Plotting and Planning
The Balance Between Research And Writing
‘Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you are doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing.’
This great quote by the author E.L Doctorow makes me smile, because it highlights the difficulty that writers often have in finding the right balance between the need to research their subject and the time to start writing. Those of us who love the research will often find it’s a wonderful way of putting off the inevitable, the day you sit down and start out on your journey with your characters. Of course this is being simplistic because it doesn’t really happen one day. Ideas take time to mature and blossom and the research and writing usually go hand in hand, each nudging the other on a little. Let’s be honest the whole process of writing a book usually takes years as well as considerable amount of sweat and tears. But anyone who writes will also find it a process that gives enormous pleasure and a deep sense of satisfaction.
Clearly the research-writing balance does depend on the type of book that you are writing. If it is pure fantasy then little may be required but if it’s historical fiction or based on some real life events it is absolutely essential to get under the skin of your subject first. Every writer will approach their books differently and it’s a matter of working out the best approach for you.
Writing Resolutions: My Goals for 2012 - Catherine Ryan Howard
When Writing.ie first asked me to write something about my writing goals for 2012, my first thought was, “Oh, that’s easy. My writing goal for 2012 is the same as my writing goal for 2011, for 2010—in fact, for every year of the last ten. All I want is to get published.”
But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that actually, making something like “get published” your goal for the coming year isn’t a good idea. It’s potentially a very bad one. Because some Fairy (Editor) Godmother swooping down with a contract for a two-book deal is beyond my control. Yes, I can do things that can improve the chances of it happening, but I can’t make it happen. It’s not something achievable by me and me alone, and therefore it’s not a goal. It’s more of a dream, or an aspiration. A best case scenario. And setting yourself anything other than achievable goals is the surest way to finish up your writing year feeling like a failure.
Take my 2011, for instance. Twelve months ago, I did what I always do on New Year’s Eve: I wrote down my goals for the year ahead. The only writing-related one was “Get published.”
Read more: Writing Resolutions: My Goals for 2012 - Catherine Ryan Howard
Location, Location, Location - Michelle Jackson
Any good property expert will tell you that location is the most important consideration before going to buy a house but for me it is crucial in finding the plot, characters and inspiration for my books! Where to start is the key and I usually let serendipity lend a hand with this matter. For all my books, I have used my own personal travels to set the scene for each novel. So planning a family holiday or weekend away with the girls may well be the starting point for my next story.
I like to write a book in the present and, if possible, reflect what is going on around me socially. This is why my book ‘Three Nights in New York’ was written at a time when people were travelling in their hundreds of thousands to the big apple to shop! My current novel ‘4am in Las Vegas’ came about after I met the NYC tourist board and they suggested that I take on Vegas as my next destination. I was never drawn to visit Las Vegas and it never struck me as a place that I would enjoy – to date I had written about Biarritz and Havana and found myself easily immersed in the culture and landscape of those two beautiful cities.
Ellen McCarthy - Writing Hooks
Intrigue and suspense are the tent poles of a good crime novel. No other genre relies so heavily on hooking in the reader from the start. You cannot have a slow burning crime novel, it just does not work. Understanding and doing are two different things. With that in mind, we asked Poolbeg Crimson author Ellen McCarthy to tell us how.
So you want to write a book and the question playing on your mind is where do I start? With a strong character, a vivid scene or as Stephen King says, start with a ‘what if’ question? I think Mr King is on to something because there are so many situations we have all faced on a daily basis that could have gone horribly wrong; those squirming little fears that burrow into our brains making us jump at shadows – what if I got into the wrong car when I hitched as a kid? Why is that person sitting directly behind me in the cinema when the theatre is completely empty? The more innocuous these moments seem; the more frightful the potential consequences.
Research Matters - Patricia O'Reilly
‘To write it, it took three months; to conceive it—three minutes; to collect the data in it—all my life.’
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Research, whether major or minor, is a vital part of writing. There is nothing mysterious about research. It simply involves knowing where to get relevant information that you, as the writer, require. It is particularly important in non-fiction to be able to source relevant material, whereas one of the cardinal rules of writing fiction is not to allow research to dominate or to intrude. Fiction should be story-led not research-led
A generally quoted statistic is that for every 1000 words you write on a subject with which you're not familiar and which requires research, you are going to need in the region of 5000 words of research.
The way we writers research is as varied as the way we structure and write our short stories, novels and plays. Be open to discovering what best suits you. By trial and error I’ve found the following method to be both time efficient and effective.
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