The Importance of Research




One of the things that deter debut novelists is the thought of research. Do we write about what we know or do we research our subjects? 

My first novel, Under the Pipal Tree (to be published) was fairly easy to research as it is set in India, a place I grew up in. All I had to do was write about what I already knew and then email friends and family about the current prices of things and certain brands. The rest I googled − for example, the location and relative distances between places. I thought it would be like the great Jane Austen did, write about what I know. However, I still worry about details. After all, I haven’t lived in India for thirty years. Have things and attitudes changed beyond recognition? One hopes that if the story is good enough to hold the reader’s attention then minor slips would be tolerated.

Research is invaluable to give the characters, their professions and the setting an authentic feel. But, how far do we go to achieve this? Some writers weave all their research into the story to the point where it overwhelms rather than accentuates. If your character is a heart surgeon do you really want to depict graphic details of a triple bypass? Off-putting.

Writing a novel is a challenge in many ways. You can’t possibly have first-hand knowledge of everything unless you’ve worked as an exotic dancer (maybe even a prostitute), a policeman, a doctor, a civil servant and lived in all the places you are writing about. Of course you can create your protagonist based on your personal experiences but that can be limiting and have a memoir-feel.

Personally I love writing about what I don’t know. It helps me to indulge in a flight of fantasy and be all the people I’m not. But it’s hard to pull off, especially if you’re writing about psychopaths. My next novel, ‘No Missed Call’ (a work in progress), is about a man on the run after his wife’s body is found in the Manchester Ship Canal. Having never worked in the police force or had the opportunity (or misfortune) to meet a psychopath it is proving to be an interesting journey.

So far the books bought on my Kindle look like I’m embarking on a career in crime.

Psychopath    Clarence. T. Rivers
Talking with Serial Killers   Christopher Berry-Dee 
The Criminal Mind    Katherine Ramsland
Without Conscience    Robert.D. Hare
The Serial Killers Colin Watson

After reading the above, I’ve decided to create my own version of a psycho-sociopath with some elements of typical personality traits, not all, as that would make him too real and perhaps make for grim reading..

On digesting the really despicable, sickening deeds that some of these serial killers had committed and enjoyed doing so, I couldn’t find it in my heart to fictionalize such actions, thereby profiting from unnatural acts.

It is important to strike a balance between what you believe would intrigue a reader and what you can accept as being within the territory of entertainment.

In my research I have accosted strange policemen, made friends with the police on Twitter but I draw a line at contacting murderers to make my story real!

A work of fiction is essentially research painted over with imagination.

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