Writing Outside Your Comfort Zone -A Twist on ‘Write What You Know’

As an author, I often find myself in situations where I create and write the unknown. I usually write YA Sci-Fi, and since nothing in my life can give me that hands-on spaceflight experience, alien encounters or the exploration of an unknown planet, I have to wing it. Well, to a certain extent… We’ll get back to that in a bit.

On occasion, I find myself lacking in personal or professional experience to authentically forge a character or situation. The Internet is a blessing for so many of these details today because with one simple click of a mouse, I can find myself standing on Fifth Avenue in NY, on Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg, or on la rue Jussieu in Paris.  I can google details from the past, present, and consider speculations about the future, stop by a hotel lobby or peruse the menu in an exotic restaurant, and if need be, I can explore an underwater shipwreck, or watch a tutorial on how to make my own soap on YouTube. All of this from the comfort of my home if I so desire…or an internet café, while riding the train, you name it. Research has come a long way.

Human experience is another invaluable source of inspiration and information. We can ask friends and co-workers to help fill in the blanks, or toss questions out online through our Fb groups or other venues to have people share their experience with whatever situation that may be causing us grief while writing. I do not believe that television offers a valid source of information, though, since they tend to stretch the truth to make their stories larger than life. (Thanks to Myth Busters, I now know a car will not explode if bullets hit the gas tank). I prefer to remain as true and as accurate as possible in my writing. 

Oh, and a word of caution with your research, especially if you are writing murder mysteries or thrillers, be careful what you type into that search engine because there are some topics that can attract unwanted attention to you. I know of one author on the “No Fly” list…I kid you not.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with learning something new to put into our stories. The main character in my last novel was a NY divorce lawyer. This is so not anywhere within my realm of expertise or knowledge. I did consult with a friend who is a family court lawyer, as well as spend days and days online looking up NY Law terms, procedures and protocol. I never did find out if they wore robes in NY family court, but here in Quebec they do, and since they sell those robes in the States, I went with it.

Writing what you know is awesome, not only because it significantly cuts down on research time, but because you should be comfortable creating from this space. A unique space found within, filled with sights, sounds, smells and emotions from the experience.  No two authors are the same either, and each one has their own life story, adding to the supply of situations and people to colour and shape their own story. I consider myself lucky, because I can write about many different and interesting things, but at one point, like I mentioned in the last paragraph, you find yourself out of your comfort zone.

I believe that research is a personal thing. How much is required, how detailed you have to be, and what to actually use or make up rests with the author. I love to learn new things, and therefore, enjoy the challenge of stretching myself a little farther to honor my quest for accuracy. In one book, I had my characters in a survival setting build a compost potty. Now aside from those two words, “compost potty,” none of my research made it into the story. I have pages and pages on various types of potties, their construction, and upkeep. In my opinion, it was necessary to make the best choice for my story, even though 99.9% of all that work and research never showed up in the novel.

How do I handle Sci-Fi? I did my research there as well, using technology that has been tested on Earth. Some things, like transporting down from the ship to the planet, are a stretch of the possible. Scientists have managed to transport a molecule a few feet from its point of origin, so I allowed myself to use it.

All this to say what? Yes, for sure, write what you know, but then, never spurn the chance to learn and grow. Think about it. You could take a ride on an ambulance to get a feel for their day-to -day drama (yes, ride-alongs are permitted), or take a few classes in fencing or martial arts to allow you to form a more accurate feel for the sport. I hold balck belts in several disciplines, so I know that years of training and experience cannot be obtained in just a few classes, but it'll be that much more realistic than writing from no experience at all.

Face it, us authors have the best jobs in the world. And if we don't like something, we can just rewrite it!

Setting; Real or Fictional

Do you write using real settings, or do you create fictional ones? Do you think writing one or the other is easier?

I was helping a friend proof her novel, and came across two different spellings for the town her MC was in. I went online to find the correct spelling and was surprised to learn that the place didn’t exist. She said she did not want to use a real town because she didn’t want readers to say “that doesn’t exist in our town” and such. I laughed, because I had been spending countless hours researching the accuracy of my chosen town. For a moment I considered chucking my approach, but after 30 seconds decided I couldn’t do it. I am too… well, I can’t. I need accuracy and precise details.

