Research and Fiction

How many times have you read a book set in a place you’re familiar with, only to find that it wasn’t quite accurate? I read a book once set in 1990s Perth (where I grew up) that referred to its characters going to “Gobble” nightclub. As a regular patron of the real club, I know without a doubt that it was called “Gobbles” not “Gobble”. You might be thinking, “Who cares? It’s fiction!” But to this day, I can’t remember what that book was about except that the author got the name of a well-known 1990s Perth nightclub wrong. It took me completely out of the story.

If you’re setting your work in reality, you owe it to your readers to be as factually accurate as possible. On the other hand, you don’t want to overdo it and get dragged into so much factual accuracy that it takes the reader out of your story.

How do you find the balance?

The key is to create a believable world for your characters that may require some suspension of disbelief but not make your research so evident that it swamps the fictional world.

Here are some more tips to help you:

• How to do research for a novel: Read everything you can get your hands on about the setting/time period of your story.

• If possible, travel to the place yourself to gain firsthand insights

• Books are made out of other books: Read about how other writers do their research

• Don’t forget film, photographs, art and non-written mediums for information.

• Interview people who know more about the topic.