It’s the Experiences that Count

[image error]Research…ugh. There is probably no other word in the English language that I dread more and it isn’t because I don’t like learning new things. Quite the contrary! I love me some intellectual exploration and do it often. In the context of writing a story, however, research often feels like a morass I have to slog through before I can get to the part I love; bringing characters to life.

In considering my next project, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to write something large-scale and meaningful but this presented a problem: There’s a ton of research involved in writing a big story that spans three decades of well-documented history. I knew the story I wanted to tell. I wrote a thorough, nicely structured outline. My characters were vivid in my head and screaming at me to be born. I was straining at the bit to start putting it on paper, but there was so much I didn’t know! How could I possibly scratch the inspiration itch AND conduct the necessary research?

And then it hit me. Research doesn’t have to be a slog. It can actually be fun! So instead of gritting my teeth and forcing myself to read a mountain of books, I decided to mix things up. Oh, I did (and am still doing) a metric ton of reading, but I’m also conducting experiential research—you know, things like crashing a few airplanes, watching films, acting out random conversations with my characters as I’m driving to work, and having online chats with real people who lived through real events. Research, I’m quickly learning, doesn’t have to be drudgery. I just needed to think outside the box.

While the book-facts are certainly important, the experiences are what stick. They’ve helped me to more believably render the setting and events because, in some sense, I’ve lived them. While I missed out on being a test-pilot flying experimental aircraft in the mid-1960s, (in fact, back then, only half of me existed as a gamete in one or the other of my mother’s ovaries,) with the help of flight simulation software, I’m able to man the controls of an X-15-3 test-plane and rocket myself 67 miles into the stratosphere while my daughter cheers me on and begs for a turn at the stick. Bonus: No motion-sickness, sheer terror, or certain death at the end of the ride!

Now that I know the experiences are as valuable as the reading, I daresay I’ll look forward to research in the future. The one downside now is how to tear myself away from this damn flying game and get back to the writing that was the reason for it in the first place…