Mark Terry had some interesting points on interviewing subjects for both fiction and non-fiction on his blog the other day and it got me to thinking about some of the other things writer's do in order to flesh out the story for themselves either in factual information, background, or other ways. I know for myself some of the things I do for fiction are pretty standard. If I'm writing a new character that I feel I need to know a little about I 'interview them'. I know that's not what Mark meant when he was talking about interviewing for research, and it isn't what I was talking about in my response to him on his blog either. This is a completely different type of interview. Some might say it's a bit psychotic... I mean, who exactly do you interview when you question a 'character'? You got it, you are talking to yourself... but strangely enough, it works.
If I am writing about an area I don't know very well I will look up pictures online and plaster them all over the place in my office. If I can find the area I'm writing about near me, or can afford to travel to it I pack up my digital cameras and all the gear used with them, along with my laptop that has the downloading programs in it and take my own shots. Those are even better because I get personal experience of the area with pictures to remind me of it when I get back home.
Of course I've also interviewed people who work in professions my characters have, or that the background of the story needs and that is actually a lot of fun at times. As I mentioned on Mark's blog I prefer to do my interviewing over messengers/email/or phone rather than in person as face-to-face interviews make me... well, nervous would be an understatment. However, even when forced into person to person interviews once I have gotten there and the interview starts it ends up being fun and all the fear was usually for nothing.
What kinds of things do you do to make your work, both fiction and non-fiction come to life for you?
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