How to Use Research to Craft a Better Book

No matter your genre or subject matter, research is an inescapable aspect of writing your book—but if you loathe it, that’s quite understandable. Research can be nebulous, taking days, weeks, months, or years. You’re not always sure of what you’ll find and you don’t know the extent of its effect on your writing. Will it help you reach the finish line? Will it trap you in an endless labyrinth of musings? Will it undermine the project altogether?

With research, anything is possible. Here are things you should keep in mind during the research process to increase your chances of gathering useful information and crafting a better book.

Create a framework

As with every endeavor, the best thing you can do to ensure successful research is to set goals and timelines. But your research framework doesn’t have to be too complex. You can get started by answering the following questions:

What questions or topics do you need to look up?
How can you break each one into smaller items?
In what order should you research these items?
How much time can you allot to each item?

You should be able to come up with a checklist and a daily or weekly calendar.

Be flexible yet disciplined

Whenever you hit a dead end, don’t despair—it’s only natural. And sometimes, the solution can be right under your nose. Ask your loved ones or colleagues if they happen to know anything about your topic or if they know someone who might be able to help. You can also look at your topic from another perspective and take your research in a different direction.

If the problem persists, you might be forcing something that’s never going to work. Return to your framework and revise it according to your findings, and set new timelines for further research. Above all, keep in mind that research is just one aspect of writing your book. Be careful not to get too immersed that you end up needlessly dumping highly specific or unrelated information on your readers.

Research reveals things that can affect your whole story. Invest the time and energy so that you lessen your chances of finding holes in your knowledge while making your outline or writing your book.

Of course, the need to do additional research well into the writing process or even during editing may still arise. If you’re not sure about the quality of your work, our in-house editors can help you pinpoint problematic areas and arrive at the proper solutions. Call 833.262.8899 to learn more.