One of the most exciting parts of writing a novel - at least for this writer - is the research. With an already avid interest in London and Londoners during WWII, research was like enjoying a favourite pastime. I never felt it was work.
Others might call a favourite pastime their “passion.” Personally, I feel that word is so overused that it loses its impact (much like the worn out adjective “awesome” now used in everyday conversation to describe anything from a hamburger to a new pair of trousers.) I won’t tell you that research is my “passion” or that it’s “awesome” but it can be a compelling and fascinating part of writing.
There is a drawback, however, when a writer gets too engrossed in research. One’s thirst for answers on a particular subject, not to mention the gratifying enjoyment of it all, can sometimes detract from the initial purpose of the exercise. I think any writer worth her or his salt succumbs to the lure of research at least once or twice, but quickly realizes that a line must be drawn between research and research overkill. When research becomes far more engrossing than the actual writing, one must know when to stop.
The million dollar question, though, is when do you stop? How much information do you need to gather to write about a certain topic? I learned the hard way. I learned that it was better to do the research, then write the particular chapter(s) promptly before delving any further into the fieldwork. Once the chapter(s) was written, I could go back to studying the topic that interested me “on my own time.”
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