Do Your Research! (Researh for Worldbuilding and Storytelling)

[Mistdork]

This is one of my personal sayings, probably because research is one of those things I "do" as a historian...or so they tell us; half of history is research, half is opinion, and half is spinning stories that make some sense. The truth is, of course, that we can't do math to save our lives...that's why we chose history, not science.

 

Anyway, what I wanted to talk about today is research, and how it applies to creative crafts. Ironically, research for world building or a story has always boggled my mind. While I find conducting research on a topic for a class, a paper, or an article quite easy, I already have a direction for this. It's in my study area (modern U.S. history), it relates to my interests, and I already have a set path to some extent. I know where to find good materials and I also know where to get more materials from if the need arises. As long as it's my area, I'm pretty set.

 

Yet, whenever I even consider (briefly) worldbuilding or going back and writing a story I pause in fright at the mountainous research required to write a story that wouldn't relate to my...errr..."special interests". Even though I know how to research properly, researching in an unfamiliar area is somewhat frightening. There just seems like so many things and directions to look into. From culinary practices, to how this or that ethnic group's farming techniques in this or that period, to music styles, to their history, to scientific practices/medical practices that were common in that culture (Arabs washed their hands in the middle ages a practice that was deeply influenced by Islamic ritual cleansing), to how does my magic system tie into economics, culture, history, religions, and physics! Such things as that.

 

The topics for research seem insurmountable. When I do research for some topic (let's say philanthropy in modern America) I need to learn the terms, how it relates to economics, and such things as that, but it never seems this downright crazy. It's narrow and given to me in a nice, neat package even though I probably spend quite a bit of time researching a few philanthropists and what makes them tic (so to speak). Instead of rambling on, I'll offer a list of questions to get the ball rolling (but you don't have to answer them):

 

• How does one organize the vast numbers of topics into something isn't overwhelming? That list is far from exhaustive, and, while no one is going to really care about what your farming techniques are (unless it's a story about farmers fighting giant shadow monsters from the nether), some of these topics aren't that important. Still, a lot of them are important, which leads me to my next question...
• How does one know when enough is enough and what kind of topics one should really focus on? What parts would you say are the most important? When does "rule of cool" out weight "rule of correct"?
• If you've done this type of research, how have you organized it? Is there a system that you personally use or have seen other use? Say, if one knew that they want to tell a story where the main character is military in a certain period (Enlightenment; that is, 16th to 17th C Prussia, per example) or a "doctor" in Japan in the same time period (Edo period), how would you go about writing that without being overwhelmed (or cultures similar to that)?

 

In short, I just want to encourage discussion on research and advice on how to do it, I guess...

Edited February 10, 2015 by Nymp

[Talanic]

This is one of my personal sayings, probably because research is one of those things I "do" as a historian...or so they tell us; half of history is research, half is opinion, and half is spinning stories that make some sense. The truth is, of course, that we can't do math to save our lives...that's why we chose history, not science.

/quote

 

• How does one organize the vast numbers of topics into something isn't overwhelming? That list is far from exhaustive, and, while no one is going to really care about what your farming techniques are (unless it's a story about farmers fighting giant shadow monsters from the nether), some of these topics aren't that important. Still, a lot of them are important, which leads me to my next question...
• How does one know when enough is enough and what kind of topics one should really focus on? What parts would you say are the most important? When does "rule of cool" out weight "rule of correct"?
• If you've done this type of research, how have you organized it? Is there a system that you personally use or have seen other use? Say, if one knew that they want to tell a story where the main character is military in a certain period (Enlightenment; that is, 16th to 17th C Prussia, per example) or a "doctor" in Japan in the same time period (Edo period), how would you go about writing that without being overwhelmed (or cultures similar to that)?

 

Good evening, fellow historian/storyteller!  I'll see what I can do (although I'm a little tired and might be slightly incoherent).

 

I limit my focus to things that I can directly relate to my characters in a relevant manner.  This is a stylistic choice; my writing in general tends to be kind of spartan, with little description.  I look around, I craft my characters with enough to handle a ten minute summary of their lives, and I only dig deeper if I need to because things came up.

 

For example.  In my latest story, characters of myth turn out to be real people, some still alive in the modern day.  One of them is Scheherazade.  I looked for sources on her actual existence (turns out her appearance in Arabian Nights is a reference to a possibly-entirely-mythical Persian queen from about 400 BCE) and backed up.  Instead of studying her directly, I took some broad strokes from the culture and the events of the time (if she existed, she would have been a Zoroastrian, and she would have lost her kingdom to Alexander the Great, for example) and worked that into her backstory.   But that's character research, and I think you're more interested in setting research.

 

As far as the second question goes, I think that actually writing the tale has to take precedence.  I think that a good way to do it is to read a number of sources to the point that you've got a good grasp of what you're talking about, then only stop to research more if you run into a gap in your knowledge.  The problem is that what you and I consider a good grasp is going to have a gap - remember, in a fictional tale, you're peddling an illusion, not crafting a bridge.  Sometimes you need to stop for sanity's sake.  

 

I'm reminded of an article I read about a science fiction author who was lauded for coming up with a pidgin language that his characters referred to as 'Lingo' - sadly, I'm not aware of the actual work or the author's name.  The author's response was that he'd made no more than a hundred or so words for the story; enough to give the impression that he'd made a full, real language.  It worked, the readers loved it, and he didn't go insane trying to create rules of grammar for humans to follow ten thousand years in the future.  

 

And for your third question, I'm afraid I'm the wrong person to ask - I cheat by bringing the characters out of their time period and into either the modern era or realms of my own making.  

[Endurant Archivist]

I'll tackle your second question. Enough is enough when you can build a story without constantly stopping to do more research. A pretty good rule would be that 1/10 of your research will appear in your story. This might vary person to person. The rest of the 9/10 is all background but crucial to your understanding. The 1/10 only works well if you understand why it's there, which means you need the rest. 

 

I wouldn't overdo the worldbuilding. I would write the plot out or brainstorm the ideas you want in your story (but seriously, write the beginning, middle and end to your story too, it helps a lot). Then research from there.