I'm a great believer in research. I have to know about a place before I write a story that is set in that place.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I love research so much that I do an enormous amount; it helps put off the moment of starting to write the story.
I tend to research as I write so that the narrative can take priority, which is important for a piece of fiction, I think, finding out facts as and when I need to.
I am a story-teller, and I look to academic research... for ways of augmenting story-telling.
I have often tried to tell the story of a place through people there.
I will not write about anyplace in the world unless I've been there to personally research it.
How much research I have to do depends on the nature of the story. For fantasy, none at all.
I don't believe in writing anything that I don't know about or haven't researched about personally. I like to transport the reader to places, and in order to do that I have to do the research.
Anyway, in my writing I've always been interested in finding places to stand, and I've found it very useful to have a direct experience of what I'm writing about.
Research for fiction is a funny thing: you go looking for one piece of information, and find something altogether different.
Though it may not seem like it, I never try to write about a place, per se; it's always, first and last, about story. Story is everything. Story and a bit of attitude.