How to Write a Novel: How to research your novel and when to stop
Don’t write what you know. Write what you’re interested in. That’s always been my focus for fiction.
I love book research. It’s one of the most fun parts of the creation process for me, but the danger is that you disappear down the research rabbit hole and forget to write the book, or you end up with so much research, you become overwhelmed and unable to make sense of it all.
Is research necessary?
Most fiction writers do some research, but the extent will differ depending on the book you’re writing, and your personal preference. For example, a sprawling historical mystery set in 1800s London will require more research than a literary coming of age novel set in one house in the present day. A hard sci-fi epic series based on specific scientific discoveries will take more research than a stand-alone horror novel set in an underground bunker.
You can go into the research phase with no concrete agenda, as I often do, and find a story there somewhere. Or, if you have ideas already, research allows you to develop them further.
Most of my J.F. Penn thrillers are set in the present day, and I aim for accuracy in terms of settings and historical events that influence the plot. Then I push the edges of that reality into fiction and see what happens.
Readers of certain genres have expectations for research and accuracy. The reader wants to sink into your fictional world. If you introduce something that jolts them or rings untrue, you might get scathing reviews about errors in specific time periods, or the type of weapon or language a character uses. You can avoid these issues through research, but only you can decide how much you want to do.
How to research your novel
Research can take many forms. Here are three methods that yield good results for me.
(1) Read, watch, and listen
“Books are made out of books.”
—Cormac McCarthy
When I get an inkling of an idea, my first step is usually to order and read a whole load of nonfiction books around the subject, or to visit a specialist library on the topic.
My crime thriller Desecration is set in modern-day London but the plot is based on the history of anatomy. I spent several months working in the Wellcome Collection library in Euston, London, which specializes in medical books.
While buying or borrowing books online is also a staple of my research process, I often find serendipity in the stacks of a physical library or bookshop. After all, we’re book people. We love libraries!
You can also read magazines and journals, watch documentaries and films, or go down the rabbit hole on YouTube. You can fill the creative well in so many ways.
(2) Research through travel — real or virtual
Traveling is one of my favorite ways to research. Book-related travel might include going to another country, but it might also be another city, or visiting a museum or an art gallery. It usually involves physically going somewhere else, which helps me see things differently than if I am viewing them online. Of course, everyone has budget and time constraints, but I have never regretted a research trip and many of my novels are all the richer for my experiences in real life.
My thriller Valley of Dry Bones was several years in the making. I visited New Orleans in March 2017 and found a copy of the St Louis Bible at the back of the St Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square; on the same trip, I discovered the Spanish influence on the city.
Later that year, I visited Mission Dolores in San Francisco, where I found a statue of Junípero Serra, the eighteenth-century Spanish friar who founded the missions on the West Coast. I also went to Alcatraz, which appears in the climax of the book.
I followed the trail of history back to Spain, visiting Toledo for the original St Louis Bible, and Majorca, where Junípero Serra was born and raised. The final story combines voodoo and the Catholic church, and spans the history of the Spanish empire from West Africa to the USA.
On the cheaper end of the travel spectrum, exhibitions at the British Museum have inspired several of my stories. Crypt of Bone features an exhibition on religious relics. Day of the Vikings was — unsurprisingly — inspired by a Viking exhibition that included a sacred sword. My short story The Dark Queen was inspired by an exhibition called Sunken Egypt, and my character Blake Daniel from the Brooke and Daniel crime thrillers works at the museum as a researcher.
Of course, you can research many destinations online, so you can write about a place even if you haven’t been there, or add layers to your story later. I use Google maps to ensure accuracy in locations, clips on YouTube to bring scenes to life, and travel blogs with photos to add a new angle to my writing. The pandemic encouraged even more museums, galleries, and collections to go online, so you can often find incredible resources to help with your story.
This type of research will become even easier once virtual reality (VR) headsets become more common, as they offer more immersive travel experiences without the crowds or the expense. While I hope this will never replace in-person travel completely, I certainly intend to use VR in my research process when it becomes more widely available.
(3) Research on Pinterest, Instagram, and other visual social media
Visual media can help you write about a place or find a setting that works well for your story, and you can also collect ideas for your books using Pinterest, Instagram, or other social media. Follow hashtags related to your story ideas and accounts that gather images on related topics.
