Organization and research

Little sister is not doing much writing these days. As a matter of fact, she’s doing none. However, she is quickly becoming an asset to the team.

We’re finding organization is important. We need to have certain information at our fingertips. I don’t want to visit Wikipedia or Google or Encarta every time a character does something I’ve never done. I’d rather be writing and advancing the story.

Here’s the deal: Some of the things the characters in our book do, we’ve never done. For example, the story requires that a few of the characters know how to use climbing gear. Well, rock climbing is something I’ve never done. I can’t just say, “John grabbed a bunch of those little ring thingies, some pulleys, a few snapping whatchagoodies and put them in the bag.” I’d rather say something like, “…In the bag, John placed an assortment of carabiners, ascenders, descenders, pulleys, quickdraws, ropes, two harnesses…”

Personally, I want to know as much as I can about the things our characters know; it makes me feel closer to them and more involved in their lives. I like to feel like I’m there with the characters, in the story, living the adventure.

This is where the teamwork and research comes in. We can work on advancing the story while simultaneously compiling necessary technical information to give the book a more professional feel. So little sister made up a binder and organized it into sections so that information we need is at our fingertips. As the story grows, the binder expands and we all learn about something we knew nothing of before we decided to write a book.

That’s cool.

Tags: organize, partnership, research, teamwork