Research Ideas for Writing

By Lynette Eason

I’ve been doing quite a bit of research on…research. I actually love this part of the job because I get to learn and write about all kinds of fabulous things. Not only that, but I get to meet some top-notch people who are always ready to offer their advice on how best to portray their career.

So…how does one go about researching for their novel? One of the things that I’ve found super helpful is thinking about my story and the kind of information I’m going to need. Meaning, I do some pre-research. If I know I’m going to have a military hero with a military job, I know I’m going to need some good information from someone with that expertise. One of the ways of finding someone like that is by reaching out on social media. There are so many great people out there who are willing—even eager to share to make sure you get it right in the story.

Another great way to find people who can—and will—help you out is to head to the conferences where they are attending. Now, I know this can be an expensive venture, but I’ve found it’s more than worth it. Think of conferences as an investment in your writing. The good thing is, they’re also tax deductible!

Seriously, I can’t think of one conference where I came home thinking, “Well, that was a waste of time and money.” Not one. As long as you’re making the effort to talk to people, gather business cards, make those contacts, not only will you come away with some great resources for your novel, you might even make a new friend or two.

One word of advice about those business cards: Build a database in numbers or excel and enter the information into that. That way, if you lose the cards, you still have the contact info. All of this is great information on research, right? But remember, you can’t spend ALL your time researching. You still have to actually write the story if you want to get it published within a decent time frame.

Set yourself a time limit on the research. If you spend six hours a day writing, vow to spend an hour or two of that in research then get back to the writing. You can always go back and fix the stuff that needs more research, but if you never get the words on the page, you can’t fix it. Well, there you go. Those are just a few of my research tips. How about you? How do you research your stories? Can you add some wise words to help others dig into their research?

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Lynette Eason is the bestselling author of Protecting Tanner Hollow, as well as the Blue Justice, Women of Justice, Deadly Reunions, Hidden Identity, and Elite Guardians series. She is the winner of three ACFW Carol Awards, the Selah Award, and the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award, among others. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and has a master’s degree in education from Converse College. Eason lives in South Carolina with her husband and two children. Learn more at www.lynetteeason.com

Scene Building

By Lynette Eason

I’ve been writing for about twenty years now. It took me eight years to catch an editor’s eyes with a cold submission. That first year, I sold three books. Then a year later, sold five more. When I first started writing, I wrote off the top of my head—or by the seat of my pants. Now, my brain is much older! LOL. I need to do a little more planning to work my way through a book and have it actually make sense. One thing I was working on the other day was content for a workshop that’s coming up. I started looking at how to teach someone how to craft a scene.

I came to the conclusion that scenes were mini stories. They all need a beginning, middle and end, just like the full novel. Someone else may have already pointed this out somewhere, but it’s the first time it occurred to me.  You see, I write mostly from instinct. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve studied the craft, I’ve attended the conferences and the classes and even had one of the best mentors a writer could have.

But because I write instinctively, it can be harder for me to put into words exactly how to convey a topic about writing to an audience. I have to look at exactly how I craft something and then put it into words other writers can understand. Yesterday, I was working on Scene Building and trying to put a name to the elements that every scene needs.

I finally narrowed it down to these things:

1.      Purpose or motivation: This is the scene’s reason for being. Why are you including this scene in the story? How is this scene going to move the story forward? What are you trying to accomplish with this scene?

2.      Suspense – It doesn’t matter if you’re writing comic relief, a thriller, an historical or a women’s contemporary novel. Every book needs suspense and intrigue. This creates tension and causes the reader to ask questions and desire to know more. It’s really what keeps the readers flipping the pages to see what happens next.

3.      Fluidity – The scene has to make sense. It has to flow and not jar the reader out of the story. This is where a lot of writers make their biggest mistake and the scene doesn’t flow or there’s something illogical about it, then the reader gets frustrated at constantly being jarred out of the story.

4.      Relevance of content – This is a bit different than the purpose of the scene. You can have a scene with a great purpose, but the content of the scene needs be there for a reason. If it’s not important to the scene leave it out. Start your scene in the middle of the action. Leave out the nonessential stuff and boring narrative that the reader doesn’t need. However, that doesn’t mean you don’t want your scene rich with details that give the reader a sense of time, place and being right there in the story. It’s all about balance.

5.      Transition – The end of every scene must lead the reader into the next using some of that fluidity I just mentioned. Yes, you need fluidity inside your scenes, but also at the end of every scene. The transition must seem like a natural, chronological segue into the next scene or chapter. This is another even bigger mistake some writers make. When there’s no transition, then we get what editors call episodic writing. Meaning, you may have some great ideas for scenes, but that’s all they are—separate scenes that don’t seem to have any kind of connection.

6.      Hook or cliffhanger – Be sure to have one of these at the end of the scene. This is what’s going to keep the reader coming back—and is also part of that whole suspense thing.

I hope you found this helpful! Good luck with all of your writing projects. Now go craft the most amazing scenes ever!

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Lynette Eason is the bestselling author of Oath of Honor, as well as the Women of Justice series, the Deadly Reunions series, the Hidden Identity series, and the Elite Guardians series. She is the winner of two ACFW Carol Awards, the Selah Award, and the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award. She has a master’s degree in education from Converse College and lives in South Carolina. Learn more at www.lynetteeason.com.