Question for Writers...

[bookofdust.livejournal.com]

I have notcied that some writers tend to research a lot before they actually sit down and write - and they don't write until they feel completely comfortable with all the material they have gathered/read beforehand.

Some people just sit down and write and research as they go.

I am curious to see what the opinion is from the writers in this comm. so...What do you guys do? Research first then write? Write first and research later?

Comments

[orchard-mnt.livejournal.com]

I was a history major long before I began thinking of myself as a novelist. I've been studying local history, old tax records, old maps, first settlers accounts for years. But I continue to research, forever dipping back into VMI's archives and other on-line resources, to make sure that when my fictional people touch the real ones in the story, that I got every straight!

Also, if I find a good on-line resource for my pre-civil war era novel, I love sharing it. I dread having to rebuilt my bibliography, as I lost a huge notebook of photocopies and printoffs when I got fired from a stupid job as a desk jocky for a small and failing ISP. oh well...

[bookofdust.livejournal.com]

Sooo, you research before you write?

[orchard-mnt.livejournal.com]

oh yeah...all i had was a rough plot outline and a vague idea of what the story would be and what it would deal with...the research lead me there.

[bookofdust.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, sometimes that happens to me to...