[HPforGrownups] Research (was:(very OT) London Business District Question...)

[Peg Kerr]

No: HPFGUIDX 9132

Ebony wrote:

> So sorry for the interruption... wouldn't do it if it wasn't an
> emergency...
>
> *This* is why every creative writing teacher on earth advises would-
> be Rowlings to "write what you know".
>
> Is there a plate-glass high rise office building or civic structure
> anywhere in or near London?  You don't find this sort of thing out
> from travel guides, you know.

Ah.  You're discovering a natural writing phase, when you start
perplexing people with strange requests for information.  I think one of
the weirdest ones I ever had was when I emailed my editor (who lives in
New York) while I was working on The Wild Swans and asked her to give me
as complete and accurate a description as she could of the penguin
exhibit in the Central Park Zoo.

A wise writer doesn't tie herself to writing only what she knows, because
if she doesn't know it, she'll take the trouble of finding someone who
does know it and ask questions.  Seriously, as a writer, you should start
cultivating experts.  Collect their names and addresses in a rolodex, and
then call them whenever you need to know about things.  About home
winemaking, about guns, about astronomy, whatever.  In my experience,
people are pleased and flattered when a writer calls them up and says, "I
desperately need to know about ____ and I know you know all about it.
Can you enlighten me?"

That IS one advantage to writing fantasy, however, I've discovered.  If
you dig deep enough, you usually will find that there's a magical
explanation if you got the details wrong.

Peg