Before writing a novel, it’s essential to research the location, the period, the food, the people, and the hobbies and work of the characters. Many authors dread researching, but it can be fun! Here are a few ideas by the Ghostwriting Founder to help you research your book.
Research your book with sophistication
- Write everything you know—use your experience to write your book.
- Visit different restaurants that serve you the same food your characters would love to eat in their location.
- If you have many funds, travel to the location where you want your characters to live.
- Visit some of the museum exhibits to discover some more information about various locations and subjects.
- Take classes on different subjects your characters are interested in or have talents in.
Read to research
- Visit libraries and find authentic reference books on the subject.
- Read books in the same genre as the book you’re writing (especially bestsellers).
- Read the latest magazines and journals on the exact subject.
Use the Internet
- Watch videos on YouTube. Check for a visual image that will bring new ideas you can be added to your book.
- Do the research and see what others are saying. Make sure to review all their sources to make sure that what they are saying is reliable.
- Watch documentaries on the following subject.
- Lookout on Pinterest for inspiration, ideas, and information.
Research as you interact with others
- Call people who live in the following location your book takes place.
- Call people for interviews who have experience with the similar subjects you touch on in your book.
- Email or call the industry experts that you need to learn more about or talk to, asking them just particular questions about the topic that you wouldn’t be able to find answers to elsewhere easily.
- Watch other similar characters to your characters in any way to see how they feel, think, and talk.
Other ideas
- Write down what you have discovered and learned. You don’t have to use all the information you find. You absolutely won’t use it all. But it’s better to gather more than you will use than to have too little. Until you complete the writing process, you never know what tidbit you might have to pull in.
- Write and organize your notes in a way that makes sense to you.
- Don’t go so ahead of when you research your book that you delay writing. It may be helpful, set a time that may limit your search.
- After you start your book, if you run into something minor you need to know, you can always type XXXX as a placemark and research it later so you don’t have to bog down the writing right at a moment when your writing is flowing.
- Leave some things you researched out when you write. It’s incredibly jarring to the audience when an author halts the flow of the story to explain how something else works or what something they added beforehand means.
If it isn’t pertinent to the story and doesn’t introduce confusion by its omission, leave it out! With your research, you can make sure your characters are using the correct terms and reacting appropriately, but you don’t have to include every detail of what you researched. A little authentic flavor goes a long way.
We hope that this article by the ghost writers for hire might have given you some of the research ideas. And if you have any of your ideas to research, you can add them into these easily.
