The Joys and Perils of Research (or a lack thereof)
By Gwen Hernandez | August 2, 2024 |
I know this is a dated reference, but there’s a scene in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (the 2nd movie) where Sam Witwicky and his companions enter the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum in Dulles, Virginia to find the ancient decepticon, Jetfire (the SR-71). After locating him, they all run through the hangar doors into the parking lot airplane boneyard in Tucson, Arizona.
With no explanation.
If we’d been told there was a portal of some kind, or Jetfire teleported them there, I’d have been fine with it. Or if this had been some generic museum in a generic, unnamed place. But it wasn’t.
Maybe the explanation was left on the cutting room floor. 🤷🏼♀️ Or, it’s just entertainment and I shouldn’t care. But I happen to be the perfect storm of movie viewer who’s lived near both places, and because I’m a dork, the disconnect bothered me. Please tell me I’m not the only one who gets pulled out of a story by inconsistencies and mistakes.
Like the author who wrote about Prattville, Alabama as if it were in the middle of nowhere, far from civilization. (It’s a suburb of Montgomery.)
Or the book where the main character lives in a bungalow in Pismo Beach, California that’s on an isolated hill overlooking the ocean. (Um, all the private ocean-view land there has houses packed close together, even the big ones on the hill.)
Or TV shows like NCIS where they mispronounce Lompoc, Calfornia (it’s poke, not pock) and Ramstein (the “ei” is eye, not ee) Air Force Base.
Unfortunately, I could go on because I tend to fixate, but you get it. It’s the tiniest of errors made by people writing about places and things they’re unfamiliar with that can pull you out of the story and make you question everything else’s validity.
Or, is that just me?
In the early days of my writing, I got rightfully called out by a contest judge for calling a dock a pier. Now that I live near both, I cringe.
You can’t know what you don’t know, so that definitely won’t be my last error, but making this kind of mistake is one of my biggest fears because of readers like me. (Also, I really dislike looking stupid. Enneagram 5, if you’re into that.) It’s the reason I mostly write about places I’ve visited or lived, or completely make up a location (usually based on somewhere else, though, the way Sue Grafton based Santa Theresa on Santa Barbara), and still do extensive research.
(Sidebar: This is a whole topic on its own, but not knowing what you don’t know is also why paid sensitivity readers are important, especially if you’re writing about someone who’s part of a marginalized community.)
Even if you’re writing fantasy or sci-fi, you should probably know what’s come before you in the genre, and ensure the world you build makes sense. Made-up worlds can benefit from roots in real history and settings, and universal experiences, to ground the reader in an unfamiliar domain.
I know not everyone likes research, but for me the joys include:
- Learning about places, events, people, customs, and history. Especially in person. (Also, if you do it right, this can be tax-deductible.)
- Finding something that sparks a new idea or direction for a story or character.
- Bringing authenticity to settings and characters.
- Learning more about the quirks and histories of places I’ve been, which deepens my own experience of them, and provides the little details that can bring them to life.
Research is not without its perils though. For example:
- Rabbit holes. It’s very easy to keep clicking links until I’ve spent too many hours reading or watching videos, and none writing.
- Info dumping. Sharing everything I know about a place, event, or career field is tempting and requires a ruthless editing hand.
- Stifled creativity. While research can spark ideas, it can also become a straitjacket of sorts. We’re allowed to take creative license to tell our stories, but if you’re worried about reader reception, consider writing an Author’s Note.
- Boredom and frustration. Not all topics are exciting, and sometimes I can’t find what I need.
- Time. See “rabbit holes” above. I try to stop periodically and ask myself if I have enough information to get back to writing. If yes, shut down the browser.
- Junk sites. Check out several sources to ensure accuracy, and consider the creator’s credentials.
I can’t turn off the concern that if I make too many mistakes, readers will quit reading. I spend a lot of time looking at street view on map apps, searching for blogs, videos, and guides to find the interesting details, combing through travel photos, and reading memoirs.
