The common wisdom is that only about 1 percent of a novelist's research ends up in his or her book. In my experience, it's even less - closer to a tenth of a percent.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I enjoy research; in fact research is so engaging that it would be easy to go on for years, and never write the novel at all.
I've always looked upon research as an opportunity to satisfy my curiosity. But the other side of the coin is one must not be so caught up in it that one never gets the book written.
I'm such a fangirl when it comes to other writers. I read 250 books a year, and I'm always talking up books by other authors.
Research to me is as important or more important than the writing. It is the foundation upon which the book is built.
Authors like reading. Go figure. So it's not surprising that we sometimes bog down in the research stage of new writing projects.
I love research. Sometimes I think writing novels is just an excuse to allow myself this leisurely time of getting to know a period and reading its books and watching its films. I see it as a real treat.
Ninety percent of the research comes first. I mostly blunder around reading stuff and talking to smart people until an idea batters or oozes its way through to my narrative brain.
I don't know that I read more than the average person. I don't think I do very much. I tend to read more when I'm on holiday. That's when I can go through books like you wouldn't believe. I read a bit of everything, but the novel has always been very important to me.
I always claim that the writer has done 90 percent of the director's work.
It's been said that I am the most widely read writer of the 20th century. The number of books I've sold runs into untold millions.