 For Authors: June 29, 2016 Issue [#7724] |
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This week: Research vs Reality Edited by: Fyn  
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Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought~~ Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.~~ Zora Neale Hurston
Maybe it’s like this, Max--you know how, when you are working on a long and ordered piece, all sorts of bright and lovely ideas and images intrude. They have no place in what you are writing, and so if you are young, you write them in a notebook for future use. And you never use them because they are sparkling and alive like colored pebbles on a wave-washed shore. It’s impossible not to fill your pockets with them. But when you get home, they are dry and colorless. I’d like to pin down a few while they are still wet.~~John Steinbeck
'Google' is not a synonym for 'research'.~~Dan Brown
The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write: a man will turn over half a library to make one book.~~Samuel Johnson
The library is not, as some would have it, a place for the retiring of disposition or faint of heart. It is not an ivory tower or a quiet room in a sanitarium facing away from the afternoon sun. It is, rather, a command center, a power base. A board room, a war room. An Oval Office for all who preside over their own destinies. One does not retreat from the world here; one prepares to join it at an advantage.~~ Eric Burns
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A month or so ago, I was emphatically told (and by a writer, I should add) that I 'could not possibly capture (a specific place) without having been there. It would be impossible to KNOW the people, the comradery, the feelings, the lifestyle without having been there, more, without having lived there. I could not do them justice.'
Hmmm. I disagree. Did I have to actually experience a heart transplant to write about it such that those who had had one told me I nailed it? Did I have to experience the loss of my daughter in the military to envision what losing her would feel like? Did I have to try to commit suicide to know the myriad feeling and emotions associated with such an act?
No. Would having actually experienced the aforementioned experiences helped? Quite possibly, but were they necessary? For me, no. But researching these things was essential.
Obviously, when writing about a specific place, when trying to bring it to life, one wants to do the place justice. While 'Google' may not be the begin all/end all to learning about a place, judicious searching, reading and some common sense can certainly be a great jumping off point. Looking for journals, talking to folks who live there, hearing stories about the place, looking at maps or travel sites, (in other words) doing one's due diligence can effectively allow one to write about an area and bring it to life. When one is told later that such-n-such an area leapt off the page and they felt as if they were back there again, you know you got the flavors, the feelings, the essences right.
As my pockets are usually thread-bare come payday, I cannot just pick up and trek to some far off place just because I plan to have scenes set there in a book. Even if it might be tax deductible come April, without the necessary scratch, it is still not going to happen. 'Stick to places you've been then.' Okay, 'write what you know' does have a solid base and is certainly a jumping off point, but it does not have to limit one when there is so much available information at our fingertips these days.
I can 'Google-Earth' almost anyplace on the planet, 'walk' down a specific street and tell you that the houses are brick or aluminum-sided, that there are three birch trees in one yard and a colorful riot of an English garden in another. I can tell you that house A has several children and that house B has someone who has a pristine yard and one heck of a handyman in residence. I can see who drives what, whose kids leave their toys lying about and who has horseshoe stakes in their back yard. I can 'go' to an island community and tell you the names of the businesses on Main Street, that the house on the corner of 'X' and 'Y' is a bright yellow, has a widow's walk and is across the street from a charming Victorian Bed and Breakfast. I can go down NYC alley ways and see trash lying around and yes, a rat. I can check out the fashion district and tell you that folks wear sneakers and carry their 6-inch high heels in fancy bags to change into at work. I can see how much taller the trees have grown and how much the lake has shrunk in the forty-some-odd years since I moved away from my childhood home.
I can respond to forums and initiate conversations with hikers who now hike the mountain that once was an animal reserve and is now a state park. I can call shop-keepers, B&Bs and find out ferry schedules, high tide times and how much it costs to cross a specific bridge. I can 'see' a crowded street in broad daylight on a sunny day in Spring and envision it at 3 in the morning or in the midst of a raging blizzard. I can talk to many people who have experienced trauma, life-altering injuries and abuse, child birth or what-ever. I can do the research!