It takes more time, but for me, research is a huge part of what makes writing fun.
What about you? Do you research thoroughly, or wing it? Do you use beta readers, editors, or other methods to mitigate egregious blunders? Are you the type of reader who’s bothered by errors of ignorance?
Gwen Hernandez (she/her) is the author of Scrivener For Dummies, Productivity Tools for Writers, and romantic suspense. She teaches Scrivener to writers all over the world through online classes and an extensive library of blog posts. Learn more about Gwen at gwenhernandez.com.
[coffee]
Bloopers are bad, no question. Research not only lessens the odds of blooping, but it can unearth cool stuff to enhance a story.
I’m working on a novel set in the years 1952-1954. Through research, I learned that the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre took a bad mescaline trip, the CIA worked to Americanize the culture of Europe, what Spandau prison in Berlin (where former Nazi leaders were imprisoned) looked like, the ad line for Breck shampoo, and tons more details that I’ve been able to use.
The trick is to make that stuff feel natural and not gratuitously pasted in. It’s the salt not the food. It’s also fun and an excuse to haunt used bookstores.
There are dangers, sure, but rewards too, and not only avoiding looking lazy. Good post.
Oh, I love all of that, Benjamin. There’s so much to know and so little time! And I definitely agree that “It’s the salt, not the food.” Well put. Thanks!
I don’t think of myself as picky, but facts can become annoyances and barriers to enjoying a story so I am very careful when I write. Everyone loves Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, I can’t watch it. Two things in particular: 1) cropduster is a reallllly ineffective manner of trying to kill someone and 2) there’s no house on the top of Mount Rushmore. As an author, the urge to put a cool scene in regardless of logic or facts can be a buzzkill.
Wayne: At this point, I’ve owned my pickiness, lol. Those are great examples. A secret vault *inside* Mount Rushmore, sure. A house *on top*? Ridiculous. ;-) If you’re going to make a cool scene, it helps to motivate or explain it. I can suspend disbelief up to a point, but I have to let a lot of things go in the name of entertainment, especially when watching action movies these days. I appreciate you chiming in!
I just went down a rabbit hole of pier vs. dock, lol, something, along with marinas, I’ve lived around all my life. An hour of research later, I’m convinced definitions vary by region. A local ferry docks in a marina, that is a network of boat docks, with a fisherman’s pier at the end of one of the docks. The ferry goes to NYC and docks at Pier 11. All the structures are on pilings. A waterfront home here would have a private dock but here it would be on a piling, which some dictionaries would call a pier, yet no one would call it a pier. Anyway, thanks for that Gwen. : )
I’m always catching failed details, especially on tv shows, where costume dept and props might get the decade, but not the year right. There’s a Disney-ish tv tween show that takes place in the city where I live, but it is so unlike anything and anyone here that we couldn’t stop laughing when we watched.
I think it amuses me more than bothers me when the author or film gets a locale or prop wrong. I’ll keep on reading/watching to see if I can spot another mistake. In that case, mistakes that would bother me enough to put a book down would have to be a key element in the plot or arc.
On the other hand, when it comes to getting culture wrong, I’m out of there. It’s more than annoying, then. It’s not worth my time.
I pay for multiple diverse reader feedback. I don’t put the burden onto my family or friends, either. That puts them and our relationship in an uncomfortable situation to call me out or let it go. I feel I get better feedback from those I pay, anyway. Btw, my experience with sensitivity readers are not at all what some people might imagine. I find most stress that their opinions are their own and they are not spokesmen for others. One Native American reader chose to only tell me what, in his opinion, I got right and why. I respect that. In the end, it’s on the author when they get it wrong.
Thanks for the post today, Gwen.
