Research for stories

[Reshbod]

I have a smoking element in a current story I am working on. I tend to like realism in my stories and since I'm not a sports fan and don't go to games, I thought I'd look into some of their policies.

I was surprised to find that many do not allow smoking and some do not even have smoking areas. One stadium I read about stated that if you leave the stadium to smoke, you're not allowed back in.

I realize I could just ignore the modern reality or set the story back a few years before all the change, but I would prefer not to.

Anyway, this made me wonder how many here do research their stories, whether basic like what I tend to do, or fairly detailed. Some stories don't really need it, but when little touches like this are included, bumps the story up a little higher on my scale.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

One of my interests is historical research, I harvest obscure and arcane tidbits that add a pulse to what historians write. All the details in my writing are the real deal.

 

[VenusButterflies]

I have a smoking element in a current story I am working on. I tend to like realism in my stories and since I'm not a sports fan and don't go to games, I thought I'd look into some of their policies.

I was surprised to find that many do not allow smoking and some do not even have smoking areas. One stadium I read about stated that if you leave the stadium to smoke, you're not allowed back in.

I realize I could just ignore the modern reality or set the story back a few years before all the change, but I would prefer not to.

Anyway, this made me wonder how many here do research their stories, whether basic like what I tend to do, or fairly detailed. Some stories don't really need it, but when little touches like this are included, bumps the story up a little higher on my scale.

I live in NY, where they like to crucify us dirty, dirty smokers. I have cut down and use e-cigarettes more now, but guess what? NYC banned it in offices and public places, because people are fearmongers and don't do research.

That's enough of my rant. Now, when it comes to something like smoking, I feel that it's minor enough where you can ignore local laws in the story. However, using those laws might be a good way to segue, insert an obstacle, set up a chance meeting, etc.

I currently need to research what FBI agents can and can't get away with undercover, and it's tough because that information is not easily accessible. But it really drives me crazy when a story isn't logical. Take the movie Gravity, for example. Main gripe with that movie: Sandra Bullock's character probably never would have passed the psych test to go to space. Things like that drive me crazy. But I'm positive I've committed the sin of letting ill logic get into mystories. I try not to, but sometimes I get carried away with the fantasy and ignore reality.

Come to think of it, I have that problem in real life too.

Anyway, yes, I think it's good to do research. When you make a story more plausible, however implausible the premise may be, you have a better chance at affecting readers. Surround a lie with all sorts of truths and people are more easily convinced.

Regarding my current story, if research fails I may just jump the shark and bring it into a really ridiculous setting. Or I may just add a disclaimer telling people to suspend all disbelief immediately and just go with it.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

RULE OF THUMB FOR COPS: They do whatever they can get away with. No witnesses, no fingerprints, no vids...youre good to go.

 

[VenusButterflies]

RULE OF THUMB FOR COPS: They do whatever they can get away with. No witnesses, no fingerprints, no vids...youre good to go.

Yeah but there will be witnesses . . . and vids . . . and probably fingerprints.

 

[MSTarot]

I have a smoking element in a current story I am working on.

Anyway, this made me wonder how many here do research their stories, whether basic like what I tend to do, or fairly detailed. Some stories don't really need it, but when little touches like this are included, bumps the story up a little higher on my scale.

I have a friend that when the no-smoking laws went into place refused to follow them. He will light up where ever the hell he pleases. I think in about what 15-20 years since they really started getting ridiculous he has been fined twice.

He calls it his non-violent protest of unjust laws.


I research the hell out of a setting if it needs it. I did a recent story set at the gate to area 51. That took more than a little work to get all the details right as I have never been anywhere near the place.

I got feedback from people that have been there and they said it was just like being back there, and seeing it again.

Some times the research can be more fun than writing the story.

MST

 

[patientlee]

Some times the research can be more fun than writing the story.

