It was Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River who admonished us fledgling writers to knock off all the research when working on our books. He’d just gotten a huge movie deal, Clint Eastwood was directing, so there he was at Harvard telling us all how he got to that level of success. Sure, he said, research has a place, particularly when writing a crime novel and you don’t know the first thing about police procedures or perspective. Or if you’re writing historical fiction and you need to know if Catherine the Great really had a thing for horses. (I’m pretty sure he didn’t use that example, but if he’d have thought about it, he would’ve.) But you can’t be tooling around on Google when you’re supposed to be at your computer completing your first draft. Or on the phone calling experts to fill in the blanks. That’s the quickest way to slide right down the shitter. You do your research at a set time, when you’ve scheduled it, usually while you’re well into your second draft.
Oh, the lure of research. The quickest way to get nowhere fast.
Here’s just a short list of things I had to know with a burning passion during my writing time this week:
- How kangaroos copulate, what with that huge tail they lean back on.
- The song “Lucky Ones” by Loverboy
- Gwynyth Paltrow’s guide to glowing skin
Sure, I had my excuses, but all in all, hardly worth murdering my day for. There was a better time and place to satisfy my insatiable curiosity.
I tell my writing clients to cut out the research all the time. As if anyone listens. (As if I heed my own wise advice.)
Case in point, this email I received this morning:
I have about 7 pages written. I can’t believe I’ve spent 4 hours spinning around with only 1.5 pages to show for it! Why, you ask?
Because I didn’t listen to my coach!
“NO Research! Just write cat poop!”
But, did I listen, even tho I’ve had great success when I did? NO!
So, I have at least 50 pages of research around me, and of course, none of them know what I know and have been doing for 15 years!
But, oh my gosh, what if there’s something I should know, that would make it better? Baloney!
Geez Louise!
I could have written Grapes of Wrath by now, had I listened to my coach.
So, now I look at this document, and that document for the right wording – Balderdash!!
NEVER AGAIN. No more Research – it is for COWARDS!! The weak of heart!
Be strong, be willing to play in cat poop – that’s courage – honestly it is!
