 Fantasy: February 25, 2015 Issue [#6847] |
  Fantasy
This week: Feeding the Muse Edited by: Prosperous Snow celebrating  
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“Do research. Feed your talent. Research not only wins the war on cliche, it's the key to victory over fear and it's cousin, depression.”
Robert McKee, Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting
“Who’s to say what a ‘literary life’ is? As long as you are writing often, and writing well, you don’t need to be hanging-out in libraries all the time.
Nightclubs are great literary research centers. So is Ibiza!”
Roman Payne, Cities & Countries
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Research is feeding your muse.
Where do you go to research for the story or novel you are writing? Do you go to the library to find background material customs, historical events, or new scientific discoveries? Do you take a morning walk through your neighborhood? Do you go to the nearest coffee shop order a hot or cold up of coffee and people watch? Do you pick up the morning paper and read the articles? Do you purchase a magazine containing articles that interest you? When you go to a laundromat do you talk to the attendant and patrons? For a writer all of these activities are research.
Research is exposing your muse to different types of stimulus in order to urge it into action.
In school we learn how to research for reports and term papers by going to the library or search online for valid (according to the professors teaching the class) sources. This is necessary because we need to form conclusions that have a basis in scientific research. As writers we can use these methods to search for background information to give both science fiction and fantasy stories a foundation. However, we cannot let our search for ideas and data stop there because we need characters and settings to give structure to our plots. This is where research at the laundromat or the corner coffee shop (bar if you prefer) comes in.
When you interact with the public notice the ordinary and the not-so-ordinary people and events you encounter. What attributes makes one person ordinary and another person standout? These attributes can be used in creating a character. Next time you are in a queue, whether it is at the grocery store or the Department of Motor Vehicles, take a close look at your surroundings and the people. Then when you get to your car or home try to write an account from memory showing your surroundings and the people. Remember that everything and everyone you encounter is part of your research for an upcoming short story, poem, or novel.
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Excerpt: He came to the town of Tamboard, a rogue and a charmer. For what is a man, he thought, but a free spirit?
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Excerpt: Belinda rustled her leaves a little, trying to get the attention of the handsome oak across the creek, but she could see it was no use. There were people using the aluminum recycling center over there, and a dryad would never come out when people might see him. There was no reason for her to stay in her tree, though, so she brought her dryad form outside. It was an interesting feeling; we might compare it to pulling off a band-aid, while at the same time being the band-aid. Even at a distance she could still feel the wind in her branches and the sun on her leaves.
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Excerpt: Panz lived in a human's home in the days before the slaughter of the isten. Panz had learned to speak in the way of humans and isten, but that did not help him understand the genocide.
Excerpt: Age had no meaning to them. Born out of the turmoil of beginning time, when the universe was just formed, they lit the darkness, displaying the way of progression. Energies untold of were theirs to play with, and play with them they did. Combining, splitting, searing apart elements into unrecognizable chunks, creating frequencies of low hums to gamma rays which spilled out into the vast darkness that preceded before them.
Excerpt: I fell asleep one summer night when all my work was done;
then deep within a summer’s dream I journeyed to the sun.
Along the way I waved at Venus glowing O so bright;
then passing Mercury I felt an increase of sunlight.
Excerpt: "Sir, Long range sensors have picked up three vessels" said the Ops Officer in a slightly bewildered tone.
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GaelicQueen  writes: As each year rolls by Father Time gives us a poke with his staff. "Get moving' young'in! You have projects to complete." I have similar thoughts as the calendar rolls over to mark my turn to 60 years of age.
How do you research your stories, poems, or novels? How do you apply what you discover to fantasy or science fiction?
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