MST

Absolutely. Monarch butterflies, ball python mating, crab fishing, tarantulas- I've learned a lot in the last 6 months.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I do all kinds of research for stories. In the recent past I have looked into flight schedules between two points; the average weather in a specific location at a certain time of the year; federal, state and local jurisdiction over territorial waters; the layout of Marina Hemingway in Havana; popular nightclubs and restaurants in Costa Rica; the service revolver carried by a member of the Cuban military; protocols for traveling with firearms on international flights; parks in New York where exceptional basketball is played; charitable trusts; flight range of a private helicopter; hang gliding instructional videos; the highest elevation of Roatan, Honduras; the layout and capacity of a super-yacht; I could go on and on. I try very hard to make the details accurate.

 

[Swilly]

I have a friend that when the no-smoking laws went into place refused to follow them. He will light up where ever the hell he pleases. I think in about what 15-20 years since they really started getting ridiculous he has been fined twice.

He calls it his non-violent protest of unjust laws.

It's a known fact that addiction causes people to act like assholes.

 

[Aynmair]

It's a known fact that addiction causes people to act like assholes.

Hmmmm.... I wonder what JBJ is addicted to, then.

 

[Hypoxia]

It's a known fact that addiction causes people to act like assholes.

And like idiots. [/me points at self]

 

[slyc_willie]

I do all kinds of research for stories. In the recent past I have looked into flight schedules between two points; the average weather in a specific location at a certain time of the year; federal, state and local jurisdiction over territorial waters; the layout of Marina Hemingway in Havana; popular nightclubs and restaurants in Costa Rica; the service revolver carried by a member of the Cuban military; protocols for traveling with firearms on international flights; parks in New York where exceptional basketball is played; charitable trusts; flight range of a private helicopter; hang gliding instructional videos; the highest elevation of Roatan, Honduras; the layout and capacity of a super-yacht; I could go on and on. I try very hard to make the details accurate.

The NSA must love checking out your Google searches.

I do the same. I've done detailed searches for some of the smallest parts of a story. Recently, I learned just about all I could concerning Elvis Presley (did you know he had a stillborn twin brother? ) simply because one of my characters was listening to his music.

Research for finer points can be fascinating, but I've learned to be conservative when it comes to getting into too many details in a story. Like VB said, sometimes you can stretch or ignore the truth for the sake of story consistency, provided it's not a major detail.

 

[sr71plt]

The NSA must love checking out your Google searches.

I haven't gotten any blowback on erotica searches, but I did on terrorism. Got a call from my office about two years after I retired on, "Ummm, my apparent continued interest in the business, with a reminder that if I intended on publishing, I needed to get clearances." I was editing mainstream books on Middle East terrorism and just referred them to the publishers.

 

[slyc_willie]

I haven't gotten any blowback on erotica searches, but I did on terrorism. Got a call from my office about two years after I retired on, "Ummm, my apparent continued interest in the business, with a reminder that if I intended on publishing, I needed to get clearances." I was editing mainstream books on Middle East terrorism and just referred them to the publishers.

Nice . . . .

 

[MrFoxwood]

RULE OF THUMB FOR COPS: They do whatever they can get away with. No witnesses, no fingerprints, no vids...youre good to go.

Last year, possibly the year before that, there was a bit of hooha about what undercover police in the UK were getting up to, the instance of questionable conduct that stuck in my head was the officer who got someone pregnant. Nice.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

The NSA must love checking out your Google searches.

I do the same. I've done detailed searches for some of the smallest parts of a story. Recently, I learned just about all I could concerning Elvis Presley (did you know he had a stillborn twin brother? ) simply because one of my characters was listening to his music.

Research for finer points can be fascinating, but I've learned to be conservative when it comes to getting into too many details in a story. Like VB said, sometimes you can stretch or ignore the truth for the sake of story consistency, provided it's not a major detail.

I actually end up using a very small portion of what I learn. Mostly, I'm trying to avoid the kind of errors that make someone read it and say "this idiot has no idea what he's talking about.". Of course, that doesn't insulate me from other forms of idiocy.

 

[slyc_willie]

I actually end up using a very small portion of what I learn. Mostly, I'm trying to avoid the kind of errors that make someone read it and say "this idiot has no idea what he's talking about.". Of course, that doesn't insulate me from other forms of idiocy.

Nah, we'll never get it right for every single nit-picker out there. The ones who point out an "error" but are themselves wrong always make me laugh.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Anyway, this made me wonder how many here do research their stories, whether basic like what I tend to do, or fairly detailed. Some stories don't really need it, but when little touches like this are included, bumps the story up a little higher on my scale.

