Want invested readers? Research-informed, realistic writing is the key to a fantastic story world
When we create fictional worlds, we build the space that our readers will inhabit for the course of the book. As a result, it’s really important for those worlds to be realistic. The best way to build a realistic fictional world is through realistic writing. And you get there by research.
All writers need to do research at some point or another. Even though we’re taught to “write what we know” there’s simply no way to know everything. Drawing from personal experience can only get you so far in writing a novel. Research fills the rest of the gaps and helps you make your story world believable and interesting. But what are the best methods for research? Doing an internet search is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Here are some other methods to consider:
Other books: The top research tool
In the days before the internet, anyone who needed to do research always started at the library. And while this may seem second-nature to people who did research in those days, for younger writers, other books are not always the most obvious place to reach for research. Don’t make that mistake! Chances are, if you’re interested in a topic, there have been many, MANY people interested in that same topic before you—and someone is likely to have taken the time to write about it.
Other books are the top place to research any topic. Want to know what the weather is like anywhere on the planet? Guide books and travel books can help. Same goes for the local cuisine wherever you’ve set your story world. Or maybe you need to know more about the industry your protagonist works in. It’s almost a guarantee there are books written about it. Reach for those books! They will be the best way to start to fleshing out that story world. For some of the best books on the market in terms of description and setting right now, I highly recommend writers check out a line of thesauruses written by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi found HERE.
Talk to the experts
As expansive as books can be about subjects, there are few sources of research better than subject matter experts. Say, for example, you’re researching a battle during the Vietnam War. While a book can give you lots of facts and figures, a veteran willing to talk about his experiences can tell you many details you’ll never find in a book. Things like emotions, sights, sounds, smells—these are the rich details that come from speaking to a subject matter expert.
Don’t discount an expert’s ability to help give you facts about a location that you won’t find anywhere else. For example, a travel book may tell you the most popular restaurant in a town. A local can tell you whether locals actually go there (and why or why not). As a resident of Maryland, I can’t tell you the number of movies that have shown people “in Maryland” eating crabs—only to depict them eating a variety of crabs that’s not eaten here. The details matter. Get them right and your readers will be impressed with your authenticity.
Travel is a researcher’s haven
Want to really get the details of your story world right? Unless you’re writing about a completely fictional (and non-earthly) place—travel can be one of the best ways to absorb all the details that make your story world come to life. What better way to describe the sights, sounds, smells, tastes of a place than going there?
Travel can also help you paint a really accurate picture of what a character may feel in a location—simply because you have ability to describe how you feel in that moment. Remember that readers best connect to the story world through emotion. For more about creating powerfully emotive scenes check out this article on How to Write Emotional Scenes.
And if you are writing a completely fictional, made-up world, sometimes visiting a place that reminds you of that world can help stimulate your imagination. If the world you’re writing about is hot and dry and desert-like, why not visit the desert closest to you? It could help you think of new ideas and details to more fully immerse your readers.
Original source material is a research gold mine
In some genres, like historical fiction, you may need to research deeply to find out the details of what life was like or how events happened. One of the best ways to do that is by going to original source material. In other words, look for letters, diaries, newspapers, or government records. Things like immigration papers or marriage and death records can hold an abundance of information you wouldn’t think of (like common names for a time period).
For more tips on historical research, including some I used in writing my debut historical novel, check out this article on Writing in Under-Explored Historical Eras.
Listen and watch for other people’s research
Even if you’re not writing in a historical genre, other media forms like documentaries, podcasts, or research papers in magazines can be a wonderful place to dig into the research material of others. In some ways, it almost feels like cheating to research this way—but it’s not. Other people have taken the time to dig into these topics and learn about your topic of interest so that you don’t have to!
What’s more, often in journal articles or documentaries or other media research, the person presenting their findings will list their sources in a bibliography. Bibliographies can be amazing places to start some of your research, in fact. Even websites like Wikipedia, which list bibliographies or sources at the end, can point you in the direction of what you need to know.
When you’re starting to write, research can seem really overwhelming—but it doesn’t have to be! The more you find out about the topics you’re interested in, the more you’ll find there’s probably more information out there than you can even fit into your book. But if you do your homework and get that research done, chances are your realistic writing will greatly improve your fictional world—and your readers will notice.
