False!
Research and development is such a compelling procrastination and essential foundation that it is almost sometimes better and more fun than the actual "writing" itself!
No one knows everything, if you only "write what you know" then
we are in for one short story!
No, the writer with reach and imagination who desires to extend our range and satisfy our curiosity develops inklings using the powerful magic of "What if?"
And then that leads down the rabbit hole to "All right now I need to know the difference between a supercharger and a turbocharger" or "how far is it from one side of Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula to the other?"
Indulge yourself!
This is your work, and it's fun!
Reach for the many things you know nothing about;
if you can impart to your fictional characters an implied detailed grasp of some esoteric field of endeavor and body of knowledge, then joyfully it is incumbent upon you the writer, we, us, me, they and them, all of us writers, to go ahead and bring all that in.
And I think one of the parts I love best about it,
is that I'm going to now spend a week funneling this sidetrack cavalcade of whimsy through hundreds of pages of sources, to narrow it down to the best most clarified distinctive and clever-sounding nuggets ... to fill in the dialogue for all of half a page! And it will be great.
And it gets me away from my direct involvement in the work for a refreshing minute,
so when I come back and angle in with that new knowledge,
I'm feeling fresh and invigorated, probably a bit smarter, certainly better-versed on the geography of turbochargers and whatever, and inspired in the confidence that my story is now going to be more multifaceted and appeal to a broader array of readers who will think me absolutely brilliant,
because I had the willingness to do the research and travel around in circles just for the possibility of making things in my story a bit more authentic and authoritative overall.
It makes characters more convincing if they are immersed in something unusual.
1 person likes this
Agreed. I think research is half the fun.
1 person likes this
Also it makes me smarter and I can catch up on all the things I refused to study in high school ...
4 people like this
One habit I learned from screenwriting is to research and keep writing as you do, even if it's just a treatment. That way you don't get hung up on research for years and neglect the actual project. Works for me!
1 person likes this
I agree, researching ones subject is the meat and potato's of a great script. Especially a period genre film. I also agree with HB Duran's philosophy of not getting "hung up" on the minutia, you can always insert the connective tissue as you edit.
1 person likes this
Whew! I'm so glad you flipped that early - I was all sorts of prepared to defend the fun of research! Truth be told, it's quite easy to get lost in it. HA!