The Writer and the Research
On a visit to The Clink Prison in London
When I say the word ‘research’, what does it conjure up? School, studying, work, boredom? Or feelings of excitement, interest, enjoyment? For me, it’s the latter.
Part of being a writer involves research – and a lot of it. Whether you’re writing non-fiction or fiction, you need to know a great deal about what you’re writing. Stories based around fictitious worlds will always have factual elements behind them. Not all the spells, characters and charms in Harry Potter, for example, were invented by J K Rowling. Nicholas Flamel was actually a 14th century French scribe and manuscript-seller who may have dabbled in alchemy. Mandrakes were said to be used in charms, potions and oils by witches and sorcerers in the 15th century and all the magic spells happen to be derivatives of Latin words.
Most of the research carried out for writing will never make it into the final draft, but you’re constantly learning things you never knew before (even if it is unusual!) Over the last few months I have learnt the symptoms of demonic possession, the use of a chickens bum to alleviate plague symptoms, who to contact on finding human remains in your back garden and how long it would take to ride a racehorse from Dorset to London using the M25. There are more, but I won’t list them! I often use the internet to do most of my research. On the odd occasion, I have blurted out a question, which makes complete sense to me, but not to the person listening; ‘Do you remember what it was like being chatted up by a 17-year-old boy?’ I probably should have explained this was for story research. The girl I’d asked thought I’d been chatted up by a 17-year-old boy!
Sometimes it pays to step away from the PC and carry out your research on-location. This is my favourite kind of research; where you can walk into your own story, listen to sounds, hear voices, touch objects and smell the air around you – just as your characters would. My story is set in a 17th century replica village and as it’s horror, it focuses on the more gruesome side of that era. I loved visiting The Clink Prison and The London Dungeon. Both of which gave me plenty of grisly inspiration! On a lighter note, part of my research involves learning Spanish. It’s a language I have wanted to learn for a long time and the fact that I have a Spanish character has given me the motivation I need.
But most importantly...
IMAGINATION IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF RESEARCH
And imagination plays a huge part in being a writer!
