Tuesday 27 September 2011

Writing research

As I pursue writing as a serious career, I'm learning something new about the craft each day, especially as the electronic medium snowballs.  One important lesson I've learned is to put as much research into your novel as possible.  That results in better cred for your work.  If you are setting your novel in Cairns, Australia, and have never been there, start researching.  Get Google maps.  Read the local newspapers on line.  Gather local information and historical data.  You may be writing fiction but if you want to create a town from your imagination, create it from scratch.  Don't call it Cairns or anyone who lives in Cairns or has visited Cairns, will laugh at you.  Same thing applies when you are describing a real car or a plane or a gun.  Don't just wing it.  Research it so that the platform for your work of fiction, will actually support it.

2 comments:

  1. This is really useful information for up & coming writers. It is no use writing novels which are not credible.

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  2. They tell me I'm a bad blogger because I don't blog. That makes sense. My last blog was written in 2011 when I had published just 2 books I think. Now I've published 24 and well into number 25. My book sales are well over quarter of a million (which is bugger all when compared to some other writers) but it pays the bills! I have found the key to increased sales is just to keep writing and keep publishing. Never stop. Sit down every chance you can and write. Pull ideas out of the deepest corners of your mind. The KEY is that if you have stories in you, others may get enjoyment from those stories and if I've learned and been excited by anything since 2011 it is the fact that I have entertained thousands of people who I don't even know and who live all over the world. That is worth more than money to me. I've made people laugh, cry, reflect and be entertained. There is no greater honour in a world full of pain.

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