Research

Have you had to do research for something you're writing? I mean, aside from school or some sort of work related task? How did you go about it? Where did you draw your information? How did you cite it? Did you create a bibliography, using parenthetical notation or some other methodology? Did you even credit to your sources?

I have an ongoing research project for a trilogy I'm working on. I've used Wikipedia, but mainly as a source for articles, journals and books to reference. I've used Google-Maps to print large scale and detailed closeups of the area where a significant portion of the story occurs. I've also downloaded hundreds of pictures of the terrain, flora, fauna and architecture so I can accurately describe the region.

I used the local library to find countless reference books and more journal articles, copying, transcribing and committing to memory the parts I needed. And I have sorely abused my husbands trust in our financial management by ordering book after book after book from Amazon.

And here's what I learned: research can do funny things to the book you think you're writing. I started off with a very clear vision in my head, but the more I researched and made notes, the more the story grew and expanded. The more I thought I cleared plot lines, the more I realized I had to go back and perform MORE research.

Things like not being able to accurately depict how a soldier would act in a specific situation when it's abundantly clear how much society has changed in the past hundred years. It's impossible for someone from our generation to really understand the psyche of a soldier from World War I or even World War II. We are a different country, a different people, a different world.

I didn't realize this until I read the following:

"The hard truth was that human beings had never been slaughtered in such numbers or so rapidly as in this hideous war. Nor with less to show for it. The machine gun, automatic rifles, massed artillery, poison gas, flamethrowers, the airplane, and the tank made a mockery of old-style textbook stratagems and old-style battlefield heroics." 

(McCullough, David. Truman. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992).

The reading of this one paragraph changed my outlook on the entire book and sent me digging for my reference material. Because I got IT.  That mysterious IT that makes us want to write something meaningful, something prosaic and greater than ourselves. The IT that makes us want to dig deeper, work harder, longer, more fervently than we have before. IT. The argument. The SOURCE of our inspiration.

I finally realized, research has a means beyond our immediate goals. It transcends the basic need to flush out dialogue, scenery, time, place, etc. It becomes more than the background - it becomes the heart, soul and body of many of our stories. Not all, certainly. Not every story. But for me, it became so much more than my original concept. So much more than I had dreamed of. It became it's own story, and I'm simply the device transcribing it for the masses.

Research. It does some interesting things to your head - and your plot line!

Have a great weekend!

Shorts, Serials and Novellas...

I was chatting (via email) with a friend the other day about my new short story and she asked "What does one do with a short story? And what are these 'serials' I keep hearing about?"

Now, realizing that I am older than dirt and not everyone was around when paper was scarce and books weren't always published in full, 330 page, beautifully bound and typeset fullness, I thought it would be a good topic for today's post.

So, Short Stories first: Short Stories are just that - short. They can be as few as 50 or 100 words (really!) and as long as...well, pretty long. Generally around 20-30,000 words. The main attribute is the ability to adequately define a singlular mood, act or observation completely, often with a surprising twist in charactor or action. For a good description, go here: http://www.menrath-online.de/documents/shortst2.pdf. Hemmingway, London, Poe and others began their careers writing short stories for publication well before they were considered by the big publishing houses.

If you've got a Short Story squirelled away and don't know what to do with it, here's a list of literary magazines that are always looking for fresh work. Oh, did I mention that a huge number of agents read these pubs in search of new talent? Yeah, bonus points!

Serials are a little foggier, and have only recently become popular again. When our parents or grandparents were younger (yes, even I'm not THAT old), they were one of the more common sources of fiction, especially westerns and adventure story novels. Those old radio shows like "The Shadow" and "Lone Ranger?" Yup - serial (or serialized) stories. They would often be published one chapter at a time in magazines or newspapers, the authors later becoming popular enough for a publisher to combine all the chapters into a single, bound edition. Sarah Fine does a great job of semi-serializing in her regular additions to Malachi's Journal on her Guards of the Shadowlands page.

The most recognizable names echo the Victorian period when they first became popular: Dickens, Eliot, Hardy and Stevenson. Here's a great post about why authors should consider serializing their novels: http://writersforensicsblog.wordpress.com/2013/03/03/guest-blogger-kim-willington-turning-your-novel-into-a-serial/

Novellas are something harder to describe - longer than a short story, but shorter than a Novel. They may be bits and pieces of a novel that were edited out during the revision process, but still have a compelling subject and plot. They may be complete, stand alone pieces that refused further jerry-mandering and remain too lean to sit alone on the shelf. A great post on why Novella's are making a comeback can be found here:
http://writersforensicsblog.wordpress.com/2013/03/03/guest-blogger-kim-willington-turning-your-novel-into-a-serial/.

I, for one, believe the growth of e-books and the agonizing wait for sequals to favorite first and second books in series has had a direct affect on the demand (thus the supply - sorry, I have a minor in economics) for Novellas. In fact, I hold Rae Carson and Sarah Fine personally responsible for my own insatiable need to read Something, Anything related to their books while I chew my fingernails to bits and overindulge in all my indulges until their next books come out.

Who knows, maybe someday, somewhere, someone will eagerly await my shorts and serials as I struggle valiantly to complete the next book in my series!

Happy Wednesday, or as we say around here: Happy Pre-Friday-Eve!