How to Research for Your Next Writing Project

I think I’ve finally decided on my next writing project after much back and forth. Without giving the entirety of the plot away, it has to do with investigative journalism, truck drivers, and serial murder. It’ll be a similar tone as my previous works, but I’m hoping to embody more elements of the Southern gothic genre. I have some ideas for scenes, but I know I need some connective tissue to run throughout the narrative.

And that’s where research can help.

At the University of Limerick, we had an entire class session devoted to the art of completing research for a writing project. It was led by Kit de Waal and it was invaluable. Here are the major takeaways:

Why do research?adds authenticity to your work
Chuck Palahniuk also has a lot to say about the importance of using an authoritative voice. He insists, “A unique voice creates its own authority,” and research can help create that voice because authenticity leads to authority. If it sounds like you know what you’re talking about, people will be more inclined to listen.ensures accuracy because we forget stuff; we misremember
There’s been a growing conversation about how eyewitness testimony is not as reliable as it has been perceived to be. Doing a little bit of research can help corroborate details a writer needs to get right to establish authority.is our story plausible?
This is the most the most important question research answers. All readers enter into some willing suspension of disbelief, but all readers also need some firm foundation from which to leap into an imaginative narrative. Plausibility helps establish that firm foundation.one mistake can destroy a whole plot
Any reader has seen this happen firsthand. A book was absolutely ruined for me because an aspect of the plot was simply unbelievable. I focused on that error instead of the quality writing that came before or after.What am I looking for?if it doesn’t interest you, it won’t interest the reader
This is such an important question to ask yourself to keep from making the narrative too dense with minutia. The answer will help you know when to stop with the research.When do I start?you can still be writing while you researchif you really can’t start, prioritize that topicif you need a road trip, plan well in advance
I am definitely planning a road trip since travel and rest stops will be important elements of the plot, and I am so excited! if you need a book, order it well in advance
I bought three if you need something from the library …
I need to start using my local library more often.research if you have writer’s block
THIS IS WHERE I AM.don’t waste creative energy on researchWho is it for?general guide = use a light touch; you know so they don’t have toresearch in fiction should serve a purpose, be disguised, be invisibleresearch is NOT the story; it is setting, detail, place, time, weather, but it’s NOT the storyalways have respect for the reader’s time and enjoymentread similar books, read books that do it well, read books that do it badlyWhat else should I know?don’t compare
This is SO TOUGH, especially in this time of social media AND when query letters are supposed to include comparable titles.make your own decisions; do rely on instinct

I’ve been dealing with a string of rejections lately and frankly, it’s been disheartening. But I did get a “positive” rejection: “Honestly I think this sounds interesting, but afraid I’m going to pass. The reason is simply that i’ve just finally placed another very good manuscript that editors rejected over and over again, claiming it was ‘too dark. I guess i’m just not ready to jump in again with something else to which I can anticipate a similar response. I’m sorry.”

This is actually very interesting because I remember talking with Donal Ryan at the University of Limerick and he asked me if I would change my ending if it meant the novel would get published. Honestly, I didn’t know how to answer. But then I received an email from Donal because he’d read my manuscript. He wrote: “Mandi. My poor heart is broken. I was still hoping against hope that it would end at When he fell asleep, he was smiling.

But this is such a true, unflinching, empathetic account of love and trauma and life and death and all the terrible complexity of our humanness that a happy ending would have almost been profane. You’re a wonderful novelist. I know that Duke and Aurora will live with me forever. It’s such a thrill to read this right through, knowing how hard you’ve worked and how much love and care you’ve poured into it. And it’s paid off. You’ve created a singular, intense, deeply compelling work of fiction that will grip readers completely and shake them to their core.

Huge congratulations and best wishes.”

So I know my answer. No, I wouldn’t change the ending. And even if the manuscript never gets published, Donal freakin’ Ryan called me a wonderful novelist.

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