This may seem like a no-brainer, but research is hard! There’s an old adage that you should write what you know. I think that’s just because you should be most familiar with the things in your own life. I always thought it would be difficult to create a world, as many authors do for fantasy books, where you have to keep track of your own rules and details. I’m not belittling that exercise, but it is much harder to set a story in a real-life time or place that you are unfamiliar with because if you break the rules someone will know.
I think that’s what was hurting my motivation for the story I have abandoned yet again. It is set on the Amazon River, a place I have never been. I have watched numerous documentaries, read several books, even read several books on the job of one of my main characters. I feel like I know a lot, but when I would start writing I would get stuck. Then I decided, this is a draft, who cares! I’m just going to write it and fix the details later. That is an excellent plan in theory, but I can’t seem to do it. I get bogged down in the details.
So I switched to the new story, which is flowing better and does not require that level of research. But I feel guilty. It’s like I’ve abandoned some little puppy that just needs help to grow. At the same time I don’t want to write something that isn’t worthwhile. Somehow I need to let it go and at least finish the current project. Then I will have some sense of completion and can go back to the research with fresh eyes.
HourADayWriter 