Remarkable Research
How to get the most out of your time researching for fiction
When I first set out to write a historical/science fiction novel, I thought, “Hey, I have an MA in creative writing; I already know everything I need to know about researching for fiction.” It didn’t take much time for me to discover just how spectacularly wrong that belief was. The second you think you already know enough is the second you should realize you don’t know anything at all. I learned that after writing a manuscript full of factual errors, misinformation, and historical stereotypes unfortunately peddled not only by popular media but by the US education system itself. Fortunately for me, this manuscript was little more than an extremely rough draft that came pouring out of me during a time of crisis. However, once I realized that I might have something worth sticking with through the entire writing and publishing process, I concluded I’d better get my rear in gear not just with editing and redrafting but with researching as well.
Over the last three years, I’ve learned more than I ever thought there was to know about the process of gathering information for a work of fiction. Though I did learn a tremendous amount about research from my years at university, and I’ve read a lot of great advice columns from other writers with way more experience than I’ve got, I’ve also discovered a great deal from just sitting down and doing things for myself. I think all my best takeaways about researching for fiction have come from trial and error, as well as just good-ole-fashioned slogging through the rabbit hole. While everyone’s research process will be different depending on whether they’re studying history, science, politics, current events, etc., there are still some universal takeaways all fiction authors should keep in mind, no matter what they’re researching.
Don’t put stock in your assumptions
The biggest lesson I’ve learned over the last three years is that there’s only one assumption authors should allow themselves to make: everything they think they know is wrong. When I set out to study Renaissance Spain, I very quickly learned that all the things I “knew” — things I’d seen in documentaries, things I’d learned in school, things I’d taken for granted as being reliable enough to be called facts — were mostly inaccuracies resultant from latencies in new findings filtering into the education system and too many historians taking the writings of period-contemporary authors at face value. Many things can alter our current understanding of history. New documents can be discovered, shipwrecks found, artifacts unearthed, whole cities uncovered, all of which can radically change what we thought we knew. Science is even more mutable, with new discoveries that can alter our understanding of medicine, physics, technology, biology, etc. being made every single day.
Unfortunately, these new discoveries and new interpretations can take years and even decades to make their way into primary/secondary education curricula — if they ever do at all. This means that a lot of what we learn in K-12 isn’t necessarily the most up-to-date or accurate information. If you weren’t a science/history/etc. major in college, it’s highly probable that the assumptions you have on these subjects are still heavily based on what you learned in high school. Even if your college major is relevant to your fiction research, unless you graduated within the last couple of years, your knowledge is dated at the very least. All this means that, unless you’re a bona fide expert on the subject you’re studying, a lot of the information you think you know is probably inaccurate and possibly downright wrong.
This, in turn, means you have to start from zilch. You know nothing. Think you know when the bells of Notre Dame tolled in medieval Paris? Think again. Think you know the physics of space travel? Better look ’em up. Think you understand the politics involved in the current wars in the Middle East? Are you sure? The point is that every time you have anything in your fiction that could impact the accuracy of your work, you need to verify, no matter how insignificant you think it is or how absolutely sure you are that you already know. In this case, it’s inadvisable to trust your own brain.
Lose the fake news
It’s also equally inadvisable to trust the wrong sources. Lately, there’s been a good deal in the recent headlines about fake news, but the reality is that fake news has always been around. We all know the OWL basics on credible sources. However, one of the major issues that I was a little blindsided by was just how common it is for primary sources to be less trustworthy than they seem. In undergrad, I minored in history, so I got the opportunity to learn how to gather and parse primary texts. However, since history wasn’t my major, it wasn’t until I began researching for fiction that I gained enough experience in the subject to understand just how many firsthand accounts of historical events are deliberately inaccurate or biased based on the political agendas of their authors.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t trust primary sources in your political/historical research, but I’ve found that the “trust-but-verify” method works best. Rather than taking period-contemporary authors at face value, you should make sure you’re corroborating what they say with secondary sources that use modern historical techniques, like statistical analysis of large numbers of primary texts. It’s a good idea to apply this thinking to research on things like current events, politics, and science as well. Keep in mind that most facts and stats can be manipulated to fit a certain agenda (this doesn’t apply as much to science, since modern researchers are using the scientific method to eliminate bias, but even science isn’t utterly invulnerable to partisan manipulation).
