Elizabeth Bear
I don't have anything like a good system, actually. I read a lot on whatever the topic is, talk to experts when I can, and then I scribble in notebooks or list important or inspirational things in my work file for the book or story I'm researching.
But my attitude is that the important thing about the research is to do it, internalize it, and then write--that it's more important to know stuff and know where to look it up again than it is to list a bunch of facts in your fiction.
I do have one trick I apparently have in common with Tim Powers, which is that when I'm writing historical fiction, I print out a calendar for the appropriate year and then I write events down on the days when they happen. Then I can write in my own fictional events around the real ones.
But my attitude is that the important thing about the research is to do it, internalize it, and then write--that it's more important to know stuff and know where to look it up again than it is to list a bunch of facts in your fiction.
I do have one trick I apparently have in common with Tim Powers, which is that when I'm writing historical fiction, I print out a calendar for the appropriate year and then I write events down on the days when they happen. Then I can write in my own fictional events around the real ones.
More Answered Questions
John Mayo
asked
Elizabeth Bear:
I am remembering another SF book where the female protagonist was on an ambulance ship associated with Core Central. All I remember now is that at the end of the book the main hospital of Core Central was doing illegal medicine in a hidden ward on the hospital. I am now reading Machine and having deja vu feelings about this other Core Central story. What is the other book I am remembering?
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