While writing is a creative work, and there are some individuals who came up with whole new worlds, species, and customs, even creativity in its purest form doesn’t come from nothing.
Think of it as a child’s play. Your kid learns about pirates and cowboys, the way they dress, the weapons they use, and who they fight. From here, they come up with some of the most amazing storylines and have countless hours of fun. Still, without this initial trigger of them actually learning about something new, there’s no subsequent story (at least not in that form).
True creativity stems from at least some rudimentary research. Here are a few tips to help you out.
1. Improve your cybersecurity
The first thing you need to watch out for is your security. Imagine an old-school writer impersonating a dock worker or a pickpocket in a shady bar in city slums because they’re doing research for a character. Well, you’re not exposing yourself to nearly that level of risk, but you are trying to dig deep, which often means clicking on suspicious links and visiting a bit riskier areas of the internet.
So, one of the first things you need is a good antivirus system. While there are some antivirus software options that give you decent protection even with a free version, as a professional working primarily online, you may want to consider different antivirus software for different needs and budgets.
Other than just antivirus, you also want a VPN. People online can be especially malicious and argumentative, but some of them can also be quite dangerous. Sometimes, for research, you might want to stir up a hornet’s nest; however, you do not want to get doxxed or swatted over this. You can prevent it with a VPN.
The best part is that some antivirus software also has a VPN service as a premium feature. So, instead of buying separate software, you might want to look up if just upgrading your plan can get you the software you need.
2. Try a more anonymous angle
One of the most dangerous things during research lies in being stuck in an epistemic bubble. This is a less extreme form of an echo chamber, and it happens in a scenario where you follow portals, subreddits, and people who just repeat the same angle over and over again. For the sake of research, you might want to take a step back.
You see, your search engine is already tainted with your previous search history, your location, and even your bookmarks (connected to your Google Account). This means that you’ll usually get the information scraped from those corners of the internet that you frequently visit.
For the sake of your research, you want to start clean.
We suggest you start by making a new (fresh) Google Account, installing and using a VPN, and trying a different semantical approach to your search. Instead of asking leading questions that you usually do, you need to try a bit different wording when using keywords.
If you don’t trust us, just try a quick experiment. Look up why a lot of protein is good for your health, and then follow it up with why a lot of protein is bad for your health. Chances are that you’ll get convincing materials both times.
3. Take a break from the research
Your mind is not an Excel table, and you have no idea how unreliable your memory is or how easy it is to mix up different information. The worst thing for a writer is the fact that you can sometimes lose sight of the fact that you’re not really looking for information. You’re looking for insights. This means that you have to take a step away from your current findings and rethink what you’re actually doing.
More importantly, too much research could stress you out, and this might kill your creativity. After all, relaxation is a creative catalyst, and you can understand a lot of things by stepping away.
So, an ideal process could look something like this.
You do your research just so that you have the information you need in your head. Then, you take a few steps back and ponder on these ideas, characters, and data. During this period, you don’t write, and you don’t do additional research. Only when the idea starts forming do you go back to the device (or notepad) and jot it down.
The key thing to understand is that modern artists are more online and in front of the screen than even some professions in IT. Lowering your screen time a bit could do you good.
4. Try roleplaying
Ever since the dawn of time, one of the best ways to understand someone was to try and walk a mile in their shoes. Well, today, you don’t really have to go that far. Instead, you need a bit of immersion.
Just think about it this way, there are so many mediums out there, from TV shows and video games, all the way to virtual tours.
So, let’s say that you want to write a novel set in Ancient Rome. What you could do is start watching HBO’s Rome on Max, play Expeditions: Rome, read a novel about gladiators, and look up if there’s a virtual tour of an ancient Roman city. These three things may not be the research in a conventional sense, but they will help you get into the mindset you need in order to start getting into a story.
You can also find an online group where people are roleplaying Ancient Romans and start conversing with them. These people often know more about the everyday lives of ancient Romans than even some university professors do. This could help you with scenes and dialogue more than you know.
At the end of the day, you can ask a generative AI tool like ChatGPT to be your roleplaying partner. You would be surprised at how effective this can be.
5. Verify information
Now, keep in mind that writers work with a lot of fictional scenarios, non-existent phenomena, and theories that were proven wrong.
For instance, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis talks about the way in which language we use affects our worldview and even our personality. While this theory from 1929 is mostly disproven in the modern era, it just sounds incredibly cool. In fact, it sounds so interesting that Samuel R. Delany based his Babel-17 on it.
Things don’t have to be accurate (when you’re writing fiction), but it’s always better when the world in your story has some internal consistency. If there’s a magic word used, it’s always that magic word for a reason, and a mispronunciation should cause a whole world of inconvenience (or just a failed attempt to conjure a certain spell).
All of this requires a lot of research, at least in the world-building stage.
At the same time, if you’re writing non-fiction, you need to make sure that all your information is right. If you don’t know something or are unsure, you need to mention it in order to avoid misinforming others.
With proper research, you get a much better basis for your writing
Proper research is the basis of good writing. It gives you the information you need, allows you to be fully immersed in the story, and gives you a cheat code to unlock your full creativity. The best thing is that you have to research over and over again, which is why the sooner you adapt to these techniques, the more effective your research will become in perpetuity.