LOL, Ada. We are alike. SorryNotSorry for sending you down that rabbit hole. ;-) TV and movies can be worse than reading because we can see where they staged things. I live in the LA area, and now that I’m more familiar with it I recognize locations all the time. The characters are often not where they say they are. Which is fine, but it still pulls me out. It also doesn’t help that most of the shows are filmed in Canada or Georgia, so they have to make them really generic. Or they have the wrong foliage…
Whether or not I stay with the story depends on how egregious the issue is. Also, how many errors there are. Especially in a book if it’s something that could’ve easily been verified with a quick Google, or street view on Maps, or something, I start to lose respect for the author. Harsh, I know. It’ll probably come back to bite me. :-D
Great point about sensitivity readers. That’s largely been my experience too. No one can speak for everyone. Thanks!
I love your post. I’m a curious cat so often go down rabbit holes, but always with great tidbits. So much of the magazine writing comes from excavating some interesting tidbit that I just have to write about. But yeah, it’s also a distraction. But seriously, there’s no writing without some research. Thank you for writing about this.
Thanks, Vijaya! Curious would definitely be one of five words to describe me, so I definitely enjoy the rabbit holes too. I guess it’s knowing when to stop that’s the problem. Great point about magazine articles. I hadn’t thought about it before, but that resonates. Much like the experience of recent WU guest Jillian Forsberg, whose research about Clara the Indian rhino led to a whole book.
Lovely post, Gwen. I have often referred to research as perhaps the most productive form of writer’s block. Or at least the most interesting.m
Your story about the strange transition from Dulles, Virginia to Tucscon, Arisoza reminded me of an episode of the TV show Poker Face in which our hero while traveling through a snowbound Colorado stops at a rustic gas station-cum-market to fill up. We were thrilled to recognize the place — it’s minutes away from our home!
Except we live in the Catskills, not the Rockies. A mere 1800 miles away.
Geez, please excuse the typos.
interesting.
Arizona
LOL, no worries. I promise not to be picky about it. ;-)
Yes, it can definitely masquerade as productivity even when it’s not. Too funny about the gas station!
It’s not as egregious distance-wise, but in the season 1 finale of HBO’s Perry Mason they’re supposed to be in Carmel in northern CA, but it is very obviously the cliffs on the Palos Verdes Peninsula (about 15 miles south of LAX) with the recognizable Point Vicente lighthouse in the background. If you’re a fan, I have a pic here: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4218013124937505&set=a.125511120854413.
I think I’m (usually) more forgiving of movies and TV because of film budgets and such. It’s kind of fun to spot familiar places and have insider knowledge. Thanks for sharing!
You’re a writer after my own heart. I do love research, but…
If I’m not SURE, I can’t write it. Not because of fear of looking like an idiot, so much as that, for me, if I can’t visualize and imagine all parts of something*, I can’t write it.
*The DEPTH to which I need to go is one layer further than the plot requires: if the reader stays on the story path, and looks to the sides with a powerful flashlight, the ‘real world’ of the story is built that far out. If they wander afield, no promises. Think of The Truman Show concept.
During my writing time I manage the rabbit-hole problem because 1) I BLOCK the internet completely with FREEDOM, and 2) if I really need some information, I use the browser on my iPhone – and the ridiculously tiny and cumbersome keyboard it provides – so I don’t tend to keep going unless it’s worth the effort. So I can browse while writing, but it hurts. :)
The Truman Show is a great analogy, Alicia! My brain works similarly. Oftentimes if I can’t move forward in the story I realize it’s because I can’t visualize the setting, or don’t understand a job/crime/character well enough. Right now I’m using the apartment we rented in Nice as a setting in my book, with a few tweaks. So much better than some fuzzy idea of a place my head. If I haven’t stayed somewhere appropriate, vacation rental sites and Zillow or Redfin are a great way to find a house/apartment/mansion to use, often with lots of photos.
Blocking the internet and using your phone is an excellent idea to keep from digging too deep. I do the same thing when checking email sometimes because I know I won’t want to respond on the tiny keyboard. I appreciate you sharing!
