Tags

, ,

Another piece of advice you’ll often hear as a new writer will be “write about what you know.” This is valuable advice and later, we’ll discuss the importance of keeping a journal. However, for now, we’ll focus on the importance of doing research on the subjects you want to write about, but aren’t too knowledgeable about.

Think about the best books, poems, or articles you’ve read and liked. They’ve been enjoyable because you’ve believed them (to an extent), right? Readers are more likely to enjoy your piece more if they know that you know what you’re talking about. This includes everything you write about; whether it is character descriptions, setting locations, or languages.

If you’re making up or creating any of the above (character, setting, language), it’s kind of hard to do research on it, isn’t it? One solution to this problem that can help you learn more about whatever you’re writing about is to pretend to write a research paper on the subject. Write a short biography of your main characters. This allows you to learn who they are, where they came from, and how they ended up in your story. This will also help you learn how they might change and grow.

If you’ve made up an imaginary world, again, write a research paper on it. How did come to be what it is? What are the rules or laws of said world? Do people look different or the same? How is it structured and what do the towns and cities look like? It’s important to know everything you can about your setting, real or fake.

Creating a language is probably one of the more difficult aspects of creative writing. Be sure to create a full dictionary with translations for your readers and that you can include with your piece. A new language is only effective if your readers can understand it in their native language as well as the one you’ve created.

For any non-fiction aspect that you choose to write about, preform the same exercises. Research your subjects until you know them inside and out, until you could give a flawless presentation on them, and until you can answer any question thrown at you about them. Readers and editors will ask questions if there are gaps in your information and it may deter them from reading more. No one likes to read half – hearted, empty descriptions and you shouldn’t like writing them either.

It has taken me years of struggle, hard work, and research to learn to make one simple gesture, and I know enough about the art of writing to realize that it would take as many years of concentrated effort to write one simple, beautiful sentence.
— Isadora Duncan

These exercises will not only help you write a better book, poem, or article, they will help you write them with ease, too. By being so knowledgeable, you’ll be able to write smoothly, rather than having to stop and struggle to figure out what a place looks like in the middle of the story line. Your readers will be more impressed with your writing if they can flawlessly believe and read your content without hesitation.

Image by Flickr user Alpha six, some rights reserved.