Research - Can't Write Without It

As I get ready to embark once again on a journey through NaNoWriMo, research is hitting me over the head once again. Because the book I've been working on (and will be continuing to work on) is based on historical fact, research comes very much to the forefront of my own story. But what about those people who write about worlds, times, or characters that don't exist in our common lives? Do these authors also do research? What about books that are personality dependent - conversations between two or more individuals? Or fairy stories? What about children's books? Do these require research too?

Library research used to entail many books and long hours. The internet helps,
but the hours still have to be put in. 

I don't think that much gets pulled onto the page without some background knowledge. If the author is inventing a new world - fantasy or science fiction - that world still has to have dimension, landscape, physical rules and inhabitants. These things might be completely new, but they must exist to give the book its foundation. In fact, world-building and research for these types of novels is often more crucial to success than placing your story in the familiar world you currently inhabit.

Having a new world allows an author the freedom to design that
world, but the physical realities of the world still need to be remembered
while writing even if they are never enumerated for the reader. 

In science fiction you, as an author, need to define the world you will focus on. Is it larger or smaller? What is the gravity? Land? Water? Or is it a planet at all? Maybe it is the journey to reach the planet that is the story. In that case, what is the transport? How many people? How large of a vessel? How many years will the journey take? That's just scratching the surface, but as an author you have to know the background to write the tale.

If you want a unicorn in the forest, you'd best make sure you're not
placing your story in the middle of a desert. 

In fantasy, what kind of landscape are you dealing with. Do you have impenetrable forests and steep cliffs? How about swamps and deserts? Are there castles and defensive structures? If so, what are they defending against? Are you going to deal with the entire world? A nation? A town? What is the government of the land and what are the politics? Yup - still have to do research and groundwork.

The doomed interaction between Frankenstein's Monster and the
Little Girl is a classic. His inability to reason leads to the potential
for great horror here in a bucolic scene. 

Mary Shelley never imagined she would be writing about a man bringing a construct to life in "Doctor Frankenstein's Monster", but she had a minimum of world-building ahead of her by placing it in a hinterland but with somewhat modern technology. Her world was already in existence and familiar to her readers, leaving her free to create her monster and focus on his creation and interaction with others.

Students in a school bus can lead to a great story such as Rainbow Rowell's
"Eleanor and Park".

So a familiar world - one of school buses, cars and ear buds, would allow an author writing a story based in present-day Cincinnati - to write about two boys in school discovering their personal life goals and deep friendship without having to define their exterior world. In cases like this, simple knowledge of the city might be all that is necessary for a firm framework.

A shaky foundation can lead to a plot that collapses under the stress. Make
sure to do your research carefully before constructing your story. 

So as I grab my research and re-familiarize myself with the history of my own novel, I urge you to think about the worlds in which you write. What are the basic foundations? What are the physical facts? In fan-fiction it's easy to start relying on secondary sources and other fan-fiction you've enjoyed, adding those elements to your own stories. But is that a true foundation based firmly on the original work? No - that's a construct. Dig deeper and find the true foundation. Then build upon that for stories that sing with a faithful song. Happy Thursday to all.