The Art and Science of Research for Fiction Writing

This is a serious post y'all.

I'm going to share with you my process because many have asked me how I do this.
This being, writing stories that are apparently foreign to my own reality.
The first thing that you have to know is to make a story real, you must find the personal connection to it. If you cannot do that, you cannot write the story.
For example; I am not a Somali, neither am I a Muslim, nor have I ever been in an arranged marriage. But I am a big sister. I know that sense of responsibility that is thrust upon you, often against your will. I know the combination of obligation and resentment it engenders.
That was my way into the story.
I know other things about the events in Cinderella by Any other Name quite intimately. Things I wish I did not know. The weird thing is putting them on the page is just as therapeutic as crying about it to a therapist.
Not to slag therapy; if you find the right person to talk to, it can be good. If not, try to find another way. Rihanna didn't want to do therapy after 'the incident' - I suspect she didn't trust anyone enough - but, she did find a way to self-therapize.
As long as you deal with your shit and don't let it fester.

The child of destiny series is based in Louisiana.
I've never been.
I mean sure, the town of Le Marais is fictional but it had to at least retain a few well-known attributes from the place it was based on. (#funfact - I tried to add le marais as the location on one of my Instagram posts and about ten possible places showed up in France, Italy and America. I did not know it was a real place name when I chose it. It simply means 'The Swamp' in French). Lucky for me, I grew up on Anne Rice. And before she became a hack, whew, she could use up three pages on just describing a place.
Even though I'd never been, I've felt that I know exactly what New Orleans is like for a long time. The atmosphere at least, the supernatural and natural history, the weather, the way the streets are built...I had that down. Then, of course, I went to Google University to obtain a degree on all things Louisiana including the fact that its Alligators not Crocodiles that are found there.
It's the little things, you know?
I think I enjoy checking these details as much as I do weaving them into my stories.

Just today, I was writing my overdue regency romance assignment and I thought to myself - Severus is not a bad name for a romantic rival. Let me just google and see if anyone apart from Snape was ever called that.
And lo and behold, there was a Roman Emperor who was around in about 193 BC whose name was Severus Alexander! More interesting...he was born in Africa. Even more interesting, the Roman Empire covered Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
This ain't in no history book I ever read.
This Severus guy conquered a place called Germa or Garama (in modern-day Libya) which was the capital of the Garamantian Kingdom.
193 BC.
That's my history right there I had no clue about.
I googled a name to go in a story set in Regency England and I learn something new about African history. That's the beauty of this game man. There's nothing like it.

Another thing you have to be continually aware of that grounds a story in the period you have set it in is language. You cannot talk about social media if your story is set in the nineties. Some fun things I had to google when writing Child of Destiny include whether Pamela Anderson already had her boobs done in 1990 (she hadn't). I had to check which year Prince released Kiss, to make sure it was okay for Leo to sing it in Mya's ear.
People think writing is easy.
Easy and fun is not the same thing, guys.
One is not like the other.
The most important thing is to love what you're doing. If you don't, it can get tedious really fast. Now go forth and write your masterpieces...after you preorder Marcus Devereux, please!

I Observe, With My Eyes

Beyoncé and Jay Z have done a lot of questionable shit in their lives. 

Like...a lot.
Just last month, Beyoncé stole the visuals of her video for Spirit off some South African artiste. She didn't even leave room for doubt - it was just, copy, paste.
And how many stories have we heard about Jay Z and fucking people over? If it isn't Dame Dash, it's Kanye. Yes, Kanye is a mess but even before he was a mess, he told us that Jay Z liked to steal his creativity. I guess he's a true capitalist.
Now he's trying to sell this NFL deal as "the next phase" of the struggle when what it is really is, "Okay well, now the struggle is interfering with my money so the struggle can fuck off."
The very worst part is that some people will twist themselves into pretzels trying to defend it as a "positive" thing. I've the phrase "A seat at the table" being mentioned by Killer Mike, and Charlemagne who should know better is trying to sell it as a new lane.
It's not a new lane.
Jay Z is basically the butler in Django Unchained right now.

It's so disappointing but at this point, nothing is surprising anymore. Anyway, nobody contracted Jay Z to fight against oppression, so I guess he's free to do as he pleases. I guess the people who follow him are also free to do the same although their reasons are murky too and stem from the erroneous belief that billionaires must know something the rest of us don't and so if we just follow them unquestioningly, they will lead us to some promised land. Nobody seems to be awake to their own exploitation by these people they follow blindly, to the end of making themselves richer. Jay Z gets his influence from the idea that he brings the black population with him. Like sheep, who are following the wolf to slaughter.
I want you to think about something. When there is a recession such as the one Trump is about to cause, who gets laid off? Do the billionaires tighten their belts?
No, they do not.
Unless you count letting people go from their organizations as tightening their belts.
The only thing that matters is the bottom line and "keeping the shareholders happy." and so people are let go so that profits remain the same. The poors and whites are so against socialism because they've been primed to react like Pavlov's dogs to the word. Yet all capitalism does is keep them poor.
The rich want you to remain poor. That's how they control you.
But what do I know anyway? I'm just here living from hand-to-mouth right?

Meanwhile, Miley and Liam broke up. If you've been following this blog for a while, you'll know I predicted this even before the wedding. Look, I don't know what ya'll are seeing when you look at them to think that they are 'well-matched' because chile...I cannot find one picture of Liam with Miley where he looks happy. Or even looks at her. She looks at him...all the time. But he's always looking away. Basic Body Language school will tell you that that is a sign of being out of sync. They never but never mirror each other. It was a disaster waiting to happen...
Why didn't any of Liam's family attend the wedding? Not even his mother was there, none of his brothers...you cannot say they could not afford the fare from Australia. I waited and waited for someone to point that out but no...Miley and Liam were supposed to be some perfect couple.
Bitch, please.
First of all, Liam is gay. My gaydar pings HARD when I look at him. But give him time to realize. then he'll go look for the guy he was with in hunger games wotisname and they'll live happily ever after.
Trust.

this is what in sync looks like

I've recently been experiencing a crisis of confidence when it comes to my writing. I'm editing Marcus Devereux (Book 5, Child of Destiny series) and I'm just feeling like...no. I don't like it. 

This has never happened to me before. I hear it's a common thing with writers but yeah, never happened to me before now. 

And it makes me want to go back and rewrite all my books. I gotta shake this shit off. So I'm posting an excerpt here and if the spirit moves you, you can give me a critique which will let me know if I'm crazy or I really should scrap the whole thing.

Okay then, here goes nothing.