Jerry B. Jenkins's Blog, page 32

My 3 Favorite Writing Research Tools

Do you have favorite go-to resources and research tools you rely on to take your writing to new  levels? My all-time favorites may seem obvious, but perhaps they’ll open a flood of creativity for you.

So here they are:

1. Atlas. That’s right, the big book on your history teacher’s desk—only now (thank goodness) atlases come digitally. I use a world atlas, primarily because my characters travel the globe, and for my fiction to be believable (read accurate), I have to know time zones, current country names, monetary units, typical weather patterns, and the like.

Atlases provide detailed maps, even street maps—crucial to realistic action scenes. But almanacs also tell the gross national products, tourism tidbits, and major industries and natural resources. In the Left Behind series, I set some scenes in Greece, a country I hadn’t yet visited. The almanac told me one of Greece’s natural resources was lignite. A couple of more keystrokes in Google showed me lignite is a type of coal used to generate electricity. I needed an occupation for a wealthy Greek. So he became a lignite magnate.

2. World Almanac. The online versions will relieve you of the tiny print in the paper copies and save you a ton of look-up time. World Almanacs list just about anything you could ever want for basic research. I use them even for character names. When naming a foreign character, I’ll look up his country of origin, scan the current government leaders for a last name, combine that with the first name from the country’s history (say, a war hero), and bingo, I have a legitimate, ethnically accurate name.

Almanacs also show which countries are on the metric system, so when my character is racing through such a country, he’ll measure his speed in kilometers per hour and buy his fuel in liters. Getting minuscule details right makes for a more entertaining read. And, believe me, get them wrong and they’ll suddenly be no longer minuscule.

You can find free almanacs—as well as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and thesauruses online. A Google search will reveal some sites that require a subscription, but before you pay, make sure you’ll actually use the product.

3. Electronic Thesaurus. This valuable aid merits a neon word of caution: Never let it be obvious you’ve consulted it. Novice writers tend to seek the most exotic word, but the best use of a thesaurus is to remind yourself of alternative ordinary words. Avoid the obtuse and find the normal that best conveys your meaning. Believe me, readers can tell when you’ve discovered a favorite new word. They’ll let you know. If you want to have fun, check out the Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus (but don’t let it suck you in).

What are your favorite go-to writing resources?

The post My 3 Favorite Writing Research Tools appeared first on Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild.

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