We all can. We can all bring individual locales to life because we have all lived. Everyone knows or can hear about the little old man grocer with his fresh tomatoes who will haggle with you over a bag of them or go into a big box grocery store and be stuck with the hot hose ones whose color is always a tad bit off and never 'quite' that true 'tomato red.' If you've ever driven a car, you know the varying sorts of drivers out there from the one who lets you merge with a smile and a wave to the one who is determined 'you shall not pass!'
I have been up in a hot air balloon, hovered at 2500 feet and realized I wasn't as afraid of heights in that scenario as I might have guessed. But even though the balloon handler explained the intricacies of how it worked and the intermingling of air currents, pressure, humidity, heat and ground dangers, and even though I filmed and took copious notes, I still needed to do research to understand what the heck I was trying to write about. Because unless I understood it, I could not write about it coherently. In this case, having been able to be there, do that, certainly helped. Yet I still had to do the behind the scenes work to 'do it justice.'
Island. No cars. Small permanent population. Transportation is primarily by horse and buggy or bicycle. Local stores cater more to the tourists than the 300 odd souls who live there. Food shopping obviously takes planning, preparation and a lack of impulse purchases. Ferry to where-ever your car is housed. Drive to non-touristy place to shop. You've got to get it easily onto the ferry and haul it up the hill to where your home is perched beautifully on a bluff overlooking the Straights. Shopping becomes a judicious experience. Okay. I get that. Hmmm. I also remember living in a fourth story walk-up in a city where I didn't have a car and took the subway or bus to where ever I had to go. Not too much different, if you think about it. Well, except the view is much different! And I had a nodding acquaintance with the folks I was sardine-canned on the T with and didn't have to deal with tourists who, while are appreciated and necessary are not missed come off season. (Only have to spend any time in a tourist area to have those thoughts nailed down!)
Each area has its idiosyncrasies. Well beyond the area stereotypes. In New England, a nodded head and a lackadaisical 'ayup' can mean anything from 'I agree with you' to 'nope, not in this lifetime' to 'I have a headache; leave me alone' to 'seriously?' The term 'up the road apiece' can mean a hundred yards or fifteen miles. 'Could be' can mean everything from 'possibly' to 'no way in heck' to 'ayup.' All is in the expression, tone, volume, eye movements and body language. In Michigan, a can of Coke or Pepsi is a 'pop,' back on the east coast it is 'soda' and in the south, it is Coke regardless of what it actually is. PJs, jammies, or pajamas? Lightning bugs or fireflies? And the definitions of hot or cold? You have to experience it! Or do you? Not cold in Michigan until the dam in Hell freezes over. (Just so as you know ... takes about 10-12 days of sub-zero temps and it might.) What is 'hot?' Arizona 'no humidity, 120 degrees in the shade? Or Miserable 110% humidity and 95? Oh, wait, we are in Alaska and if it is above 60 degrees, it is positively balmy! Altitude takes adjustments. Flatlanders have to relearn all about breathing if they move to, say, the Pike's Peak area. There's a reason there are benches all over the place. Then they drive back east and feel like they weigh differently! Spend ten days on an aircraft carriers and then try to walk on land. Be careful putting down a coffee mug -- no need to sub-consciously compensate for waves and you do not want to smash the mug! A 5.6 trembler is basically ignored in Alaska, in other places it is a five day topic of conversation. Do you have to live in these places to know this? Nope. If you do, you know, and if you don't, you can learn!
Research is necessary when one is a writer. The devil is in the details.
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Patrece ~  says: What a wonderfully informative newsletter as always! I have thought much along these same lines in the past, but when it comes time to write, I tend not to even remember to try this. I need to find a way to remind myself to do so! Thank you!
Quick-Quill  writes: I wouldn't want to appear in a novel, but then maybe someone likes my quirky sense of humor. I'm ok with that.
Mara ♣ McBain  adds: I just loved this NL.  I am definitely one that likes to work people, memories, and things around me into my writing. To give characters quirks, habits, flaws and insecurities is to humanize them and where better to draw from then the world around a writer? |
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