Gwen, lovely post. Getting things wrong like that drives me silly. A friend of mine decided not to use my favorite editor (Laura, my dear wife) to proofread a book. In the book, the people in a car switch between passenger and driver, and no one noticed until Laura had to book in her hands and pointed it out to him (Austin Camacho). That was one he could have avoided.
I’ve been reading about submarines since I was a child. Austin’s book was supposedly fact-checked by a son in the navy. When he needed it for the plot, the hero shoots up the submarine’s steam lines in the very front of the of where the pilots sit with a common handgun. then he and a companion climb into a torpedo tube, open the venitian blinds-type torpedo doors, and fires both of them out the tube FROM INSIDE. (No such vertical blinds-type doors would keep the water pressure from entering a submarine, or survive a single torpedo being fired through them without blowing the doors off the sub). Nor has anyone, ever, entered a torpedo tube, flooded it with them inside, opened the outer door, and, while remaining IN the torpedo tube, fired themselves out with a burst of air under high pressure. HIgh-pressure steam lines are going to ignore minor difficulties like pistol bullets, with a safety factor high enough for the steam pressure to turn around any corners they flow through rather than bursting out through the slightest weakness in the pipe. And steam lines run ONLY between the nuclear reactor and the propulsion motor, usually a steam turbine. NO one is going to run a heavy steel pipe where the walls are MUCH thicker than the small hole the steam flows through anywhere they don’t have to run to drive the submarine. They’re only in a narrow passage between the reactor and that turbine, only bend where ther is no direct turnless path they could use, And just as short as they can conceivably be and still provide steam to the turbine.
One of the things one channel on TV did to annoy me for many years is never teach their weatherman the pronunciation of Bladensburg, Maryland. Blad- rhymes with blade, and he always pronounced it (for al lthe years he was their weatherman) like it rhymed with Vlad. It’s just wrong, and the pronunciation has beenthe same as long as people went to Bladensburg to duel, back to pre-revolutionary times, and that’s where aristocrats and americans who regarded themselves as Aristos, titled ot not, dueled near Washington for several hundred years. Hamilton died there, I think, and Andrew Jackson in the White House did all his duels while being President were fought in Bladensburg. Once Andrew Jackson fired at a man who fired at him, jumped on a nearby horse, and rode back to where it was living (the White House? Maybe?) not caring if his opponent lived or died.
He fled because he was carrying the ball from the other pistol in his chest, over his heart, and was afraid of being accused of dying in an illegal duel While president.
Hearing a weatherman misprnounce it wasn’t as bad as if the newspeople didn’t know its pronunciation, but it urked me over and over again, one weather report at a time.
It’s why I write mostly about imaginary places to avoid the embarassment of getting details like that wrong.
-tc
Wow, Tom, that was a journey, lol. Both the submarine thing and the town pronunciation thing would irritate me too. The weather guy can’t be bothered to learn how to say it right? Fascinating about Hamilton, though.
Thanks for chiming in!
Good post, Gwen. I checked off every point you made. My personal Crypton is fussing over minor details that don’t really need to be accurate. Example: did Pepperidge Farm make Milano cookies circa 1980? In fact, they did (I know you’re dying to know) but I could have used any generic cookie without detracting from the point that the character was a binge-eater.
Ha, I’m the same way. I spent way too much time researching the French Foreign Legion for my current book just because my characters were staying close to the recruiting center, and one of them mentions it as a point of interest. But I had fun. 🤷🏼♀️
I tend to do way too much research on stuff that probably doesn’t matter to most readers but I’m so afraid of making an inadvertent mistake. Then, in one of my books on the back cover copy, my published called my hero “an ex-marine”. Thankfully, I caught it before it went to print and caused such a fuss that they changed it. Anyone who has ever watched NCIS knows “once a marine, always a marine” LOL! But it happens to be true.
It’s good to know we’re not alone, though, right? Oh, yes, there’s no such thing as an ex-marine, and if there were, they’d want it to be ex-Marine. ;-)