How to Keep Your Research Needs from Slowing and Stopping Your Forward Progress on Your Book

by Linda Rodriguez

When it comes to doing research for your novel, you should only do as much as you need. The amounts will vary depending on whether you're writing something contemporary, historical, techno-thriller, or another genre that's research intensive. Research can be too often used by writers to procrastinate on the actual writing of their novels. Don't let that happen to you.

Some books—historical novels, novels about a place or culture of which you have no previous knowledge, novels about a profession or industry of which you have no previous knowledge—will require research before beginning to write the first draft. Such research may be a necessity to even gain a thorough idea of what the novel will be about. However, beyond that which is absolutely necessary in order to properly conceive of the book and provide rich, sensory images of the first locations, I suggest that starting the first draft before you have allowed yourself to be caught up in research is a good idea. I've seen too many writers research for years without ever putting one word of actual novel to the page.

The exception to this rule is the main character or background of a different culture from your own. Often, much of this research must be done before writing because it will influence every aspect of your writing about that character or setting and may well require a difficult empathetic leap on your part. The better your research, the better you will be at that leap and the more authentic and honest your portrayal of that person or setting will be. In most other instances, however, research can go forward with your writing—informed by your writing and what you learned you didn't know and needed to know for that last passage/scene/chapter.

If you are planning to use a setting that you are unfamiliar with, you will want to visit it in person, if you can. Be purposeful and organized about your visit, taking both photographs and written notes. I once knew a writer who used a research grant to visit a foreign location he would never otherwise have been able to visit. He used his camera only (back in the days of non-digital cameras), taking photos assiduously of everything. When he arrived home, he found the film had been defective, and none of his photos turned out. Redundancy is a lifesaver. Besides, notes and photos can complement each other while at the same time reminding you of different aspects of what you experienced. Written notes, in particular, can remind you of sensory details—heat, smells, tastes, sounds.

Before beginning your novel, you will have to do some research on your setting, unless it is a truly familiar one. Elizabeth George, the bestselling mystery writer, recommends that you especially pay attention to the climate and vegetation. What grows in this place? How has that combination of climate and vegetation influenced the character of the setting? If you want to use a city or a town, consider its architecture and how that affects its atmosphere. Does it have poor and wealthy areas? How do its citizens from those different areas travel around the city?

Setting and culture are two areas that may require extensive research before you begin, as will historical period or specialized industry, if those are important to your novel. But even with these aspects that need more research, you will want to set limits—broad background research first to set a foundation followed by specific research needed to start the book and write the opening scenes and chapters. Ideally, however, research proceeds along with the writing.

If I need a detail to make a scene come alive, I usually put a note to that effect in brackets and put it in boldface, then continue writing the scene. Later, I will go through what I've written so far, searching for bold. Then, I take that list of specific needs for information with me as I turn to research. This makes it less likely that I will lose myself in the black hole that research can sometimes become. The best technique I've found, however, for keeping me on track while researching is to do my day's stint of writing first before I ever allow myself to research. If you follow that rule, your research will not take over your life and derail your writing.

Linda Rodriguez's Dark Sister: Poems is her 10^th book. Plotting the Character-Driven Novel, based on her popular workshop, and The World Is One Place: Native American Poets Visit the Middle East, an anthology she co-edited, were published in 2017. Every Family Doubt, her fourth mystery featuring Cherokee detective, Skeet Bannion, and Revising the Character-Driven Novel will be published in 2019. Her three earlier Skeet novels—Every Hidden Fear, Every Broken Trust, Every Last Secret—and earlier books of poetry—Skin Hunger and Heart's Migration—have received critical recognition and awards, such as St. Martin's Press/Malice Domestic Best First Novel, International Latino Book Award, Latina Book Club Best Book of 2014, Midwest Voices & Visions, Elvira Cordero Cisneros Award, Thorpe Menn Award, and Ragdale and Macondo fellowships. Her short story, “The Good Neighbor,” published in Kansas City Noir, has been optioned for film.

Rodriguez is past chair of the AWP Indigenous Writer’s Caucus, past president of Border Crimes chapter of Sisters in Crime, founding board member of Latino Writers Collective and The Writers Place, and a member of International Thriller Writers, Native Writers Circle of the Americas, Wordcraft Circle of Native American Writers and Storytellers, and Kansas City Cherokee Community. Visit her at http://lindarodriguezwrites.blogspot.com