Research & Development

   This is my first blog post from my new smart phone so I apologize if the errors are more rampant than normal.
   Haven't made much progress.  Partially due to health issues and partially due to straying outside of my research zone.  From the prologue to the end of C7 the book stayed in the area I had initially looked into.  Now that I have moved past it I find myself stuck until I learn the new one.
   One of the surprises for me in this go round at writing is the large amounts of research I have had to do.  Before I just sat down and wrote.  The world was a fictional one purely dreamed up in my imagination.  I didn't need to do research (I stupidly thought at the time.) if I made it all up.  Now having started this project and going into it with the mindset of 'research good' I may chafe at the delay some times, but I like the depth it gives my story.  Sometimes I find myself doing hours of research simply for a line or two.  But it seems that making sure you have that line or two sounding right or simply being accurate is the difference between your book reading like an amateurs first draft and having it read like a real novel.
   A little research can go a long way.  Not to mention in this age of information people can, and will, find any and all mistakes and will be happy to broadcast them to everyone else.  An hour getting your shit straight can save you a lot of headaches later.
  I have also dipped my toes into a technique that I may keep.  When I found myself at a research stand still I became frustrated with it.  I still wanted to write damn it.  Some writers can skip around their creation lah-de-dah when they get stuck and just come back later.  I am not one of those.
   I have found however  that I may be able to skip books.  I have been chomping at the bit to get to the second book.  Story wise that's where I want to be.  So as an experiment I went ahead and wrote the prologue for the second book to my current project.  I may keep at it because while the first book is still my primary goal and focus of my efforts, there really isn't anything story wise that's going develop that I can't keep track of.  AND it will give me a head start for when the first one is done and I can shift my focus to the next project.  Finally got to introduce a character I have been really looking forward to, and can't waitto do so regularly.