Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Write your story... or research it?

This is topic Write your story... or research it? in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by SiliGurl (Member # 922) on :

I have a story idea set in Victorian England, a period that I know next to nothing about. I think it has loads of potential and am eager to work on it.

Problem is, I'm torn between writing it now (getting the bones down) vs researching the period to make the story seem real, since I don't know anything about the period (1888).

What's your take? Write now and accept massive revisions laters when I research... or research first?

Posted by srhowen (Member # 462) on :

both--write till you need to research something--watch the 1800's house (PBS) and read Anne Perry.

Shawn

Posted by Khyber (Member # 1651) on :

I agree, do both. Write AND read some books on Victorian England. Keep a stack of notecards nearby while you're researching and write down any facts you'd like to work into your story somehow. Then when you get back to writing you'll have a collection of little details to fill up your pages with

Posted by Wraith (Member # 1711) on :

I would write the bare-bones like who is supposed to do what and who your charachters are than reasearch all you can and than sit down and begin writing the drafts.

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

I would ask myself why I was writing something set in a period I knew next to nothing about.

Why not write the bones down now, set in a milieu you actually are comfortable writing about, and then decide whether it is any good?

Posted by EricJamesStone (Member # 1681) on :

SiliGurl says the story takes place in England in 1888.

From this, I induce that the story idea involves a certain notorious historical personage. Therefore, writing the bare bones of the story in a different setting will not work, since that personage would not be there. (Unless he gets his hands on H. G. Wells's time machine... But that's been done.)

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

But serial killers are soooo deja....

Well, your funeral, I suppose. Still, even the story of a serial killer in a society that has little experience of notorious serial killers is not limited to any one time and place.

Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :

Whether you should write first or research first depends entirely on what it is you don't know.

In this case, if you really know nothing about the setting you intend to write in, you need to stop and learn. Your entire story may depend on the things you learn about England in the late 1800's. Social haibits, cultural tidbits, current events, and particularly relevant current events will all have a drmatic effect on the entire thing. Yes, you can probably tell most stories in a different setting easily enough, but for whatever reason you want to tell this story in Victorian England so why would you want to write the silly thing twice when a little resarch up front would remove that necessity?

Now, other types of research can be done later. If you have a good general idea of what your setting is like but you aren't sure what a typical house would be like back then, write the story until you get to the part wher eyou have to describe a house a nd then do the research.

Or if some famous battle is involved halfway through you can probably get away with starting the story and then resarching the famous battle.

Details that don't effect the overarching story can be dealt with as they come up. But the big picture you should have now. The more you know about your milliue the better and more realistic the story, whether it's set in a real time period like Victorian England or one made up out of someone's head like Middle Earth.

Posted by SiliGurl (Member # 922) on :

Thanks for the feedback. Most just confirmed what I feared... I just really want to WRITE, and feel like I'm getting bogged down in the research.

Eric, you hit it on the head exactly. The story does involve a particular historical personage and while many a story could be done transplating said person to an alternate time, the unique story I have in mind has to be set in 1888.

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

If you try to write it without having sufficient knowledge of 1880, then it won't be set in 1880, no matter what you intend.

Posted by DiaCornier (Member # 1684) on :

Sili Gurl -

I definitely suggest doing at least some lit reading. If your story is set in London - go for The Picture of Dorian Gray; other places in europe - Dracula (which has a wonderful mixture of mixing the old with the new technology); I just finished an independent study on Victorian Lit & Culture - my favorite research tools are:

The Victorian Web: www.victorianweb.org

(which has everything! plus suggestions for further reading)

and I'm absolutely in love with "An Elegant Madness" which is all about high society - its hard to find, but is still in print...so you can order it. Fun book.

Depending on how you like to do it (by reading or by researching) start that way... and then when you feel you have a good working knowledge of the time period you can go you can fill in the detail blanks.

Posted by EricJamesStone (Member # 1681) on :

Research? Bah. I scoff at research.

