Note (October 2026): An earlier version said Apple was the largest technology company with a market capitalization of USD 1.3 trillion. That figure was out of date; as of June 30, 2026, Apple ranked third, behind Nvidia and Alphabet, and the text below has been corrected.
Research before writing a book matters because readers stop trusting a story the moment a fact, period detail or character feels wrong. Before drafting, writers should research their genre, the story’s timeline and setting, their characters, and any science, law or history the plot relies on, then organize those notes so they stay consistent through the manuscript.
Key Takeaways
- Research protects credibility: one wrong detail (a misplaced title, a stale statistic, an impossible date) can pull readers out of a book.
- Fiction needs research as much as nonfiction: genre conventions, period detail, setting and believable characters all depend on it.
- The core research areas are genre, timeline, setting, characters and technical subjects such as science, medicine or law.
- Primary sources (letters, diaries, newspapers, interviews created at the time) are the strongest evidence; secondary sources interpret them.
- Facts go stale: figures such as company valuations change, so date-check anything time-sensitive before publishing.
Say you’re brewing up a historical romance, and you address everyone by their first name.
Bah! You’ve lost your readers!
Say you’re penning down the top ten largest technological companies, and you miss out on Apple.
Fiddlesticks! You’ve lost your career!
Irrespective of whether you ink a fictional or non-fictional work, research is the name of the game.
Otherwise, you could end up calling an invented nobleman such as the Earl of Kentucky, Lord James Amberly, plain “James”, or repeat a figure that is no longer true. This article once said Apple led all technology companies with a market capitalization of USD 1.3 trillion; as of June 30, 2026, Wikipedia’s list of public corporations by market capitalization ranked Apple third at about USD 4.25 trillion, behind Nvidia (about USD 4.85 trillion) and Alphabet (about USD 4.31 trillion).
So, if you’re wondering how to write a book, the first step in turning an idea into a manuscript is research: gathering the facts, settings and background details the story will depend on. You can also have a book writing coach to have someone guide you through planning and drafting. Below are three reasons to research before you start writing, followed by the main things to research.
Here’s Why You Should Go Hand in Glove with Research
You Should Convince Your Readers
Suppose a 21st-century writer sets a historical novel in the Victorian era, the reign of Queen Victoria from June 20, 1837, to January 22, 1901. A vague idea of the period’s culture is not enough: missing or wrong details about how people traveled, ate, dressed and addressed one another quickly erode the reader’s interest.
Even if your work is fictional, your readers must believe the picture you’re painting in their imagination, with your colorfully articulated words.
Those convincing details come from research.
You Should Present the Facts Right
While the goal of every writing project is to keep your readers entranced, you can only do so by getting your facts right, and of course, language and plot included.
So let’s say that in your historical fiction you’re going to go by actual places and happenings. In such a case, you need to map your characters in their right coordinates in the right timeline.
You certainly can’t afford to mess up with things like the monarch ruling the land at the time in which your characters take the stage. Also, other things like the dialect, popular traditions, mode of transport, choice of food, landscape, and many more can’t be taken lightly.
The more carefully these facts are checked, the more believable the finished book will be.
You Should Get Better Understanding
Imagine that you’re authoring a science fiction novel. In such a case, you need to get your scientific concepts right before actually using them in your thrilling plot.
Say you want your characters to travel in time. A science-fiction plot needs a plausible mechanism for that travel; simply saying the characters travel by a magic amulet does not work in this genre.
Though it’d be easy to write it down that way, your readers wouldn’t enjoy it. It would also turn the book from science fiction into fantasy, a different genre with different reader expectations.
So research the real physics behind time-travel ideas, such as Einstein-Rosen bridges (published by Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen in 1935), traversable wormholes (first shown to be possible within general relativity in separate 1973 papers by Homer Ellis and K. A. Bronnikov), and special and general relativity. Wormholes remain hypothetical: they are mathematical solutions of Einstein’s field equations, not observed objects. It’s this research that’ll help you strike the chord of balance between actual sciences and your work of art.
Now that you know why research is vital before writing let’s help you with the actual process by revealing the elements that you need to research.
