Research Or Copy-Paste?

[mammamaia]

Or do the research as you write, which is what I do.

or do some/all of the research before you write... successful writers do one or more of those...

[gesler0811]

Research is fact-finding. I should hope no one copy/pastes their research directly into their story.

You research to learn about things you did not know about before. You are not plagiarizing, but assimilating facts. Once you have those facts stored away in your head (or on a legal pad somewhere) you can call upon them to enrich your story. I wanted to describe the dress a female character was wearing in my novel, and did some basic online research on clothing store websites. I learned the terms for many different styles of dresses that I had no idea about, as well as getting some visuals on what the dress looked like. Some of this info made it into the book, but I wouldn't call that plagiarism, nor did I copy/paste. I simply made some notes and used them.

[jaus tail]

I wanted to describe the dress a female character was wearing in my novel, and did some basic online research on clothing store websites. I learned the terms for many different styles of dresses that I had no idea about, as well as getting some visuals on what the dress looked like. Some of this info made it into the book, but I wouldn't call that plagiarism, nor did I copy/paste. I simply made some notes and used them.

Exactly what I follow to furnish my story. I write a chapter or write till the story reaches some turning point and then stop to research and make notes.

[Anya Kylash]

I just write until I need to research something I don't know about. That doesn't happen often, so researching doesn't take that large a space in my writing schedule.

[gesler0811]

I just write until I need to research something I don't know about. That doesn't happen often, so researching doesn't take that large a space in my writing schedule.

Agreed. I often do not know what research I will even need to do until after I begin the project. As for the example I gave above, I usually don't call a lot of attention to what my characters are wearing, contenting myself with a few words to paint a vague picture. It's enough for my reader to know if the character is in khakis and a polo, but I don't see a reason to over-indulge on details like that, especially if the story is not impacted. However, this one character really made an impression on my main character, and I felt it necessary to describe in more detail than usual how she was dressed. I didn't want to just say something like a "Beautiful dress" so that is how I ended up doing the research on different styles of ball gowns. I could not have predicted in advance that I would need to research that. It was not until I came upon that point in the story that I realized I needed to know a bit more about that. I ended up on some site that sold expensive gowns, and looked through pictures of their products and read a lot of product descriptions to figure out some of the terminology and ultimately what she was wearing in the story.

[James A. Ritchie]

So I guess writing is indeed a form a science. You first write the story in your own language, then do the research and then rewrite, rewrite and rewrite.

Research first, or as you write, not after. If you wait until after, you'll have all sorts of things wrong, and the rewrite will be a nightmare.

The Internet does make research easier, but if, and only if, you know how to research, know how to use the information you've found, and know which sources on the Internet are trustworthy. A huge percentage of information found online is not accurate, and much of it is sheer nonsense.

But never, ever copy paste anyone else's words into your own writing. Fair use sometimes allows small pieces of copyright information to be used, but that's about it. As a writer, you're responsible for writing thing in your own way.

[mammamaia]

Fair use sometimes allows small pieces of copyright information to be used, but that's about it.

and 'fair use' doesn't apply to fiction at all...

[jaus tail]

I use the internet to get an idea of the words to use while describing the clothes, facial expressions and physical features of the characters in my novel. Mostly to get the right adjectives, like if there's a scene where a husband is taking his wife to a dinner and wife finds the waiter attractive, I'll google, 'different body types of men, different clothes of men, qualities required to be a male mode, what women dont like about men, what women like about men.'

[LMGilbert]

So I guess writing is indeed a form a science. You first write the story in your own language, then do the research and then rewrite, rewrite and rewrite.

Yes. And a lot of "research" is living and observing what's going on around you.
For visual artists, when we first start to really learn to draw, we think we already know what a "tree" or a "face" looks like. Then we spend hours and hours just looking at these things and getting into that trance where we forget the name of it and just put down the lines and shapes we actually see. Writers have to do a similar thing. We've read dozens of books about say, battles in the middle ages of Europe, so we think we know what they are like and how to describe them. Researching gives new insight that allows us to present the same old thing in a new and unique way.