Yeah, I'm a fussy reader in that regard. I've seen some shockers even from professionals; I stopped reading Tom Clancy when he started writing nonsense about cryptanalysis, at a point in his career where he should have been able to hire a crypto geek out of pocket change. I'm more tolerant with amateurs, but poor research is still a good way to kill the story.

It's always hard when writing outside personal experience. At the moment I'm writing something that's set in Massachusetts (have spent about three weeks there in my life) and involves the military... and I'm painfully aware that lots of readers know militaria better than I do. So a lot of Googling is involved.

The NSA must love checking out your Google searches.

I do the same. I've done detailed searches for some of the smallest parts of a story. Recently, I learned just about all I could concerning Elvis Presley (did you know he had a stillborn twin brother? ) simply because one of my characters was listening to his music.

Jesse Garon Presley. I'm not an Elvis buff but I read a weird alternate-history novel a while back where Elvis became a magical bounty hunter trying to prevent the end of the world, and he talks to his brother occasionally.

 

[sr71plt]

Yeah, I'm a fussy reader in that regard. I've seen some shockers even from professionals; I stopped reading Tom Clancy when he started writing nonsense about cryptanalysis, at a point in his career where he should have been able to hire a crypto geek out of pocket change. I'm more tolerant with amateurs, but poor research is still a good way to kill the story.

God knows he was offered that support--for free--and was too arrogant to accept it.

 

[jomar]

I have a friend that when the no-smoking laws went into place refused to follow them. He will light up where ever the hell he pleases. I think in about what 15-20 years since they really started getting ridiculous he has been fined twice.

He calls it his non-violent protest of unjust laws.


MST

Your friend is wrong. He's not fighting the good fight. He's being insensitive and selfish.

I'd bet that all authors do research on something at one time or another.

 

[RoyceConnors]

I think half of the work in my stories is writing, the other half is research. It seems I take all the research and write a story around it, lol

 

[PokingFun]

I think it depends on the setting yof your story. If the story is based in our current reality, then I think the major facts should be accurate. There is always room for creative license, but details that are part of the plot should be accurate. If not they stand out as a distraction. If the story's reality is altered, all bets are off. Even if the events are the same, the outcomes can be whatever the author wants.

 

[Hypoxia]

I think it depends on the setting yof your story. If the story is based in our current reality, then I think the major facts should be accurate. There is always room for creative license, but details that are part of the plot should be accurate. If not they stand out as a distraction. If the story's reality is altered, all bets are off. Even if the events are the same, the outcomes can be whatever the author wants.

If a story is set in our current reality then the vast majority of 'facts' should be accurate. Whatever can't be accurate should be glossed-over lest the author be thought a fool. There is no Golden Gate Park in San Diego, nor does the Nikon Corporation make banjos. If the author can't get the details right then omit the details -- but DON'T SCREW THEM UP!

And yes, in a badly-designed Fantasy Universe (FU), anything goes. In a well-built FU, constraints limit possibilities and allow drama. A fave old fantasy is BLOOD SPORT by Robert Jones, a story set along the Hassayampa River, which rises in the eastern Himalayas, runs through western Arizona, and empties into Lake Superior. One can only make that journey by walking along the river banks. If a character need only say SHAZAM! to travel from Duluth to Wickenburg to Kunming, where's the story? Fantasy without limits is boring.

 

[Handley_Page]

A legal ban on smoking strikes me as being 'Unconstitutional'

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Hmmmm.... I wonder what JBJ is addicted to, then.

Don't go there.

Years ago a snake got loose in our bedroom, and being wise to the ways of women, I locked the bedroom door and went looking for Sneaky Snake. And about the time I have the bedroom dismantled the wife wants in. She says UNLOCK THE DOOR! I reply NO! She says WHAT IN HELL ARE YOU DOING? I said YOU DONT WANNA KNOW. SO JUST GO AWAY. That, of course, was a klaxon blast to her and our 3 daughters. They got the door open, got excited about the wreckage, demanded to know what was going on, I told them, and all fled to a motel.

Sometimes its just better to not go places.