Do you do a lot of research before you write?

[soleft]

Or look stuff up as you need to?

I'm always torn between feeling like I should just get started writing, and feeling like I need to soak up a wealth of knowledge on the subject beforehand. Usually I end up striking a balance, but I always go through this process first - maybe it's just procrastination.

My latest plunge into research is already giving my real nightmares. Was reading stuff on the net last night about Federal Witness Protection Program, ended up dreaming about someone stabbing Tony Soprano repeatedly in the chest.

[JDPriestly]

1. You can never research too much.

[KurtNYC]

2. Its a mix but mostly up front

It saves revision later if you uncover something that really blows holes in what you have written so far. I gather tons of stuff then organize it, then see what else I need.

[sybylla]

4. Same here

I learned that lesson my first real foray into writing. Plus, up front research can help with plot development and point out areas of possible drama/tension for characters that you may not have thought existed.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

3. Not really, however...

My topics rarely would involve it. My work doesn't usually take place in our reality.

[BigMcLargehuge]

5. depends on what I am writing

[OldLeftieLawyer]

6. If you're writing fiction ........

..... your job is to make it up and make it so plausible, it sounds real.

Coleridge, in writing about writing fiction, addressed "that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith."

That's all you have to remember - you are there to take your reader on a journey, and your job is to make the reader believe that your world (in words) is as real as the world he occupies. Research as you feel the need, but your imagination is supposed to be the source, not outside materials.

At least, that's how I work.

By the way, I've had a lot of experience with the Federal Witness Protection Program, as well as COINTELPRO and like escapades, so if I can help you in any way, feel free to PM me.

And, good luck.

[itzamirakul]

7. Most of my writing concerns historical fact so..

I generally do an enormous amount of research first. Then, when I sit down to write, I can just keep going for awhile. But, like today, I am in this room posting because I am delaying going back to some of my research sources for one single point - a name.

[lapislzi]

8. Depends on the project

If you're writing nonfiction, you can't get by without doing any research, but how much and in what form depends on what you're writing, for whom, and where you're going with it.

My method (and I have several nonfiction books under my belt, and I regularly give a course on nonfiction writing) is to jot down scores of ideas and do some cursory research on the ones that make the most sense or gel together early. Research leads to ideas leads to more research. You often wind up going down some blind alleys, but more often you get taken in the most marvelous directions, to ideas you'd never have thought of.

Research also leads--through what I call "percolation"--to the writer's intuiton of the overarching theme or mission statement or conclusion--the one thought you want to leave with your reader. You find a way of tying it all together while your left brain is busy checking facts and sources.

I don't believe in starting out with a conclusion and doing research to support it. That's inductive reasoning, and I think it's faulty.

[yellowdawgdem]

9. everyone has their own approach

to writing, so I think it boils down to what works best for you. It makes a difference if you are writing nonfiction or fiction, like if you need a solid historical (or other ) starting spot. With fiction, it helps to think out the plot, characters, etc. However thinking things out is not the same thing as getting it down in a coherent form and seeing if it will work on paper as well as it does in imagination. In my case it is better to start writing, then get a more realistic sense of what is needed. Then go back and flesh out any details. Often I morf into a slightly different story than I'd started with, because I don't want to write something I'm bored with. It's sort of like being handed a page of badly written directions for getting somewhere, and having to follow them as best you can.

[iamjoy]

10. Another Reason To Do Both

I am trying to write a historical novel.
I came up with a plot outline and started doing research. My research revealed a problem with part of the plot, so I revised the plot. I had a ton of research.

Then, I started writing and I realized there were parts where my research was weak, so I had to go back and do more. And then my character, damn her, just did something that I didn't expect her to do (but it fit her character) which kind of took the story in a different direction - so I had to do more research (and not use some of what I had done)