The places research leads you...
I took the last 48hours off from writing. I've got a serious deadline to meet, but that fact was starting to get to me and I got blocked up. I knew what I had to write: who the characters were; what the next scene was; what the target ending was and my trajectory for hitting it... but I just couldn't write anything. I spent 16 hours Wednesday on my arse in front of the computer and produced 220 words. And most of those were rubbish. I was doubting my ability to tell the story that I was required to write - an assignment story to be based on or inspired by a particular song performed by a particular band. I was beginning to think that I'd bitten off a story bigger than I could chew.
So, I spent the last 48 hours driving and walking around the area (something I haven't really done since we moved in), playing computer games, reading, and watching old episodes of X-files. I went to bed early last night and woke up feeling pretty refreshed and ready to get into things.
I'm definitely going to do that - this post is not an attempt at procrastination - but I noticed something that suprised me when I first sat down to work. And that was, how strange the list of my wikipedia research links was. First thing when I start writing is open the current story, then my WordWeb dictionary, and then Firefox. I have a bookmarks folder for the current story, and inside that a separate folder just for the wikipedia links. I find wikipedia a great jumping-off point for research. It might not always be accurate, but it can act as a great hub for gaining further (more correct) data.
I also like how, as I add each bookmark it becomes a sort of timeline of my thought process through the building of the story. The first bookmark is usually the 'root-idea' for the story. Each new bookmark I add has somehow stemmed from that initial thought. The link might not always be obvious, and indeed it is sometimes tenuous, but it is still a record of the chain of thought.
After two days away from this particular story, I found that list quite peculiar. It is a very eclectic list, and possibly even stranger if you try to view it as a connected whole. Not just as a series of thoughts, but as one BIG thought that encompassed everything the story was trying to say. Looking at that list this morning, I saw that WHOLE for the first time. The way all the links tied together from first to last. And what each meant in relation to the other.
Anyway, here's the list. It probably won't make much sense to you (at least not until you read the story). But its full of interesting information, each one a seed for its own part of the tale, or a seed for a new story altogether. It also shows the strange twists and turns we make as writers of speculative fiction. Nothing is out-of-bounds to us as an idea. We find links between things that other people might not see. We string together ideas that don't go together and turn them into stories. I think that's quite a fascinating thing.
Lullaby
Sonic Weapon
Neurotheology
God Helmet
1st Commando Regiment (Australia)
Bedouin
Dehydration
Spontaneous Human Combustion
Extremophiles
Tardigrade
Dimethyltryptamine
Pineal Gland
Recombinant DNA
Plasmid
Antimicrobial
Eugenol
Orchid Bees
So, I spent the last 48 hours driving and walking around the area (something I haven't really done since we moved in), playing computer games, reading, and watching old episodes of X-files. I went to bed early last night and woke up feeling pretty refreshed and ready to get into things.
I'm definitely going to do that - this post is not an attempt at procrastination - but I noticed something that suprised me when I first sat down to work. And that was, how strange the list of my wikipedia research links was. First thing when I start writing is open the current story, then my WordWeb dictionary, and then Firefox. I have a bookmarks folder for the current story, and inside that a separate folder just for the wikipedia links. I find wikipedia a great jumping-off point for research. It might not always be accurate, but it can act as a great hub for gaining further (more correct) data.
I also like how, as I add each bookmark it becomes a sort of timeline of my thought process through the building of the story. The first bookmark is usually the 'root-idea' for the story. Each new bookmark I add has somehow stemmed from that initial thought. The link might not always be obvious, and indeed it is sometimes tenuous, but it is still a record of the chain of thought.
After two days away from this particular story, I found that list quite peculiar. It is a very eclectic list, and possibly even stranger if you try to view it as a connected whole. Not just as a series of thoughts, but as one BIG thought that encompassed everything the story was trying to say. Looking at that list this morning, I saw that WHOLE for the first time. The way all the links tied together from first to last. And what each meant in relation to the other.
Anyway, here's the list. It probably won't make much sense to you (at least not until you read the story). But its full of interesting information, each one a seed for its own part of the tale, or a seed for a new story altogether. It also shows the strange twists and turns we make as writers of speculative fiction. Nothing is out-of-bounds to us as an idea. We find links between things that other people might not see. We string together ideas that don't go together and turn them into stories. I think that's quite a fascinating thing.
Lullaby
Sonic Weapon
Neurotheology
God Helmet
1st Commando Regiment (Australia)
Bedouin
Dehydration
Spontaneous Human Combustion
Extremophiles
Tardigrade
Dimethyltryptamine
Pineal Gland
Recombinant DNA
Plasmid
Antimicrobial
Eugenol
Orchid Bees