I like to counter this unfortunate reality by corroborating the information I find using multiple sources with agendas either as diverse or as neutral as possible. Academic sources are best in that department. If I find what I’m looking for in a peer-reviewed journal in a scholarly database, I usually trust it, but if I find it in any mainstream media article, documentary, or other non-scholarly source, I try to verify if possible.
All this shouldn’t make you afraid to think outside the source box. You definitely don’t want to get your facts wrong, but as a fiction author, you’re free to take as much artistic license as you need (and no one is giving you a grade based on the quality of your sources). Chances are, somewhere out there, there’s a novel, movie, or TV show that’s done some of your work for you — probably more than one. Obviously, the things you glean out of these media should be corroborated with a more credible source, but there’s hardly a better place for more concentrated information about your topic than a historical fiction novel set in your period or a sci-fi movie dealing with your concept.
For example, I learned a ton about the cultural mindset, the fashion sense, and even the diet of my novel’s setting from watching the Spanish series Isabel. I used credible sources to corroborate any information I gleaned from the show that wound up in my current manuscript draft, but it’s amazing just how often reading a novel or watching a program dealing with my historical period has pointed me in the right direction or made me realize that a notion I had was off.
Watch as many shows and read as many books about your setting/concept as you can get your hands on. This is especially important if you’re dealing with cultures that aren’t your own. For example, if you’re an American writing fiction set in 19th century Germany, you’d better be watching as many shows and reading as many novels by Germans as possible. That way, you’re learning about their culture and their history from them rather than having it filtered through the gaze of your own culture before it gets to you.
Bring out the big guns
Watching shows and reading novels will also help you with another important research technique: starting big and drilling down. Since you’re already assuming you know nothing about your topic, you have to start at the highest level and then get more and more specific as you go on. So for instance, if you’re writing a novel set in Iron Age Japan, the first thing you’ll do is read a couple of recently written history books about ancient Japanese society. If you already have some knowledge of your topic, this might seem like pointless and redundant work. But remember, unless you’re really an expert, a lot of your knowledge could be dated or inaccurate. It’s best to begin at the beginning so that you can ensure you’re as accurate and current on your topic as possible.
You’ll next drill down to more specific and relevant elements of your topic — elements that are directly related to your plot, setting, character development, etc. Hypothetically, if you were going to write The Other Boleyn Girl, you’d start by researching overall society in 16th-century England. Then, you’d read up on the Tudor family, then Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn’s history, then what little we know about Mary Boleyn herself, along with verifying whatever other facts and claims appear in your novel, such as information about religion, costume, diet, customs, etc.
Lessen linguistic limitations
One final research-improving suggestion I’ll make is to consider learning a second language, especially if you’re writing a novel that deals with a culture whose language you don’t speak. I make this suggestion a lot, but that’s just because it has so many amazing benefits!
In the case of my own research, learning Spanish (Castellano) opened up a whole new world of facts and information that wouldn’t have been available to me if I didn’t have working proficiency in the language. Our social and historical studies in the US still tend to skew very Anglo-centric, so there is a ton of information out there that I wouldn’t have been able to access if I’d been searching for it in English. The more obscure the information is, the less likely I am to find it in my native tongue. I’m guessing this rule can be applied regardless of what the second language is.
More than that, learning a second language will open up doors to all kinds of perspectives and information that you wouldn’t otherwise have, like untranslated papers on other nations’ scientific studies or viewpoints on current events that you might not encounter in the English-speaking world. I’m not trying to argue that learning a second language is absolutely necessary for researching for fiction, but if you’re serious about integrating as much information and as many viewpoints into your work as possible, it is worth thinking about.
Remember that learning can be as fun as writing
Don’t take the above pointers as a comprehensive guide to how you should be researching. There’s far more to it. However, these are the things I’ve learned by doing, things I wasn’t taught in school, or things that weren’t self-evident to me when I first started (though they maybe should have been). Once I overcame my fumbling at the beginning, I really began to enjoy making myself a homespun expert on all information related to my novel. It’s been amazing to discover so much about so many things that I might otherwise have never gotten to learn about if I’d not decided to write a manuscript. Everyone’s research process is different, but if you stay persistent, don’t take anything for granted, and keep an open mind, your investigations can become a learning journey that’s as fun as it is productive.
