whatever you wanted, it just had to be solvable. In Angel, you could do whatever you wanted but you had to explain in with some sort of demon or spell. Stargate takes it one step further: you can do whatever you want, but you have to tie it into Earth's history. "Harceisis" was great because it follows what I am doing in school, and sometimes the real world and the fictional one overlap in some lovely places.

After Harceisis, I have written only one big story, and it as more medically and less historically based. Again, it was back to research, and I asked nurses and doctors and the internet a bunch of questions.

I suppose then that I do all three types of research (my style is mostly adapted from authors that I like and I often write short fics to get into a chracter's head). I always find it hilarious when I ask something like "If you're allergic to penicillin and you need penicillin, what do you take?" and then have to explain that it's for a story and people look at you funny.

For me, the hunt is at least as good as the catch. I love it when history or the real world fits into the world I am trying to build.

Excellent entry, by the way. I am here via metafandom.

[tkp.livejournal.com]

Thank you for joining in!

If an alligator bled all over a zoo exhibit, is there any way you'd be able to find a human blood sample

Hahahaha! Now that's one I'd like to read.

Angel, which required me to learn some *very* odd things.

Oh, don't I know it. I now know all about the chemicals released when small rodent animals feel "fear", and I also know Hal Jordan's (the second Green Lantern's) dying words. *cough*

Stargate takes it one step further: you can do whatever you want, but you have to tie it into Earth's history. "Harceisis" was great because it follows what I am doing in school, and sometimes the real world and the fictional one overlap in some lovely places.

Oh, how interesting! I love it when the research I'm doing connects to something I'm doing in school. Ok, back when I was in school, that is. But still. It's fun when you can bring real knowledge and real experience into writing.

and then have to explain that it's for a story and people look at you funny.

Ha! This happens to me a lot. Though I try not to tell people it's for a story, especially if the question is so odd that it will lead to the question, "What's the story about?" Because "dead gay men getting it on" is just so difficult to explain to those who don't get it.