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Post A Note > The Forum  > Open Question Week > Too much research?
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Author Topic: Too much research?  (Read 490 times)
Sundale
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« on: June 02, 2012, 06:38:30 AM »
Can you do that?  I'm beginning to think you can.

In my story about wolves, I've tried hard to make them seam like, well, wolves.  But lately, I'm coming across so many details I'm not sure it's really helping.  For one thing, I've read about three different descriptions of the beta's job.  Who's right?  Then there's the different meanings behind wolf howls, more pack structure, hunting traits (including one detail I left out on purpose since it almost made me queasy), how often members leave or enter a pack.... my mind is starting to recoil screaming, "We're writing a fiction novel not a biological profile!"

Can you dig up too much?  Is there a point where you say, "this is good enough"?

I welcome any and all thoughts.  Thanks for the time.

P.S.  If you want to know what the detail I left out is, I'll PM you.  Just don't eat before you read it, as a precaution.
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lizbeth
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« Reply #1 on: June 02, 2012, 08:28:12 AM »
I think you can. When I wrote my novel I went into way too much detail about my POV character's divorce; I mean facts---what the lawyer said, NY state laws, etc. I cut that all out. All my readers need to know is her divorce became final. Leave out what does not move your story forward. And another note - never say "fiction novel", agents hate that, a novel is fiction! Smiley  Smiley  Hope that helps!!
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Marly
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« Reply #2 on: June 02, 2012, 04:37:59 PM »

I agree.  I think you can include too much research into your story.  As a reader, I tend to start skipping sections when the details seem to get in the way of the story or bog it down.  As a writer, it’s sometimes difficult knowing just how much to include.  You want to draw the reader in, but not overwhelm or bore them.  I’m still working on finding that balance myself.  Bottom line, it’s your story and you need to feel satisfied with it when you’re done.  If you feel it’s enough, leave it.  If you’re not satisfied with it, you can always add stuff later.
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MaryR
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« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2012, 12:13:15 AM »
Oh, gosh, research is a double edged sword!   Not only can you get lost in it for ...literally....decades, so that the book never actually gets written, but you can also try to cram all that good stuff into the story, drowning the story. Way back when, when I was just starting out, I set a story in the Victoria Valley in Antarctica.  I was SO in love with what I found out about Antarctica that I wrote this incredibly bloated story, stuffing in all that good stuff,  My writers group at the time was not impressed. To put it mildly.   I crept off, tail between legs, cut about 2/3 and sold the story to Asimov's. It has been reprinted in various anthologies and is the only story of mine that got made into a movie (Indie, not Hollywood).  The details I cut got used in a novel and other short stories. They were GREAT details, just too much for the story. 

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Brandon
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« Reply #4 on: June 05, 2012, 11:48:10 AM »
So much depends on your audience.  If you hope your novel sells to die hard bird watchers, you'd better know the difference between a Blue Jay and a Bluebird (whether Eastern, Western, or Mountain).  Instead of saying binoculars, your character might be using a pair of Nikon Monarch binoculars.

On the flipside, if you have a more midstream audience, the tech words slow the flow, and if they have to actively think about what something is (when in all essence it doesn't matter- even if it does matter to you), then you're sacrificing the house's foundation for the sake of decoration.
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MaryR
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« Reply #5 on: June 07, 2012, 12:35:10 AM »
That's so true, Brandon.  :-)  And if you write for SF audiences, your book will leave most non SF readers floundering.   Wink

Mary Rosenblum LR Web Editor
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Humi
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« Reply #6 on: June 07, 2012, 11:53:16 AM »
i agree with Brandon too.

reminds me of Jurassic Park. its PACKED with info. now i dont know and cant even tell how much is true since its all genetic engineering that i have no clue of whatsoever except that they needed a DNA to clone polly. i think. anywya...point is i looooooooved reading that book cuz it made me feel the writer KNEW IT ALL! and he needed to write that way to prove his we can have dinosaurs back theory or else his story wud've been...lame.

