Researching While Writing
There is a new podcast floating on the web called 10 Minute Writer’s Workshop. It’s about writers, pretty kick-ass writers, talking about the craft of writing and their own personal writing journeys. Last evening I heard Salman Rushdie talk about his craft in his usual self-assured manner. There was three particular points that stuck with me: MFAs, reading, voice.
MFAs: There’s a never-ending debate on whether writers should or shouldn’t do MFAs. Salman’s point was that (calling him sans Rushdie is strangely distracting and masculating) MFAs and critique workshops tend to make writers sound alike. The originality is lost. He writes without showing anyone, hugging the manuscript close to his chest, editing and editing, and only when he is somewhat satisfied with the early stage novel does he release it into the world for critiquing. Fair enough.
Reading: When he writes, he reads immensely around the story. His point was never trust your memory. You think you know something? Planning to write about it? Verify it first. The more you read around the story, the further you understand your world and your characters.
Voice: Somewhat related to the the earlier point, only when he can hear the voice of his characters does he begin writing. That means he’s done enough research, he has a feel for the place. JK Rowling does this unbelievably well (I’m reading her latest Coromoron Strike novel, loving it).
You would assume that if you’re writing fiction, you don’t need to spend any time on research. I’ve learnt (the hard way) that every story needs a solid foundation of research, be it science fiction, humour, biography or even a murder-mystery. You need to understand the world where your story is set, hear the voice of the people, and understand the causal relationships between different events and time periods.
Down the Rabbit Hole
The book I’m working on currently is semi-biographical, meaning a lot of research has to be done around the story. I’ve bought a lot of books and I’ve started ‘reading around the story’, however, I can feel myself getting lost already.
I am not taking notes in an organised manner (feels too school homework-ish) but instead dog-earring pages and adding highlights (on the Kindle version of books). I’ve already read quite a bit, so I think once a week I need to revisit everything I’ve read and jot down the ‘salient points’ (ugh, so school exammy). My focus here won’t just be that event X happened in 1971 and event Y happened in 1980. It’s more to do with in this land, at this time period, what did the world look like to a commoner? How is it different from now? How is it distinctly of that time and place?
That is the macro-level research I am doing and getting trapped in. While I’m doing that I know I need to also keep working on my plot line and refining the actual story. So I need to work at this novel from both ends.
Writing while Researching
I have written under 5000 words for the new novel, and to be honest, I am struggling with writing while researching. What I initially wrote seems to be quite superficial now that I have read more. Should I wait till I do one thorough round of research or should I keep writing and refining as I keep researching? Who knows?
