Wow.
Just.
Wow.
Usually I'm the type of person that sides along with the others that say they can't stand a story that shows there was little or no research put into it. And - don't get me wrong here - I still stand by the opinion that a good story has to be about something you understand.
But today, as I'm sitting here writing up a plot for my next big project, I've found that doing something? Yeah, it's a lot harder than it sounded when I was snubbing my nose at other people who didn't seem to know what the heck they where talking about. I mean, I've spent the last few hours researching and looking up almost everything from processes investigators go through to get warrants and solve crimes to whatever little tools they use to do their fingerprintin' doohickey jobs. I've looked up names of positions in companies, names of towns and cities and neighborhoods, different cars and the effects of alcohol (heh, because I don't drink and I want my descriptions to be realistic. Can you blame me? I should hope not.) and so much more. And I this is just to aid me in my character and setting creation!
It's insane!
Since I've only ever written stories set in a fantasy world - aside from Scream, which didn't take of anyways - I never really realized how time consuming the research for some story writing actually was.
But now that I'm done complaining and letting you guys know how close I am to both exhaustion and insanity due to screen-staring, I will say this: That I am most certain that all of this will pay of in the long run, and help me be able to give you guys a believable and original story. Check for it soon if you can. :]
~CI
PS. Feel free to tell me about how you feel about the job of researching for a story. Is it worth it? Do you think that everything should just be made up for the sake of creativity anyways? How do you feel about stories based on real life situations that aren't researched and therefor "incorrect" in some way or another.
I love opinions and insight.
Concerning the tedious job of "researching" for your story...
September 3rd, 2009 at 02:17am