Research Material

No matter how fantastic your stories are, you will still need to do some research for them. There are always aspects you need to look into. The good thing about that is that today, with the internet, we all have all the information we need on our fingertips. There’s nothing you can’t find out about with a Google search and a bit of time to go through the hits.

 

That’s not the only place to find new information, though. Non-fiction books are still a thing. Recently, I bought a couple of books on the topics of herbs and their uses (for Jane’s dive into natural poisons, but also for my two alchemists Isadora and Gabrielle), mythology and monsters (because you never know when you need some), and inventions (for fun and use).

There are quite some non-fiction books which are written very well and are a lot of fun to read (I mentioned “Monster, She Wrote” recently). Sometimes, as with “The Jane Austen Handbook”, a non-fiction book I read can lead to new story ideas (it helped me with figuring out the story details for “The Haunting of Winterthorne Hall”). It’s a good idea to leave your comfort zone once in a while, both when it comes to fiction and when it comes to non-fiction, so reading books on new topics is never a bad idea.

 

Why am I mentioning reading non-fiction for fun, though? Certainly, if you need to do research, you need to get information quickly, so the internet is the way to go, right? Yes, certainly.

When I’m looking for information to write a story - or a blog post -, I prefer the internet, too. I usually start out with Wikipedia, see what links turn up on that page, and dig my way deeper - or I use Google and see what kinds of hits come up. Most of the time, that quickly gives me the depth of information I need.

Yet, I’m also a voracious reader and I don’t only read fiction. I read a lot of fiction, but every now and then, younger me, who was at university for a while and always liked non-fiction, too, demands that we read something else for a change. That’s when older me is glad that a lot of non-fiction out there is very readable by now.

 

You need research, because there will always be something which you need for a story, but don’t know enough about. There will always also be some readers who know a lot about that thing, so if you just ‘wing it’, they’ll be annoyed. Much better to research things, at least to a certain degree, and make sure your portrayal is okay.

I have three books by a medic about injuries and what they mean for the people who get them, which helps tremendously with portraying them better in my books (since Jane and some other characters have a tendency to get into dangerous situations).

I have a few books on police procedure and forensics which can be very useful when I need to dip into criminal things or just need information on poisons or the stages of physical death. I also have a stack of books on writing - some of which are more, some less useful, but they all have helped me out in the beginning. In addition, I also make notes of writing advice in a notebook. I know myself - if I look it up on the internet when I need to, I’ll spend far too much time with it instead of writing, as I should.

Depending on what you write, it can be useful to have a few reference books at home, so you have access to them whenever needed. Don’t forget that the internet connection can be broken - even if it’s normally excellent. A book on your shelf is available whenever it’s needed. It doesn’t hurt to check for updates every now and then, but on the whole, a reference book on most topics can serve you well for a long time.

 

Another good resource are people. There’s specialists on most topics you might want to use in your stories, so there’s always the possibility to ask them. When I need information on the military, for instance, my father is one of my first resources to go to, since he was a career soldier for a while.

Another way people can be a resource is as beta readers. Those are people you give your manuscript to once you’re more or less happy with it, they read it, and give you feedback. Depending on what they think, you might want to rework a chapter or two or make changes to the plot.

In some cases, even sensitivity readers can be an option, especially when you try to picture the lives of a specific group of people you’re not part of. In this case, it can be very useful to have people from that group read your manuscript and give you feedback - or asking people from that group, as mentioned above, before you leave the plotting stage.

In general, it can help to get feedback with parts of your story before you write it down - it’s much easier to change the plot than to revise part of the story after you’ve already written it all down. Sometimes, that can’t be avoided, but every way it can be avoided should be used.

 

Reading non-fiction books for fun can lead to new stories, too. As mentioned, I bought “The Jane Austen Handbook” mostly for fun - I’m not even a Jane Austen fan, but I like history and the book threw light on the regular life of landed gentry at Jane Austen’s time. While reading it (and “Monster, She Wrote”), the information was moved around in my head and I came up with a classic Gothic romance tale - what I will write down and eventually publish under the title “The Haunting of Winterthorne Hall”.

It’s not the first time this happened to me, either. Decades of reading history books and other books on different kinds of non-fictional topics has left me with a wild mixture of information in my brain. That often comes together with ideas for new stories and makes them better. “Revenge of the Devil Monks”, a novella in the second “Theoretical Necromancy” volume, doesn’t just owe its existence to my love for the “Blind Dead” movies, but also to a two-part non-fiction book about zombie movies over the ages. In general, both Gabrielle and Isadora owe part of their skills to my love for zombie stories and the many times I’ve read books on horror, starting a long time ago with Stephen King’s “Dance Macabre”.

 

Do your research, that’s the most important part. Consider doing research before you need it, too, you never know what might come of it. Facts can be fun and non-fiction can be interesting to read. Remember that there’s always someone among the audience who knows a lot about a topic you use in your story, so make sure they’re not too annoyed with you. You don’t have to be a specialist on everything, but don’t try to just ‘wing it’, either.