Personal story…
When I was 29 I wasn’t happy with the direction of my life. I made a list of things I wanted to learn and do. On that list were several things including:
- Go rock climbing
- Write a novel
- Learn to mountain bike
- Live in Colorado
- Get a pug
I immediately began to work on that list.
In fact, I coupled some of the items together. The first novel I wrote (it is unpublished and completely awful, though some agents and editors were extremely kind) was about rock climbing. So I had to do some research and go rock climbing. I’ve always coupled my interests with my book research.
A few months ago I went ghost hunting because I’m writing a series about a group of female ghost hunters. (It was an absolute blast.)
Not all research is fun.
I don’t like having to pull out a map and figure out drive times and geography tidbits but I do it so that the story is authentic and believable.
Yet, I think that it is extremely important that you do enjoy the majority of the research that you do for your book. If you’re not consuming the information like a woman with PMS consumes a bowl of spaghetti and a whoopi pie – okay that’s probably just me and it isn’t pretty but hopefully you get the point – then maybe you’re writing the wrong book.
Write what you’re passionate about. Write what you want to know.
They say you should write what you know and that is true. I believe you should also write what you’re passionate about, whatever that is.
So how do you research and do you love the process or abhor it?