Research and African Firestorm

I made this time around....

All writing full speed ahead. All Battlecorps stories are @ 5,000 words. The Valiant RPG extra writing is going well, and I'm fining my groove there. The African Firestorm will have to have the last couple of chapters rewritten, to reflect the research I have been doing. Nothing major, but it's taking a little thought. It's more changing a few things and pushing the arrival of the bad guys back than a major rewrite, so it should be done this week and I can move onto the climax.

I talked about research, and I am finding that it's a lot more intense than I expected. That's good, because I love to look things up, but sooner or later, the story has to be written. But the different subjects I touch on in this story is varies from countries, languages, weapons, and cultures. Science Fiction off-planet is easier, as in space, the culture can be anything you want it to be. Same with a lot of fantasy stories. It's wordbuilding in its purest form.

But African Firestorm is a modern-day thriller, which mean making sure the real world details I include are the right details. Yes, the plot is fiction, but realism helps sell the fiction. If the bad guy fires an AK-47, I, as a write have to know something about the weapon in question, even if only ten percent of the knowledge ever reaches the paper. I have to supply enough information so the reader knows the situation is plausible, while at the same time, avoiding an info dump that stops the story in its tracks and gives the reader useless information. Using the AK-47 as an example, I may mention the rifle fires a 7.62mm round and it's a common weapon in most parts of the world, but I can't spend three sentences or an entire paragraph explaining its history or the local variants from around the world.

If my bad guys are a special forces unit from a hostile country, I have to have the right weapons for them to use. The vehicles used have to be the right type for that area, and any sea vessels have to be researched enough to fit the story.

Am I over-researching? Probably, but this is a chance to write a type of story I've always wanted to write, so best to over research then do none and leave the reader wondering if I was too lazy to go look for the information.

That's all for now.

Craig