I met a school nurse who got the COVID-19 vaccine yesterday. She was feeling pretty good; said it was similar to the Mumps/Measles/Rubella test, and she was just a little tired. Very interesting to see how this vaccine is affecting people in different ways. Stay safe out there, folks.
Today was a pretty good day. Did a dizzying amount of research. The notes are piling up, and I very much want to avoid wasting time in research. Here’s what I’ve been doing to make sure that the research is practical:
- I read a book/consume content/etc.
- I re-consume it and take copious notes about my observations, but I ONLY capture anything that can be potentially used in the novel. This is actually quite a broad amount. It’s not so much facts as it is emotions, feelings, images, etc. Y’all know how that works. These notes get pretty long.
- I organize those notes logically and clean them up.
- From my notes, I then review them. For anything I see more than once, I pull that observation into a separate note. Soon, I have a skinnied down “conclusion” document that details the biggest, most impactful observations.
- From those observations, I start to formulate rules for magic systems, world-building, character personality, etc. Eventually I have a few different lists that are all of my research distilled into its purest form.
The act of distilling everything down helps me organize and condense it in my mind. The distilled notes are also what I refer to when I’m writing and need to remember something quickly. I can then dig into the detailed notes if needed later.
So far I’ve taken around 75 pages of notes and it’s only been a few days. Remember, this is all stuff that can potentially end up in the novel, not just random notes. Of course all of it won’t end up in the book, but it informs my approach. There's value in it, but I'm being very conscious to avoid as much waste as I can. I'm practical to a fault, but not letting that get in the way of what needs to be done.
I’ve been following some of the steps that bestseller Arthur Hailey used. Trying to take my research to the next level without going overboard and halting my production too much.
This particular story requires more research than usual to get started, but once I get going, it’ll be much easier. The amount of research I’m doing will probably last me the entire series.
Right now I’m trying to exhaust all my avenues in terms of books, videos, audio, etc. Once I’ve developed that foundation, I plan to start talking to people to do field interviews, and I’ll have a better idea of what types of questions to ask. I usually only ask people for 15 minutes or so of their time, and if they want to give me more than that, it’s a bonus.
I used to conduct recorded interviews in an old job. Never really done it for novels, but I’ll give it a shot to try to level up.
Again, if you have pest control experience, email me at https://authorlevelup.comcontact. I’d love to talk to you.
LESSON LEARNED & EXECUTED
Very slow ad day today. Almost no clicks or ad spend. Not sure what’s going on. Could be just an odd day or the beginning of a holiday slump. But it doesn’t appear that many folks were buying books today. I’m still profitable though, so that’s all that ultimately matters.
Hope everyone has a good night.
