I’m on the cusp of a potentially big decision here. I am seriously contemplating just going back to the Stupor Mundi novel project rather than continuing with short stories. I think I have developed and learnt as a writer in the last few months, and this could help me with the novel length project I would really like to do.
The things I fear though are the degree of research and preparation required. My biggest phobia for this project seems to be that I have committed myself to do research in some areas that are almost impossible at the moment. The reason being that the sources are in languages that I don’t speak, read or write with any fluency.
Should this be a barrier? As the story is fiction and quite fantastical in nature does a truly well-researched approach matter? Yes and no I think. I would like to know more to help me with providing some better character detail, but the difficulties might outweigh the benefits.
I have started looking at the plot again for Stupor and had some good ideas to develop it, so we’ll see how these get on. Meanwhile I’m trying to guage what research is really necessary and how difficult this might be regarding the language of the source material.
