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TnT: Researching
Dec. 11th, 2010 12:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pipisafoatReminder: the current topic can be found here and is due on Monday at 10 pm GMT/5 pm EST. Take up the challenge!
Research. It's something nearly every story needs, and certainly something for every novel. Cultural information. Science. Philosophy. It all depends on your characters and setting, but even an extreme fantasy story needs some basis in reality to be accessible to its readers. How do you do research? I know some people research everything they think they might need before they start writing. Others stop mid-sentence to look things up. Others mark the place where they need the information and come back to fill it in later, after they finish the chapter or story. Perhaps more useful to the rest of us, where do you like to look things up or who do you ask when you have questions? I know of a couple communities on LiveJournal geared towards helping writers with their research, but they're very slow and not active. Share your favorite sources!
Research. It's something nearly every story needs, and certainly something for every novel. Cultural information. Science. Philosophy. It all depends on your characters and setting, but even an extreme fantasy story needs some basis in reality to be accessible to its readers. How do you do research? I know some people research everything they think they might need before they start writing. Others stop mid-sentence to look things up. Others mark the place where they need the information and come back to fill it in later, after they finish the chapter or story. Perhaps more useful to the rest of us, where do you like to look things up or who do you ask when you have questions? I know of a couple communities on LiveJournal geared towards helping writers with their research, but they're very slow and not active. Share your favorite sources!