The Pros and Cons of Researching your Novel

“Write what you know” is the mantra – but what if your knowledge is incomplete?

Maybe you’re writing sci-fi and need some smart-sounding technobabble that won’t have actual scientists around the world making rude gestures in your direction. Maybe there are holes in your historical fiction. Maybe you just know your character lives in San Diego but you haven’t been there yourself and can’t afford the trip. Maybe your work of fantasy draws on real-life mythology, a subject you can really never know enough about to cover comprehensively.

No matter what info you’re missing, looking it up sure seems like the sensible thing to do, and the Internet puts that info (and then some) literally at your fingertips. Sure, any time spent researching is not time spent writing, but it’s still productive, right? You’ll be a better writer for the effort & time spent…right?

After the jump, find 5 reasons why researching your novel, especially during a timed exercise like NaNoWriMo, can hinder rather than help.