Thoughts on Research
Writing can be interesting at times for an author of fiction, whether the genre is Historical, Sci-Fi, Romance, or Western, the story has to be plausible which involves research. Don’t get me wrong, research can be absorbing when one tidbit leads you on to another nugget like a will o’ wisp until you wind up far afield from where you started, and thirty minutes late for picking the wife up from work.
That arriving late to pick someone up from work, take my word for this, it’s not so good as I’ve eaten cold shoulder on many nights due to being late. What I find worse than that cold shoulder served up for dinner is not doing any research. Whether the author is just starting out or is well established, research and attention to detail pays off not only in setting the context but also in helping the reader suspend their disbelief temporarily.
Suppose I wrote a book labeled as Historical Fiction as opposed to Alternate History, and in the first three chapters readers with a decent knowledge of the time period referenced spotted fifteen anachronisms (i.e.: someone or something not in it’s correct chronological or historical time). Let’s suppose this book involves the Roman Empire around the time of 450 CE, and there’s mention of lunar landers, Christopher Columbus, belt-fed machine guns, and Norma Jean. The work would have my editor wondering if I’d lost my mind, not to mention anyone who actually picked it up to read it.
While I might not attain fame and fortune with my writing, one thing I do promise my readers is that I do my best to keep my work plausible every time. I might take the liberty of not explaining exactly how an alien race gets around limitations of physics our physicists haven’t figured out ways around yet because I’m not a physicist, but my solutions won’t be completely implausible either.
A vessel full of colonists that is sent to another stellar system would still take time to arrive at its destination, whether months, years, or centuries. Two species from completely different evolutionary lines won’t be able to have offspring without a lot of cut-and-paste gene splicing and in vitro assistance. A puppet won’t become a real boy simply because someone clicked their heels together, unless I’m writing a fantasy full of magic, swords, and taverns with really tasty mead served in large flagons.
For now I need to wrap this up for the morning, as I do believe my infant daughter will need her diaper changed before too long. Have a great day and enjoy reading whatever you have at hand.
That arriving late to pick someone up from work, take my word for this, it’s not so good as I’ve eaten cold shoulder on many nights due to being late. What I find worse than that cold shoulder served up for dinner is not doing any research. Whether the author is just starting out or is well established, research and attention to detail pays off not only in setting the context but also in helping the reader suspend their disbelief temporarily.
Suppose I wrote a book labeled as Historical Fiction as opposed to Alternate History, and in the first three chapters readers with a decent knowledge of the time period referenced spotted fifteen anachronisms (i.e.: someone or something not in it’s correct chronological or historical time). Let’s suppose this book involves the Roman Empire around the time of 450 CE, and there’s mention of lunar landers, Christopher Columbus, belt-fed machine guns, and Norma Jean. The work would have my editor wondering if I’d lost my mind, not to mention anyone who actually picked it up to read it.
While I might not attain fame and fortune with my writing, one thing I do promise my readers is that I do my best to keep my work plausible every time. I might take the liberty of not explaining exactly how an alien race gets around limitations of physics our physicists haven’t figured out ways around yet because I’m not a physicist, but my solutions won’t be completely implausible either.
A vessel full of colonists that is sent to another stellar system would still take time to arrive at its destination, whether months, years, or centuries. Two species from completely different evolutionary lines won’t be able to have offspring without a lot of cut-and-paste gene splicing and in vitro assistance. A puppet won’t become a real boy simply because someone clicked their heels together, unless I’m writing a fantasy full of magic, swords, and taverns with really tasty mead served in large flagons.
For now I need to wrap this up for the morning, as I do believe my infant daughter will need her diaper changed before too long. Have a great day and enjoy reading whatever you have at hand.
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In writing it helps to understand a culture, though I will disagree with one point made, an enemy's perspective (sneering and pejorative as it may be) often gives clues as to the culture's actual perspective of its enemy.After all, if there was nothing to fear in an enemy, would there be any need to belittle?
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