beaglegod

My question arises after looking through a book on writing Fantasy and science fiction. I was wondering how much research do you find yourself doing before starting a story. The task seems a bit daunting to me, since I want to write a sci-fi story. Or perhaps Im just being impatient and want to just dive in and start writing. In any case do you do detailed research on things pertaining to your storys or very general research, just enough to get an idea?

PageOfCups

Absolutely none usually and I look into things as I need to. But I'm a fantasy writer so I can get away with that pretty easily, pluss I'm doing a biology degree so any science I feel like putting in I usually already know.

Since you're going to be writing a sci-fi novel you'll probably need to do more, but really it depends on your story and on how much science knowledge your characters have. For something like Star Wars, that's more fantasy than sci-fi but if you want to write something plausable then you'll likely need to do a lot of research.

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beaglegod

Now that sounds like advice I wanted to hear.
Research as I go for what I may need.

Ive been doing some research on ancient Persia, the weapons, and architecture back in the days when medo persia was a world power, it can get overwhelming sometimes not knowing how much of this stuff I need to have in my head.I mean sometimes something will stand out that Ill say "Ive gotta use that some where," but alot of it I have no clue whether Ill need it at some point or not.

lilacstarflower

For my sci-fi, I done quite a bit of research on chemicals and human anatomy but I only stick to the truth to a certain degree, because the stuff that happens in my story is never going to happen in real life...I hope.

I think fantasy and sci-fi are safe enough for you just to do general research. If you were writing crime or medical-based novels you'd be hacked to pieces for the slightest mistake.

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PageOfCups

That's true, people don't tend to expect acuracy from from fantasy or sci-fi. Though it can help with the realism of the story.

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tehuti88

An argument can be made either way. If you research a lot, ahead of time, you risk wasting time researching things that will never end up in your story, but at the same time, you might encounter little details that you didn't ORIGINALLY plan to include, but they'll just be so interesting that you'll have to include them and this will add to the authenticity of the story.

On the other hand, if you research only what you need as the need arises, you save time not looking into details you'll never use, but again, you risk missing out on the interesting little details that might make your story spring to life.

I remember doing a LOT of research and notetaking for a story I wrote set in ancient Egypt. I ended up getting lots of the little details, but I spent an awful amount of time taking a bunch of notes that I didn't really need.

On the other hand, now I'm into writing about Ojibwa culture and mythology (in a fantasy context), and I haven't been researching...BUT...I have been reading a lot on the subject because it's of interest to me. I have a big collection of related books, and of course, over time, all the reading I've done has seeped into my writing and I've become more informed. I didn't sit and take notes on what I thought I would need; I just naturally incorporated details that I came across in my reading and found interesting, including some I never would have thought of including if I hadn't come across them.

I'm going to read over those books again though and maybe take a few little notes on more interesting points, just to keep them together since I often forget where exactly I read a certain detail, and sometimes I want to verify what I read.

I think in sci-fi you'd need to do more research than fantasy, unless the fantasy (like some that I write) is based on something that actually exists. I think reading up on what you expect you'll need to know is the best route to take, but don't rule out researching other things too; you never know where you'll find the perfect detail for a story.

Just make sure the research doesn't get in the way of the actual writing. You can always go back and fix a mistaken detail later.

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moderan

It can depend on the story...there is hard sf, which by and large is seen as accurate and detailed, and softer sf, which is not as dependent on accuracy. The former will be picked to pieces if you're inaccurate, the latter much less so.
If you're going to write a story, for example, that is based on Mars in the reasonably near future, there is a lot of detail available, and you're going to need to do a lot of researching. You'd want to know the atmospheric and topological features, have a good idea of what the place looks like, etc.
If you're going to work in some far-flung future that isn't based on a lot of immediate extrapolation, but simply some kernels of present-day knowledge, then you don't need to do as much research. You'll still need to do some, usually...if you're positing societal changes, you would need to understand the segment of society that you're portraying, and what the changes you posit would mean.
You can get bogged down in research...have so much pertinent detail that the story stalls. A general outline of the story can help there...at least then you'll have an idea of what areas you need to research in order to bolster your tale. If you're not a scientific specialist, it is generally a better idea to lean toward the softer side of science fiction.

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starseed

I'm not writing sci fi or fantasy. But every type of story requires research. I just researched the general idea, get started, and from the on out google is my best friend.