How do you do research for your story?

I don’t really do research for my story because I mostly write about stuff that I already know about because I’ve done research in the past (for school or something like that) or I just use my own experience. But if I want to add topics that I don’t know much about, I know I should do some research.

So, let’s see some ways of doing research and discuss them!
How do you do research for your story?

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  • Watch films or TV shows for ideas
  • Read certain books for ideas and how to structure
  • Read useful information on how to write certain genres
  • Take notes on target audience
  • Ask people for suggestions
  • carefully research on countries and culture
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I mostly write about what I know, but when I do need to do research, the best resource is either talking to people, observing them, or reading different posts made by people who belong to a specific group.

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  • i watch documentaries
  • watch educational YouTube videos about a retain topic
  • browse the web about the basics of the topic before I try to dive deeper into it
  • read or watch based on personal experiences of other people to have a better understanding and more broad viewpoint
  • ask people questions if it relates to them
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I don’t
We keep it fresh and politically incorrect swol nod :+1:

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But sometimes I look up story times on yt and look for a specific demographic and shiz bla bla like I watched @christina Randall talk about when she was sentenced 3 years prison in the state of Florida

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I prefer to research as I go. So I research everything I need for the piece of writing I’m doing before writing that part. For example, research everything I need for the chapter I’m about to write.

How do you do it, @katabasis? Are you writing anything at the moment?

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NOT to knock down those that reference movies and other books and social media as their research or for inspiration…me, myself and I am sick and tired of how movies and shows that are meant to be realistic are anything but. I excuse it in fantasy-based shows, but NOT in: crime mysteries, hospital themed shows, etc. etc.

I mean, it’s bad enough that actors never learn how to type properly and are always mashing keys on the keyboard or using the “two-finger” type. :rofl:

For that, my general annoyance in Hollywood and its refusal to GOOGLE something they don’t know rather than COPY what someone else in some other movie did…and also for their awful castings when it comes to diversity (most of the time)…those are my reasons for researching real situations.

Example: I have a character who gets struck by lightning as a kid due to parental irresponsibility.

I needed to know what a person who was struck by lightning suffered, so I looked for news articles and first-hand accounts on those struck by lightning. I didn’t stop at just one article or first-hand account, I dug and dug until I noticed certain things that they had in common…a sense of feeling immobilized (makes sense…the human brain, the nervous system, and electrical signals would have been disrutpted), the scent of something burning (be it clothes or skin…again, makes sense…that’s a LOT of heat and energy), and how some are more sensitive to storms (that just made me sad…being struck once is bad enough, but multiple times?). Not to mention the Lichtenberg figures (lightning scars) that several of them ended up with.

As what happens with social media, sometimes you end up in a rabbit hole of researching, so you have to learn when to stop…when you have enough information for what you need and can continue on writing.

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(Applause)

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I started doing really quick research by just typing keywords into Google :sweat_smile: But I’m still a bit lazy when it comes to doing research and I try to take the easiest way.

@Writers What about you?

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However~ if it’s something you’re really interested in, you find quite a few gems in terms of references or facts. I’m a witness.

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I looked up multiple articles about the Yakuza when I started writing my story. When I was back in high school I was stuck on this once where I was trying to describe a dance scene. Took me weeks to get to the point where I liked how it read out. I had to look up multiple words that would describe dancing plus read excerpts that described dancing scenes. I try to be accurate as much as possible when writing. That’s why it’s taking me longer to write my American Revolutionary story since I want to make sure my story is accurate to a point. There will be some parts I have to twist to fit the story but they are minor.