A Tale Of Research For Fiction Writers
Put on your research hat, we’re going in
A couple of months ago, I was researching for my first full length romance book. I’m so used to writing fantasy that my usual research is always a little odd, such as injuries (what part of the spine needs to be injured for this particular paralysis to occur?), pirate ship anatomy and history (that was fun!), what it’s like to lose a limb, and police procedurals.
But this romance book involved something a bit more…substantial. It wasn’t just little tidbits I was looking for, it was the setting, the concept, the whole plot. So, when I went to write this article about the different types of research you can do, I decided instead to walk you through the research I did for this particular book.
Because it covers a lot of it in one fell swoop.
(I won’t go into the details of why research is important. Suffice to say that you want your story to be believable, you want facts where you have facts, you want to know how something feels even if you’ve never experienced it, you want to know what the real road your character is walking down looks like, you want to know realistically how long before your character bleeds out. If you’re creating your own fantasy world, you want your currency to be based on the real-life design of currency.
Research is not just for facts, of course, it’s for inspiration and emotion and experience and how something feels. It aids in not just making the story real but keeping the reader suspended in the reality you’re creating.)
My two love birds live in London. It’s been a long time since I went to London (I grew up in Essex, so day trips to London were common before I left for Bristol). I know my way around but only certain parts. I know the British Museum, the Natural History Museum, the London Eye, the Tower of London, Regent’s Park, the Zoo, Hyde Park, the Globe theatre, the Excel centre, the list goes on.
But, thanks to travelling underground by tube, I have NO idea how they all fit together!
So, during the whole of the research period for this book, I had a Google map of London open.
One of my characters works at the British Museum. I used Google Earth to remind myself of how this looks from the outside (I’m an archaeology graduate, so this place is like a second home to me, but, as I say, it’s been a while). I walked all the way around and found a lovely park, perfect for a lunch break.
Before the pandemic, could you do a virtual tour of the Great Court inside the British Museum? Is this a new thing?
Whatever. It’s wonderful!
Instead of writing, ‘Their eyes met across that big open space that’s full of light with the cool roof’, I was able to spend some time getting lost on the British Museum’s website and learning the history of the Great Court.
Let’s delve in further to my characters’ lives. How much do they earn? Well, the one who works at the British Museum is a Researcher. I checked their job vacancies, just in case, and then Googled it.
Good old Google.
Boom! I had their rough salary (this never gets spelled out in the book, I just want it to be realistic when shaping their lifestyle).
Next, I had to work out where my characters lived. I knew roughly how much money each had and how close I needed them to be to the British Museum. So, armed with that information, I took to RightMove.
Now, if you don’t know me well, I need to tell you that I LOVE a bit of house hunting. I live on RightMove (the top place to find houses for sale and rent in the UK) and, yes, I even stalk properties in my Saved list.
I’m pretty sure I did a little giddy laugh as I opened RightMove and changed the search parameters from countryside cottages in Somerset to flats and houses in the areas of London I was looking at, with their respective budgets and needs.
I found the perfect places, ideally situated, and saved the links to my book outline. It means that when we go into one of their homes, I can pull up the identical place on RightMove, check out the floorplan and go from there.
Is that weird?
I hope that’s not weird.
Next was a bit of fantasy research, because apparently I can’t even write a romance novel without something being a little…off (I swear I have romance book ideas with no fantasy elements).
I needed something. An object. An item or a book, something tangible that my characters could hold. And I needed it to be connected to something specific.
At first, I did think it would be a book. In my outline, it was all ‘they look at the book’, ‘they talk about the book.’
However, when it came to the actual writing, the question remained: what book?!
What’s the title? Who’s it by?
And because this is a contemporary romance, set in the here and now (without the pandemic, because no one needs that), I needed something preferably real.
The very idea of finding a book that fitted into my plans exactly gave me a headache. So, an object it is! I ended up Googling random things until something jogged my memory.
The object I was looking for was already lodged in my brain, something I’d learned about this time last year, just sitting in my head, waiting to be used in a story.
Now was its time to shine.
So, yes, Google can answer most of your research questions in a timely if not rabbit-holey manner, but there are sometimes better options.
If you’re after how something feels or differing experiences or opinions, then Google the question and check out the forums it comes back with (I’m a fan of Reddit and Netmums/Mumsnet and there are some specific medical forums which are fascinating).
Need something medical? Journals.
Need something historical and professional? Journals.
Need something environmental and scientific? Journals.
Seriously, journals are fantastic and you can access some of them through (yes) Google! Just give it a search and see what comes up.
(I remember the days of having to go to the library for journals. Many a happy hour was spent in my university library flicking through archaeological journals.)
Can’t find the journal that might help?
Do check the library and be aware they might have it online. You might want your local university/college library, though.
Something all writers should be doing at all times is reading (and writing, obviously, but reading as well).
That object I needed for the plot of my novel to work? That came from…
Oh, no, that’s a lie. That came from watching TV.
But my point stands.
Consume media. Listen, watch and read stories. Real and fiction.
You don’t have to complete courses to learn, you can learn while sitting on your sofa in your PJs, eating biscuits.
You never know when something you learned about months ago will suddenly become helpful (or inspire a story).
Books can be great on specific topics. Pirate Women by Laura Sook Duncombe filled my head with tales of strong female pirates from Ancient Greece up to the modern day. Spying on Whales by Nick Pyenson painted a picture of the oceans a hundred years ago and what the future of the oceans might look like. My book of Scottish Folklore tales changed how my thoughts sound… 👀
If you’re writing police procedurals in any way then there are books written with you in mind. I personally have a copy of The Crime Writer’s Casebook by Stephen Wade and Stuart Gibbon, which covers police and investigation procedures from start to case closed (plus I listen in when my husband is watching 24 Hours in Police Custody).
In doubt? Ask someone on social media.
I’ve seen a few famous authors ask their followers on social media research questions. Do you have these things in Germany? How do I get from here to there in Spain? If I say this, will those in America know what I mean? Does anyone remember those green sweets from the ‘70s — what were they called?!
Research can be done in so many forms these days. Whichever route you choose, whichever suits you and your story best, just make sure you’re getting the information from a trustworthy source.
And have fun with it! Use it to disappear into your characters’ worlds.
Become an expert on something random.
Escape, if only for an hour.
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