The other day I put up information on my fictional United Nations Marshals Service, the protagonist agency that Gene Bukowski ends up in my Iron Falls series. I did so to ensure that the background was authentic and pluasible, despite the fact that the series was set in 2101 onwards. Despite this, I really never thought about how I attack the other important component of story writing: research.
My friend Nigel's response that I can get overzealous and anal in forming background information for any given story threw me. Never had I considered that.
Until my collaborated effort, which had been one learning curve after another, I haven't really researched anything for my stories and generally made stuff up nillywilly. My story, ON THE BEATEN PATH, had started life as set on Mars in the near future or thereabouts. While most liked it on the Authonomy site, a couple got anal about the unrealistic nature of this and that. Put me off the story, and it went wayward. My collaborative effort with another writer friend had been an eye opener about the amount of detail of research that was done for each scene and, while it grated on my nerves to no end (as all I wanted to do was write and get the story over and done with), I now see value in it.
I have currently finished a draft run of the sequel to IRON FALLS: THE ENEMY WITHIN and an attempt in writing a historical fantasy.
Research is very much involved for me now, scene by scene, chapter by chapter.
But when is too much research, well... too much?
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