Here’s What You Should Research About Before Writing Your Book
Research Your Genre
Before putting your pen to the paper, you should know your genre like the back of your hand. As a case in point, let’s say you’re creating a paranormal fiction.
Then, you need to research the elements that put together a great paranormal story. Remember, in a genre such as this, you are asking readers to set aside rational doubt and believe in the impossible.
What’s more, the paranormal element shouldn’t seem forced. It shouldn’t portray you as yet another writer trying to follow the winds of change. Rather, the paranormal setting must seem normal in your plot.
For instance, a tale set in the Scottish Highlands could draw on Rait Castle, a ruined hall-house from the late 13th or early 14th century just south of Nairn, near Inverness. Local legend says the castle is haunted by a handless ghost: a laird’s daughter who, according to the story, lost her hands and fell to her death in 1442.
Research Your Timeline
Time does not factor in historical fiction alone. Irrespective of the genre in which you stage your plot, you need to research important happenings around the timeline of your novel.
So decide whether the story is set in the distant past, the recent past, the present, the near future or the far future. Then, you need to determine the duration of your story – would it span around days, months, years, or decades.
Additionally, you need to support your creativity with the important happenings of the particular timeline. For instance, let’s assume that you live in the year 2090. You decide to cook up a romance flavor back in the 2020s.
A romance set in the early 2020s that never mentions the coronavirus pandemic would ring false to many readers.
Research Your Character
Do you remember Nicholas Sparks‘ A Walk to Remember?
Ah, who wouldn’t?
The tale of that glorious love would forever be etched in your hearts. But how did you fall in love with Landon and Jamie?
Sure, under Sparks’ pen, the two of them were meant for each other. But what drew you to the couple? What caused you to shed those silver pearls of tears in the last pages of the book?
Part of the answer is that the characters were drawn from life. According to Wikipedia’s article on the 1999 novel, Sparks has said that Jamie Sullivan was inspired by his younger sister, Danielle Sparks Lewis, who died of breast cancer in 2000.
That is a form of character research: building a fictional person from close knowledge of a real one.
So, if you want your readers to connect with your characters on an emotional level and feel one with them along with the storyboard, then character research is vital.
While it’s natural to incarnate your characters by your personal interactions with people, you’d do well with a character map.
Penning down your character’s characteristics, ancestry, habits, likes, dislikes, fears, roadblocks, dialects, and so on, would help you stick to one personality for your character unless you deliberately want a split character like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, from Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella.
Research Your Way Before Writing!
Now that you know the importance of research before writing and the various elements that need research, it’s time to organize and fly.
Organizing research is often harder than gathering it. Since several elements hold your story together, it’s natural for you to feel overwhelmed while organizing your research, lest you lose track of what information you’ve gathered.
One option is dedicated novel writing software. A writing app, a spreadsheet or a simple notes file can all keep characters, settings and plot details in one place so they do not contradict each other.
Accuracy Example: How Should an Earl Be Addressed?
The opening example shows why small details need checking. According to the standard forms of address used in the United Kingdom, an earl is addressed in speech as “My Lord”, “Your Lordship” or “Lord” followed by the title (an Earl of London would be “Lord London”), and in writing as “The Earl of London”.
The style “Lord FirstName Surname” (for example, “Lord John Smith”) belongs to the younger sons of dukes and marquesses, not to earls. A writer who calls an earl “Lord James Amberly” has therefore made a second error on top of using his first name, and readers of historical romance often notice.
What Should Be Researched Before Writing a Book? A Checklist
The table below summarizes the main research areas, what to check in each and where writers usually look.
| Research area | What to check | Typical sources |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Reader expectations, common structures, typical length, recent comparable titles | Bestseller lists, recent books in the genre, publisher and agent guidelines |
| Timeline | Major events, technology, prices, slang and laws of the period | Newspapers from the period, encyclopedias, history books |
| Setting | Geography, climate, buildings, local customs and legends | Maps, local histories, travel to the place, photographs |
| Characters | Occupations, dialect, forms of address, daily routines, psychology | Interviews, memoirs, diaries, professional guides |
| Technical subjects | Science, medicine, law, weapons, finance used in the plot | Textbooks, official bodies, subject experts |
| Facts and figures | Any statistic, date, ranking or price, and the date it was true | Primary data sources, official statistics, company filings |
Primary vs. Secondary Sources: Which Should Writers Use?
