I have a confession. I’m using a pen name. My real name is so common that three different highly successful women top the Google results… None of them are me. So, instead of writing one evening, I went down a crazy genealogy rabbit hole to find a pen name. And that’s how I became Amelia Karnuth.
The reason I brought this up is because I spent an entire evening working on this name project. Since it’s my name, it deserved some thought and care. I’ve spent a good deal of time researching character names as well. However, that was a lot of writing time that I spent in an internet rabbit hole.
As my first cozy mystery develops, I see countless more internet rabbit holes in my future. I’ve set the story in Canada. I’m not Canadian. How does law enforcement work in Canada? How does my main character’s work visa work? Does that park I want her to run in flood at certain times of the year? What are her actual accounting responsibilities in this particular job? Would someone who does this type of accounting believe my story? Would someone who does this type of accounting talk to me about their job? Should I change my setting to something more familiar? Would someone who lives in this part of Canada believe my story? Should I remove the city name and make up a fictional one instead?
All these questions have been on my mind, and my writing slowed down because of them. My main character’s job and the story’s setting were chosen because they are part of the story I want to tell. It’s likely I will keep them the same with a couple tweaks and a lot of research. However, as I thought about this problem, I realized that some of those finer points can wait until later. I don’t need to know exactly how Canadian law enforcement works to write my story. I can make notes in the document and fill in some of the details that require research later. A first draft is a first draft. The important thing is to write the story.
I’m sure there’s a ton of advice about this type of dilemma in all those writing books I own, so maybe I’ll read something soon that makes me completely rethink the plow-through-and-adjust-later approach I’ve decided on. (Speaking of, stay tuned for my next review of a classic book on writing: On Writing by Stephen King.) How do you approach your research? Do you find ways to minimize research? I’d really like to hear from other writers on this topic. Connect with me on Twitter @ameliakarnuth or on Instagram @ameliakarnuth.
How do you find time to write when there’s so much to learn?
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