Yet, I write Sci-Fi, and it’s hard to be accurate when your setting doesn’t exist. This brings a whole new set of rules into play, because you want the reader to be able to relate to the settings. Another issue I encountered was in borrowing fictional technology. I wanted to create my world, not copy-paste someone else’s into my writing, so you can imagine how thrilled I was when I came across a magazine that paralleled the technology found in sci-fi vs. that found in our reality. I was thrilled to find out that scientists had actually made a “transporter” of sorts, moving a molecule from one point to another, so I had no qualms using it. As for the technology that I had used or created, I wanted to be able to explain it in a way that was credible to my readers. Sometimes, this meant using diagrams, sketches and charts to go with bits of our existing technology, but the result was great.

We are fortunate today, to have endless information at the tips of our fingers, and yet there are authors who cannot be bothered (or so it seems) to be accurate in what they write. It’s not easy to write about a country you’ve never visited, let alone an era, but if you give it a little time and effort, you won’t regret the results. Of course there’s the added bonus that in the end, you will have learned a lot.

I just finished reading a book where the author went out on ride-alongs with the fire department, and interviewed the firefighters to be able to accurately portray both setting and characters. Hats off, she did a great job.

So, how do you do it? Which setting do you prefer? Come on, let us know.

Story Research

           When I began writing fiction I had no idea about the amount of research that awaited me. Some of the smallest details would send me away from my writing into the research jungle, providing pages and pages of reading. I love to learn, so I don’t think of this as painful. But because of this passion for knowledge, I often found myself with much more information than would ever show up in my story.

I have researched towns, looking for the perfect combination of small-town and mountain/forest. Clothing, food and activities had to be researched as well. Although I have had survival training, for one of my stories I more specifically researched wilderness survival, with things like types of shelters to poisonous plants and finally making a latrine or outhouse. I finally had my characters settle on a compost potty. Now, nowhere in my story, beyond the name, do I go into any details on what the compost potty is or how it works. So why do it? Because I needed it to be real. I didn’t want to just say whatever or make up some nonsense to explain away a detail.

When I wrote Amethyst Eyes (AE), although where Tommy lives on Earth is never even mentioned in the book, this piece of information took the most research. I needed to find a place where he could live with his mother in the Rocky Mountains, not only about an hour up from a town, but there also had to be Native Americans living nearby. I had not even decided whether he’d be American or Canadian, my research determined that in the end. He’s Canadian, by the way, living near Invermere, British Columbia. The Native Americans there are Ktunaxa or Kootenai (which led me to research their culture and language, found more in Emma, and the AE sequel).

I think situating your story is important, because it grounds it. You have to be careful if you name a place because the people who know it will be quick to catch any slights. I was proofing a MS for a friend who’s story took place in Ireland, a place I’d love to visit but have never been. On the same page, she’d spelled the name of the town two different ways. I went online to verify the correct spelling, only to find out that this town didn’t exist. She later explained that she wanted to avoid comments like “we don’t have that in our town” and such. Ahhh, so, I had been racking my brain and spending an unimaginable amount of time researching a location that ‘fit’ and she just made hers up. I will continue torturing myself for now, but it’s something to consider in the future.

Sometimes there are details that cannot be easily found online and you have to turn to real people to get your answers. Again, for AE, I decided Tommy would be home schooled. I personally know several families who have gone this path, and I have also had the pleasure of connecting with more families online. One thing that struck me was comments about how polite or well adjusted these children seemed to be, (and I have read studies that have backed up the well-adjusted claim). But of all the people I knew, it had been the parents who had initially made the decision to homeschool. So, when a reviewer made the comment “I don’t know any kid who’d be happy to be homeschooled,” I decided to take my research even further. Here is one answer from a homeschooling family about their son ‘wanting to be homeschooled’. (BTW, I have yet to come across any negative comments).