A primary source is a document, recording, artifact or account created at the time being studied, such as a diary, letter, manuscript, newspaper, photograph, speech or oral interview. A secondary source interprets or comments on primary sources after the fact, such as a history book or a biography.
Both are useful. Secondary sources give a fast overview and point to the key events; primary sources supply the texture that makes fiction feel real, such as how people actually wrote, what things cost and what made the news. Where two sources disagree, check a third or describe the detail in broader terms.
How to Research a Book: A Step-by-Step Method
- List the questions. Write down every fact the story depends on: when and where it happens, what each main character does for a living, and any technical process in the plot.
- Start broad. Use encyclopedias and overview books to understand the period, place or subject before going deeper.
- Go to primary sources. Read letters, newspapers, diaries and records from the time, or interview people with direct experience.
- Record where every fact came from. Note the source and the date for each detail so it can be rechecked later.
- Build reference files. Keep a character map, a timeline and a setting file. Tools such as a character name generator or a fictional city name generator can help when a name or invented place is needed.
- Start drafting. Research only what the next scenes need, and mark gaps in the draft to fill in later rather than stopping.
- Fact-check before publishing. Recheck every date-sensitive figure, because numbers such as company valuations change over time.
Many of the same techniques apply to nonfiction and coursework; see this guide on how to conduct academic research for any topic.
Fiction vs. Nonfiction: How Research Differs
| Aspect | Fiction | Nonfiction |
|---|---|---|
| Main goal | Believability: the world must feel real | Accuracy: every claim must be true and supportable |
| Invention allowed | Characters, events and places may be invented within the story | No invented facts, quotes or figures |
| Citing sources | Usually an author’s note or acknowledgments | Notes, a bibliography or in-text attribution |
| Biggest risk | Anachronisms and implausible details | Out-of-date figures and unsupported claims |
Common Research Mistakes to Avoid
- Using a figure without its date. A statistic that was true when written can be wrong a few years later, as this article’s own Apple example shows.
- Relying on a single source. Cross-check important details, especially legends, dates and names.
- Info-dumping. Research supports the story; readers do not need every fact that was gathered.
- Researching instead of writing. Set a limit, start drafting, and fill specific gaps as they appear.
- Copying wording from sources. Take notes in your own words to avoid accidental plagiarism; these tips for plagiarism-free writing explain the basics.
For more on keeping the drafting stage moving once research is done, see these tips for making the writing process easier, and use a word counter to track daily progress.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is research important before writing a book?
Research is important before writing a book because accurate details make a story believable and a nonfiction book trustworthy. Errors in dates, places, titles or science break the reader’s trust, and research also gives writers ideas for scenes, characters and conflict.
What should I research before writing a novel?
Before writing a novel, research the genre’s conventions, the story’s timeline and major events, the setting, the characters’ backgrounds and occupations, and any technical subject the plot depends on, such as science, medicine or law.
How much research is enough before starting a book?
Enough research is the amount needed to start drafting with confidence about the main setting, period and characters. Many writers then research specific details as each scene requires them, rather than trying to learn everything first.
Do fiction writers need to research?
Yes. Fiction writers invent characters and events, but the world around them still has to feel real. Historical fiction, science fiction, crime and paranormal stories all depend on accurate background detail.
What is the difference between primary and secondary sources?
A primary source was created at the time being studied, such as a letter, diary, newspaper or interview. A secondary source, such as a history book, interprets primary sources after the fact.
How do I organize research for a book?
Organize book research into separate files for characters, timeline, setting and technical notes, and record the source and date of every fact. Writing software, spreadsheets or a simple notes app all work if they are used consistently.
Justwebworld has published guides since 2012. How we write and update articles Report an error
