CLUES I: DO YOU KNOW …?
A SHORT ESSAY ON THE IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH IN WRITING
BY MACGYVERMAGIC
(16-8-2002)

Like many of you I was relieved when I started my vacation last year. A bus took me, and three of my friends to the Costa Brava in Spain. Unfortunately, our rooms weren’t available when we got there, so we decided to buy some lunch. We finished a terrific meal and finally asked for “four separate bills”.

Now I’ve come to the reason why I’m telling you all this. The waiter brought in “four glasses of beer”. Not an entirely bad thing, but not what we asked for. I learnt that a little research into the Spanish language could’ve saved us from a lot of waiting and from a very embarrassing understanding. (Still, it was HIS fault. In such a touristic place you should know English!)

These events are (not so recent) proof of the fact that research is very important. Not only when you go on holiday, but – in our case- also in writing. You have to know what you are talking about; make sure you’re more knowledgeable than the reader or, if that isn’t possible, at least make sure there are no mistakes in your story. If you don’t do this and put your fic out on the web, chances are an expert will run into it and laugh his/her head off because of your ignorance. This reaction will probably show in a review – if the reader ever decides to write one... Not so pretty, is it?

The way I see it, research is one of the most important tools to create a good fic. Here’s a few guidelines:

Always know your canon. 
The people who are most likely to read your stories – whatever the fandom is – are the die-hard fans. They will read everything in the fandom they can get their hands on, especially when it concerns one of the smaller fandoms, like Shirley Holmes. No problem in getting an audience there. But they do have the nasty property of knowing much about the show, sometimes even too much. To them, there is nothing more irritating than an author who doesn’t know some simple things like characterization, show’s premise or important events from past episodes.

There are two simple solutions here. You can either watch the entire show/film or read the book OR you can look up or ask for specifics in internet forums or on fanpages. Personally, I prefer the first. The information you get there is straight from the original source and the most reliable out there. You can also get detailed info out of those, websites could never show. (Of course the Essential Case File at Shirley Holmes Central is an exception here!)

Know your location.
Lots of good fics give a detailed and lively description of the setting of the story when it’s needed. Look up maps of the area; look at pictures of places already known in the fictional world and use them to spice up the descriptions in your story.

Know your emotions.
Someone on fanfiction.net already said it, and I’ll say it again. Fanfic is about people. If you don’t know anything about the psychology of your characters, you won’t be able to get inside their heads to see what drives them and what they will do in certain situations. Watch the show or film, read the book to find out. It’s the only way to do it.

Know your science.
Science is important. It’s not only in our daily lives, but it can also be found in fanfic. When you’re writing a detective story this can particularly important. Whether it is people who are killed by poison or bombs, or some scientific test to get the evidence, you have to know how it works to be convincing to your readers.

Example: When Fredy Bauckhage thought up the plot for “The Telephone Murder”, he checked with a science teacher to see if it would actually work in real life.

Know your details.
Details are not always necessary, but they usually play a large role in detective fic. Try to get them right. Using phone numbers and zip codes from the actual area you’re writing about can greatly increase your reader’s enjoyment.

But how to get all this information?

First of all you can go to a library and look it up the old-fashioned way, using books. The information you’ll get will be accurate, but not always easy to find. Secondly, there’s the wonder called Internet. It gives you access to all sorts of information if you know how to find it. Easy to find, but not always reliable. If you find something on the Internet, always check to see if the source is reliable.

Finally you  can go and experience yourself. Want to know how a survival trip feels? Just try it and don’t forget to jot down notes if you have to. If it gets dangerous to try something out, or when you’re not allowed to do it, ask the experts. You would be surprised as to how many of them like to help you out.

Of course, the Shirley Holmes Central and ShirleyHolmes.5u.com share a forum. Research questions are the perfect way to use it. Just put your question out there and see what the other authors think of it. Remember that since they write, they must have certain amount of knowledge or access to knowledge to write their works.

In short: research is an important part of fanfic writing and therefore can’t be left out of your work. 

(Anyone with research questions concerning Chemistry, forensics and The Netherlands can contact me at webmaster@shirleyholmes.5u.com. Feedback on this essay is also very welcome there.)