by Peggy Bechko
Writers, at least fiction writers, pretty much live in a world of make-believe. We live in worlds of our own creation and in that living attempt to make those worlds real to everyone else; readers, listeners, watchers.
But it’s not as simple as sitting around spinning tales. Don’t we wish. There’s a whole lot that goes into writing a story and one aspect of that is research. No you can’t skip it.
Getting facts straight brings believability. If your setting is in the 1920’s Chicago you better know what you’re talking about to get the mood set and not flush readers and watchers right out of their ‘suspension of disbelief’ mode. Yes that goes for Sci Fi and Fantasy as well – get some facts in there that will make your ‘way out of our experience’ world more real. If you trim unreality with reality you bring belief and immersion.
