NaNoStudyMo

By Cam

I’ve been quite absent from the blog lately. I’d like to say it was because my NaNo-drunk mind was furiously concocting worlds of literary genius…but, alas. That would be a total fib. I had every intention of doing NaNo this year — signed up, managed to get 3,000 words written in the first two days, tracked and cheered my fellow NaNo buddies — but a funny thing happened in my writing process. I succumbed to something I thought only existed in the minds of fairy-tale-telling writers.

I got hit by the shower.

Now, it might be a combination of the sinus meds I took the night before, or the washing away of 24-hours worth of sick-toddler stress, or maybe my new shampoo really is that good — regardless what magical hands were at work during my morning shower, I was struck with the biggest plot revelation that, so far, answers many of the kinks I had in my NaNo story.

It also raises its fair share of questions, too. But these questions are ones I think I can find… through research.

So that’s where I am now. Instead of churning out 50K, I’m going to focus my efforts this month on making sure I understand how a real person in my character’s shoes would act. Medically and psychologically. It’s much easier to start building the foundation of my story with bricks made of real life nuggets, than with crap that holds no weight. Yes?

That doesn’t mean I’m not going to take liberties, but with this particular plot string in my WIP, I really need to weave in the authentic details and that starts with studying up. College-style. I’ve reserved a whole slew of reference materials from my library, rented movies that seem to have the atmosphere and character mannerisms I’m looking for, and created separate playlists to channel my characters’ energy. And I have more than enough leftover Halloween candy, coffee, and tea to aid in the process.

What about you? What kind of research do you do, if any, to make your story more believable? Do you do it prior to writing the first draft or during revisions to tweak the details?