Research
Been having a good back and forth with Godheval in the comments section of my last entry about writing. It’s got me thinking about process and over the next little while I’m going to try to post about my writing process. I’m always interested in hearing about the processes of others as well so don’t be shy.
But before I get to that, I’ll share a little bit about my latest experience in the prelude to my writing process: Research.
I do lot of research in the early part of just about any script. Most of that research I do online, as I’m sure many people do. Recently I was looking for information on satellite technology; more specifically Earth observation from orbit. Occasionally it’s sobering and often amusing to be reminded of the perils of this online research methodology. The following is a snippet of “information” I came across online:
“A spy satellite can monitor a person’s every movement, even when the “target” is indoors or deep in the interior of a building or traveling rapidly down the highway in a car […] Besides tracking a person’s every action and relaying the data to a computer screen on earth, amazing powers of satellites include reading a person’s mind, monitoring conversations, manipulating electronic instruments and physically assaulting someone with a laser beam.”
Wait, what?
May 2nd, 2010 at 3:27 pm
Interesting that you start with research. I usually start with outlining/summarizing my story, then doing research as it’s required. But then, since I mostly write fantasy, it doesn’t require as much. I dread research on the internet, for the reasons you point to here, and because the more obscure the subject, the more likely you are to run into the same snippet copied and pasted on multiple websites.
And this is probably where my Amazon addiction began… I need to take myself to a freakin’ library once in a while.
May 31st, 2010 at 9:34 pm
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