I make Pinterest boards for my stories at www.pinterest.com/jfpenn
Worried about plagiarism?
Plagiarism is when you take someone else’s work and pass it off as your own. Most authors would never consider doing this on purpose, but there is a possibility that it might happen accidentally. For example, you read and take notes on five books about the Tudors and then use that research directly within your novel without rephrasing. You could end up with lines from someone else’s book in your own.
But don’t worry. This is easy to avoid.
Make sure your note-taking process makes it clear when you copy someone else’s words and when you paraphrase or write your own thoughts. Use quotation marks around quotes and never use those directly in your manuscript unless you attribute them.
Never copy and paste directly from your research notes into your manuscript. Always rewrite and rephrase.
When you’re finished, you can also use a plagiarism checker like ProWritingAid to make sure you haven’t unintentionally plagiarized. You’ll find more on this topic in chapter 5.5 on useful tools.
When to stop researching
Research can be a lot of fun, but the more you research, the more information and ideas you will find. It can turn into a form of procrastination. At some point, you have to start writing the book.
You don’t have to do all the research before you write. You can research enough to get started and then do mini-research dives when you need to fill in the blanks. This is my process as part of discovery. I often don’t know what I need to research until I get to that point in the story.
Balance consumption and creation, input and output.
If you’re struggling with knowing when to stop, consider a time limit. Set a date to start the actual writing, then work backward to allow yourself an initial research period. You can always do additional research as you write.
Should you use an Author’s Note about your research?
As a reader, I love an Author’s Note, so naturally, I include them at the end of my novels along with a bibliography.
I include notes on research and historical accuracy, as well as links to a Pinterest board for each book with images that inspired the setting. It’s certainly not required, but my readers often comment that they enjoy seeing where my ideas came from and even researching areas further.
Research and synchronicity in action
One of my favorite parts of the research process is synchronicity — things that are coincidental in a meaningful way, that emerge unexpectedly, and underscore why this story is right. An encouragement from the Muse, perhaps.
When I started my ARKANE thriller End of Days, I only had the title in mind. I knew it would feature some kind of apocalyptic event, but I also wanted to have an original angle on what is a common theme.
I read some books on biblical prophecy and how different religions see the end of the world, and gathered a wealth of ideas. One particular Bible verse from Revelation 20 intrigued me:
“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he sees the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan and bound him for a thousand years and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him until the thousand years were ended.”
That sparked a story question. What if the thousand years were ended? What would happen to that serpent in the pit?
I love including art and architecture in my novels, so I googled art associated with serpents. I discovered Lilith, the first wife of Adam, also considered a demon associated with serpents.
The Jewish Talmud says of Lilith, “The female of Samael is called ‘serpent, woman of harlotry, end of all flesh, end of days.’”
Yes, the Talmud actually calls her the End of Days.
When this kind of synchronicity happens, I know I’m on the right track with a story. It happens with every novel I write at some point, and it’s part of why I love the research discovery process. Lilith and Samael became the antagonists in End of Days.
I found an amazing documentary on YouTube about Appalachian snake-handling churches, which I wove into Lilith’s back story. I discovered the ‘bottomless pit’ in the Marianas Trench in the Pacific Ocean, and from there, the plot of the novel developed, along with the characters and the inevitable climax in Jerusalem. No spoilers!
* * *
Some kind of research will be necessary for your novel. You get to decide how to approach it in the way that suits you and your story.
Whether it sparks initial ideas or is wound into every chapter, the time invested in research will ultimately deliver rewards in terms of the quality of your finished book and reader satisfaction. But remember, stop researching and start writing at some point!
Questions:
• Do you enjoy research? How could you make research part of your writing process?
• What kinds of research will you do for your book?
• How can you avoid plagiarism?
• How will you know when to stop researching?
Resources:
• Books Are Made Out of Books: A Guide to Cormac McCarthy’s Literary Influences — Michael Lynn Crews
• Research Like A Librarian: Research Help and Tips for Writers for Researching in the Digital Age — Vikki J. Carter, The Author’s Librarian
• Steal Like An Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative — Austin Kleon
• Interview on research with Vikki J. Carter, The Author’s Librarian — www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/10/18/how-to-research-your-book-authors-librarian/
• ProWritingAid Plagiarism Checker — www.TheCreativePenn.com/prowritingaid