One spring morning in 1888, Sir John Prithee-Smythe hurried down the steps of his London townhouse. He tried cranking the engine of his silver Honda automobile, but it failed to start. It was an 1886 model, so it was still under warranty, but that didn't help him right now...

Posted by MaryRobinette (Member # 1680) on :

Research and write. If you need any help, I collect etiquette books and Victorian literature.

I just had to do major rewrites on a story set in China. I'd been deliberately spare with architectural detail since I wasn't sure about some things. So I refered to hallways and doors, and rooms only to find out that Chinese houses and palaces don't have hallways. Of course I had stuff set in hallways, that had to be in a hall (won't bore you with details). Anyway, my rewrite is much, much stronger than the original and completely different. I don't feel like I wasted time with the first draft, but had I known certain things I would have plotted things differently from the get-go.

Posted by SiliGurl (Member # 922) on :

One of the things I love about this board is that you can post an (easy) question, and not only get feedback, but discover some resident experts in the field of inquiry as well!

I've decided to do some light research and outline the story. Go from there to see what more research I need to write...

Of course, all this researching is making me reconsider picking up the story I tabled when I began exploring this JtR idea. That story requires NO extensive research, I've already got character sketches, and I've already outlined the barebones of the first 20chaps. Perhaps I need to research the concept of FOCUSING.

Posted by mags (Member # 1570) on :

One thing that I was told over and over in the last two weeks, is that you really need to know the world your story is written in. If you don't know it, the story will show. - bottom line, do your homework, know the background for your characters (ie, their world) and get a good feel for it before you start commiting your characters to do things that might or might not be right. - also, as you are writing the main characters might be different if you do the research first as opposed to last... err later.

Posted by loggrad98 (Member # 1724) on :

[He tried cranking the engine of his silver Honda automobile, but it failed to start. It was an 1886 model, so it was still under warranty, but that didn't help him right now...]

I happen to know for a FACT that the 1886 model Honda had a free FIVE year extended warranty....covered power train, crank handel, solid rubber wheels, and squeeze-bulb horn....so there....HAH!

Posted by mags (Member # 1570) on :

and here I had been wondering today when Honda started working on their jet planes - I can't for the life of me remember what they are calling it, something witty like hondajet. which continued with the discussion of the fact that Honda was doing piston rings during the war, and in the 30's they had a wonderful bicycle business going. - I just think it is funny that we would have that convo, and for me to go onto the boards, and have a thread about Honda's in the 1880's - datson's wouldn't have caught my attention nearly as well.

Posted by mags (Member # 1570) on :

<quote>Perhaps I need to research the concept of FOCUSING.</quote>

When you do, can I copy your notes??

Posted by EricJamesStone (Member # 1681) on :

quote:
I happen to know for a FACT that the 1886 model Honda had a free FIVE year extended warranty....covered power train, crank handel, solid rubber wheels, and squeeze-bulb horn....so there....HAH!

I believe you're thinking of the 1886 Hyundai, not Honda. The Honda didn't have a squeeze-bulb horn; it used a steam-powered whistle.

Besides, I never said that an 1886 Honda wouldn't still be under warranty in 1888. Just that the warranty didn't help him right then.

Posted by pooka (Member # 1738) on :

I think research might be a matter of finding evidence to support what you already think about something. I've beeing dreading research so I'm just going to write what I already think about the key reality based event of my story and then revise it if I later have cause to.

Posted by punahougirl84 (Member # 1731) on :

Poor Sir John - if only he'd bought the Honda Care roadside assistance package... He could talk with them "by lightning" and they'd send someone out to him. So necessary for getting pulled out of ruts by horse-drawn towing carts, having someone clean out the dirt thrown up by carriages, or dung, or fixing the crank which has been hopelessly shaken by drives over the cobblestones.

Liked this article, SiliGurl: http://www.sptimes.com/2002/08/11/Travel/Tracing_history_in_th.shtml

I like the research part - it is the writing that stumps me.