I haven't posted anything in forever but I wasn't doing nothing either. I decided to forget about all the ideas I had for now and focus on what I was, and still am, figuring out all this time. Details.
When I first told someone that I was writing stories I heard, "oh, but it must be hard! All the research you have to do... It's a very hard job." To that, I said that there was no hard work because I had my imagination. Why would I ever need to research anything?
And boy was I wrong!
Details are important in stories. If you pay attention, you can see them stuffed in the action books. Authors use the knowledge that is already there to make the story more realistic and if you know where to look, you can see that the strategy used in your favourite book is often used in real life, and is one of the most successful ones. Or that herb someone uses to heal a wounded person, it's real and used in medicine. Some details go unnoticed. Some play a bigger part. Readers don't have to know that one little thing was real, because if they think about it, they'll say, "okay, it makes sense." Other readers might actually notice that little thing and point it out, have the satisfaction of having the knowledge used in the book.
Now a story written without any research might be a good one, but if you have to make things up, there will always be a person who'll point some things out, some mistakes you could avoid with a little help of the internet or a book. There'll always be a reader with knowledge who'll ask, "why is that character still alive?", "No, that's impossible! Why aren't they caught yet?". Not to mention that research simply makes life easier. When you know what you're writing about, well, it's easier to actually write.
That is why it's important to write about something interesting for you - you'll probably have to spend some time on research.
Now when it comes to details, I think there's a way to group them. At least I did so my life was easier. There are research details and creative details. That probably says nothing so I'll just explain. "Research details" are the details you learn from your research and use while writing your story. Those can be facts about elephants or an easy way to knock someone out. Maybe battle strategies or the tricks super spies use. I know that for some people the idea of sitting in front of a computer and on a pile of books might not be appealing, but fortunately, there's a way that might be a little more enjoyable. YouTube. There are tons of YouTube channels and not all of them are telling the truth but I found something that helps with details such as blood loss or archery or even cooking.
On Insider or GQ you can find break down videos. "Pro chef breaks down cooking scenes from movies", "airline pilot breaks down airplane scenes from movies", "ER doctor breaks down movie injuries". There are videos like that about sword fighting or heists! To be honest, I watched those for fun. And then I noticed all the details in books that I knew were true. Because funnily enough, there was a lot of those and they only made the story cooler. "Creative details" are all the details you come up with yourself. Those can be about the characters or places if you're writing your own world. Seems easy enough? Well, depends on the story, I've been working on my creative details for a while now. I figured that I can't write my story without having its world all figured out so I started working. I still haven't finished. Some people might say that I'm going overboard with this but I decided to have everything figured out and written down. Every single detail I thought I might someday use. Now I had, still have, a lot on my plate. Because the world of my book isn't a city or a country, not even a whole planet. I decided to go with the universe. Lot's of galaxies, stars, planets. Now to have every single detail? Challenging. So I started with the universe itself. If I had to draw a map, how would it look in general? (Nope, I'm not gonna draw every single galaxy... I think. For now, I'm satisfied with its borders, centre, the space in between.) I had to figure out how the universe was created, what exactly was in its centre and how (and why) it got there. Then I decided to try with culture. Of the whole universe. So I decided to start with the ancient times (since they're important when it comes to culture). I'm not working too hard on the first civilisations tho, I only need the basics. And the language (hey! It'll be important!) on which I'm still working. Because damn, it's hard work! When I finish that, I'll probably start working on the main character's country and city, the culture and language. I want to have those details because even if she's travelling most of her life, those things stay. And then I'll work on the rest of the crew, in less detail but I still need some.
So as you see, how many creative details you'll need depends on your story and its world. Since I decided to make my life harder and I like the idea I have for the story too much to change it, I have a lot of work ahead of me. But some stories might need less of that, of creative thinking, and more of facts - research details. But one thing for sure, every story needs details. So good luck with yours, and wish me luck with mine! That language I'm creating is really killing me...
Comments