i'm wondering abt the detail u left out tho. is it the one where they sit in the circle during no-food times and eat the one who dozes off first? Tongue
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Marzipan
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« Reply #7 on: June 07, 2012, 01:40:24 PM »
Humi and Brandon make a lot of sense. One other thing - I have heard that you should know buckets more about your characters than you need to reveal. I have a feeling it's probably the same with research. You should probably know a ton, but that doesn't mean you need to teach your readers everything you've learned. You make certain you know your stuff so that your story is viable and realistic. If you come across conflicting (but equally valid) theories, maybe the best thing to do is just pick the one that works best for your story.
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Sundale
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« Reply #8 on: June 07, 2012, 01:59:49 PM »
Thanks for all the advice and responses.  I think I know where to go now.

And Humi, I'll PM you that missing detail.  Just don't say I didn't warn you.
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Humi
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« Reply #9 on: June 07, 2012, 03:11:06 PM »
agreeing with Marzipan too Smiley

and EWWWWWWWWWWW!! LOLLLL! i read ur mssg Sun! yeah u did warn me Wink
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MaryR
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« Reply #10 on: June 08, 2012, 12:59:31 AM »
Yeah, you do need to know LOTS and restrain yourself from putting that LOTS into the story or it'll feel like a bio lecture.  As to Jurassic Park, I'm snickering.  My friend, who is the head of the bio department at a community college and myself, with a solid bio-science background, took my sons to see Jurassic Park when it came out. They were like middle school age. It was a drive in fortunately.  She and I kept yelling Nooooo, that's Wroooong! because they botched the science so much.  My sons finally kicked us out of the car.  But hey, if you don't know, he made it sound as if he DID know. That is the key.

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« Reply #11 on: June 08, 2012, 04:07:34 AM »
So funny Mary. When you see something so wrong you really do want to scream. I was at a client's house and there on the table was a booklet with the title Missionary Nurse in Papua New Guinea also a picture of the lady nursing twin pikikinis. Then I read the author's name and OMG I went to school with her. She lived just down the street. Fifty years ago. I couldn't contain myself and started reading about the work she did as a missionary nurse. I cracked up laughing when I saw that 'the natives chewed beetle nut.' So so wrong it's betel nut. To someone who didn't know any different it wouldn't matter to someone who knows it does matter.
There's a few scenes in the Castaway movie starring Tom Hanks that my daughters' kept saying 'well that's wrong.' Something to do the coconut.
Ann
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MaryR
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« Reply #12 on: June 08, 2012, 06:14:48 PM »
And here we have the razor edge of research:  DO you become the world expert so that you make NO mistakes? Or do you get it 90% right so that most of your readers are happy and only the experts tear their hair yelling 'noooooo, you're wrooooong!'?

 Wink

So whadda YOU think?

Mary Rosenblum LR Web Editor
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Humi
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« Reply #13 on: June 08, 2012, 07:33:04 PM »
i'm laughing u guys! reminds me of HOUSE.

every time it aired my hubby wud sit up as if he's abt to take out a hammer and smash the TV to a pulp cuz of the diagnosis House and his cronies do Cheesy i literally had to contain him by hogging the remote for that hour - and Lord help us if it was a back-to-back episodes day!

but then again if they hadnt got the character of the internist right, my husband wudnt have watched it. he says if a physician knows his stuff - thats the attitude he'd have.

i believe him Wink
and i guess thats the 90% factor right there!
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Marly
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« Reply #14 on: June 08, 2012, 07:48:58 PM »
I firmly believe we should research until we become experts so that we make no mistakes.  I also believe it’s not necessary to breathe in order to keep living.  Cheesy 

I think 90% still seems a little high… as long as I don’t get it *all* wrong, I’m okay, right??  (now ducking) 

Actually, I think as long as the expert only has to raise an eyebrow once or twice you might be good.  That’s what I’m striving for, though I don’t think I’m quite there yet.  (And love the stories, Mary and Humi, too funny!) 
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