Radcon Report: Research Panel

You're writing along, when suddenly you need to know how a primitive firearm works, or what fabrics were available, or whether there's water on Mars. Discuss what matters, what's distraction, and what your reader really wants from a writer's research. (with Esther Jones, Jeanette Bennett, Peter Jones, and S. Evan Townsend)

It was a pleasure to sit with so many authors who take research seriously.
High on everyone's list was figuring out the source of, for example, Wikipedia entries and getting the information directly instead of in a diluted and possibly interpreted/biased form. Forums are also a great place to do research! Reading about the issues that professionals and passionate amateurs argue about will help you learn about what is important to an expert on the subject you're interested in.
We also mentioned significant negatives. For example, revolvers don't have safeties, but if you do research on firearms, you might never notice that because no one comes out and says it. So if you want to get something right and not end up losing your reader over a dumb incorrect negative detail, it becomes important to have an SME (Subject Matter Expert) to have a look over the relevant sections of your book.

An audience member asked how to contact an SME and if I'm recalling correctly I believe she wanted to know if it was hard or expensive. It really isn't. SMEs are experts because they love their subject, and will be happy to discuss it with you, usually free of charge. Having said that, the one thing you have to respect is their time. Everyone is busy, but most especially many SMEs are busy working in their field, or if its a hobby, that hobby will take up a lot of time in addition to their day jobs. So, when you contact an SME be super-organized and as specific as possible with your questions. If you ask them to read something to check your facts, don't expect them to read the whole book. And be sure to ask for references that they respect. They'll often have favorite books or forums they'll point you toward, or may even have written books that might be of use to you.

We all agreed that you can end up running down a rabbit hole when it comes to research, at which point you're not writing one damned word. My recommendation was to research in advance only those things that are critical to the plot, like weather, physics, political and social climate, technical issues with machines/technology, major players in the time/region, and major events. Everything else: costumes, food, jewelry, the favored games of the period, and whether a phone came in pink or green for a given year you can look up later if it turns out you're going to keep that detail in. We all have our own system for marking a place that we needed to research a detail. I use XXXX when I need to fact check something, and I keep writing. It only makes sense, right? Otherwise you're always going to be throwing yourself out of your writing flow, plus you might end up rewriting or outright eliminating the chapter. Don't waste time.

I found out, btw, that I write blackpowder fantasies. Who knew? 🙂

We also all agreed that you don't want to put all of your research into the book, nor do you want weird, often irrelevent-seeming details that crop up simply because you thought they were cool. So, two characters discussing wine (very) briefly in the midst of a flirtatious encounter is sexy. The two characters going into a long discussion about French vs. California wines in the 1970s … not so much. Now we're basically listening to a lecture and the story is gone.

One part of the discussion that I wanted to be there and I was happy everyone jumped on was with direct, real life experience. Not everyone is so lucky to live near a working replica of a period square-rigged sailing ship complete with cannons, but I do and you can bet that I've sailed on her on several of their river romps where they engage in mock combat with their sister ship. (That would be The Lady Washington. Highly recommended!) I like going to cultural fairs. There's really no better way to see Greek, Czech, German, Chinese or whatever culture without traveling around the world. Of course you're going to see a version of that culture that's not 'pure' (and is that really what you're aiming for?) but hey, you'll get to taste the food, witness traditional dance, hear the traditional music, and if you're friendly and respectful, you might find out what that community cares about.

Quick note: read up on cultural appropriation, and then don't appropriate. Be respectful, and don't portray other cultures in a way that they'll find offensive. Thanks!

I gravitate toward sources where there's arguing. I guess I must enjoy contrary people. 🙂 But actually, I have good reason. If a restaurant advertises 'authentic' Lebanese food, I may take it for granted but I won't trust that's true. If, however, in the reviews people are arguing about whether it's as good as what they had in so and so region or if the food is obviously more like something you'd find in Damascus (Syria) and it's clearly not 'real' Lebanese food, I'm totally going to accept the flavors there as pretty representative of the region. People don't bother squabbling over the details unless they have a vested interest in getting things perfectly right (and of course some of them are just trying to be more expert than the experts) and the fact that they're discussing it at all means the restaurant is going to be pretty damned close if not perfect for what you need for your research.

And yes, engage all the senses in your research. Reading is great, but smelling the smoke after firing a flintlock firearm is worth a hundred books. Looking at Van Gogh paintings with your own eyes is going to give you a better sense of the artist than looking at prints.

Speaking of art: museums all over the world hire experts to talk about their displays and almost no one uses them. They're paid to feed you all the information you'd want to know about their subject. So please, stop and ask the nice lady about the human development display at OMSI. Discuss 1940s flight at the flight museum. Pester the zoo keepers about the number one issue with keeping captive elephants. And when you're at the county fair, chat with the blacksmith at the period technologies booth or talk to the 80 year old standing by the tractors about the tractors he drove when he was young. He might even tell you about his favorite radio show, and it might not be the one everyone else was listening to.

Your research should inspire you to write. And then, you must write!

Next time: Fantasy Coloring Books for Adults