There are times when writing what you know about just isn’t enough. When that happens, an author is left breaking new ground.
Unfortunately, research is never as good as experience. That lack of experience often shows up to anyone who has that experience.
Being Outdated
I grew up near Los Angeles learning to drive on the freeways and across the city. Yet, I would not try to write about the modern experience because what I remember is not what exists now.
That came home to me the last time I visited people and places in my home town. I had only been gone ten years, yet I almost needed a map to find the old neighborhood. The houses were still there, some remodeled, but the people weren’t. It was not home.
The same problem is coming up in Life’s Rules. Part of the action is based on things I remember from long ago. Except those things have changed a lot. That leaves me breaking new ground as I reach out to people to see how my memories and the new realities mesh.
Research Isn’t Enough
When I was working on “For Love of Goats”, I knew every story needed an illustration. I also knew finding an illustrator was not going to be easy, not because there aren’t lots of good illustrators out there, but because few of those illustrators knew about goats.
Serious goat owners usually cringe at the “Billy Goats Gruff” caricatures. This is what many people think goats are like. They aren’t.
There are hundreds of goat breeds around the world as I found out doing research for “Goat Games”. Every breed is different both in looks and personality. So I did my own illustrations to make sure Alpines and Saanens have the correct ears, Nigerian Dwarfs have the correct stature. Nubians look friendly and beautiful (Yes, I’m biased.)
Don’t think this breaking new ground research doesn’t affect writing. We read a big name coffee table book on John Deere tractors. The author had obviously never owned or driven such a tractor.
We are very familiar with the local milkweeds. Some of the books we’ve read about them have obvious errors in them due to the authors knowing only what they looked up.
Breaking New Ground
There are many times experience isn’t enough. But research can only take an author wo far. Not realizing its limitations can really hurt a manuscript.