• Ha! My son begged to be homeschooled during his 2 1/2 years in public school. He's 11 & going into 11th grade. I bring up private school or other non homeschooling options & he gets very upset & begs to continue to homeschool. We are very active & busy with many activities & friends. He prefers other homeschoolers as friends too. We're working towards a golf scholarship for college. I homeschool because I want a better education for him. As a matter of fact, he's in my bed reading his Summer fun book while I'm working. I have a problem with kids being in a mind controlling box for 7 hours a day where they aren't allowed to think creatively & grow their gifts & talents. Our traditional school structure is ok for some, but not for most. I also think many adults shouldn't homeschool as they struggle to train up their kids. Many parents like being part time parents & enjoy the time away. Some parents need to work. We have sacrificed a lot to homeschool our son because it's what's best for him.

This also covers the “creepy” comment when talking about Tommy being close to his mother. But then, my kids are very close to me, so I guess we’re creepy too.

When it comes to my characters, though I maintain that I let them come to life and act out on their own. I have to admit that I have met a lot of people in my life. I have 4 children, ranging from 4-24 years of age. I have had a summer camp, a martial arts school, taught gymnastics, coached figure skating and baseball, taught both elementary and high school, worked with cadets, taught in the military and worked as a nurse…all things that have put me in contact with people of all ages and stages, from varying walks of life. I am lucky to have such an amazing collection to feed my creativity.

Character interaction and attitude aren’t difficult for me to imagine, but if you find yourself struggling, then I suggest you try people watching. Go to a mall, a park, a sports event, a fair, a restaurant, or any place you can easily watch people (without being mistaken for a stalker). Study body language, the way people grimace, gesticulate, listen or ignore others. Watch the dynamics between two kids on a playground, between lovers or a mom with her kids…whatever you need. Oh, and take notes.

Technology in sci-fi is not something you can readily Google, unless you want to take other peoples ideas, and I didn’t really feel like borrowing someone else’s work.  I found a magazine that compared sci-fi technology to present day technology and based my technological items, as much as possible, on what was real. The rest I had to make up, try and describe it in a way that made it believable, and make sure I had an idea of how it would work. In Star Trek, Gene Rodenberry came up with the idea of the transporter because it was easier on his budget to just have the crew ‘show up’ on the planet. Today, a group of scientists have managed to ‘transport’ groups of billions of atoms over a distance of 18 inches from point A to point B. A far cry from the transporter, but hey…on some level, it’s no longer sci-fi.

The link in my story comes from pushing the limits of human awareness. In many cultures mystic people have been shown to have these gifts, but in reality we are all able to sense another’s presence or distress. At one point, we’ve all thought of someone a second before running into them, or getting a phone call from them. I also wanted my characters to be more sensitive and caring to those around them and this helped.

The legend I chose as the premise to explain the existence of Tommy’s father (the Sirians, from the planet Sirius) does exist amongst Native Americans, Egyptians and some African tribes. They all spoke of our forefathers coming to seed this planet, and stated that they came from a planet around the Dog Star, Sirius. When scientists discovered this common legend, they were intrigued. This discovery came long before the internet era, so these people had no way of communicating with one another…and yet they shared the same legend. I thought that was cool. Unfortunately researching this was long and I had to read through a lot of nonsense to get what I needed. In the end aside from a mere mention of the forefathers, none of the legend really shows up.

When all else fails in your research, try talking to friends, other authors or even asking for help on your blog or facebook. Make a note to come back to it and try again later. You might also want to try a different search engine. Hubby swears by Google, while I personally prefer Dogpile. I get better results too ;o).

What’s important in all this is to have fun with your research. The more information you collect, the deeper and more realistic your story will be. Don’t forget to keep notes with all of your information. You will probably have to fall back on it to clarify some point later on in the process, and trying to find that one site that held the tidbit of information can be a nightmare. I use charts with my information and I also have a listing of all the sites that provided useful information. You don’t want the whole process to become too daunting because it takes away the pleasure in building your story. Don’t hesitate to ask me for help, I’ll be more than glad to share what I can.