Doing research isn’t always about reading a textbook on quantum physics so that your antagonist’s evil world-domination plans ring true. Sometimes it’s about visiting a certain place, interviewing someone, or hopping on Google find an article or an audio file.
Who Needs to Do Research?
Research can be helpful for all genres.
For any fiction, it can help to lend a level of realism to your work. For instance, understanding the dynamics of addiction or how to keep a souffle from imploding are things you might need to know so that a motive for murder seems realistic or a supposedly skilled chef character comes off that way to baking savvy readers.
For nonfiction related to someone’s life, such as a biography or memoir, you may interview people who knew the person or look up the dates of events to help create an accurate timeline of what was going on in the world when the person was born, got enlisted into the military, had their first grandchild, etc.
For nonfiction geared toward teaching, such as how-to guides and self-help books, finding statistics or consulting with an expert for a specialist opinion can help your work look more credible. This can increase the chances that someone is willing to trust what you say and take your guidance into consideration.
The Research Lesson
The lesson on research is now available. It’s short and sweet, giving you a few research tips to help you gather more of the information you need, swiftly, and with more accuracy. Check it out now!
